Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 This will be short. Going down to the fishing camp tomorrow and will report on the fridge and hot water tank. John H asked about trigger fish. I've caught some in the keys on bait and yes, I've fished for them in the Bahamas. Found them to be not very spooky, but fussy about what they eat. They feed on crustaceans, shrimp and even gnaw on coral. They have very sharp teeth, but very small mouths, try the smallest flies you've got and don't move the fly very much. Got several to eat when the tide went slack and the bonefish were nowhere to be seen. In case someone is wondering, they are good to eat, their skin will dull the sharpest knife, and they have a sharp point that sticks up on their dorsal fin, which is probably why there isn't a pelican that will try to eat one, (how do the young pelicans know this?)   

Jean and I left Long Key Saturday morning at 2:45am, and within 5 minutes were in a line of five cars following a construction truck (they work on the roads at night), with blinking yellow lights, moving along US-1 at 35 mph. Got on the Florida Turnpike at 4:00am and ten minutes later the low air warning light came on showing but 26 lbs. of air in the right rear tire. Car has neither jack nor spare, and the can of "Fix a Flat" was in the storage compartment buried under a loaded freezer. Found an open Convenience store/gas station with an air pump and for $3.00 put 40 lbs. of air in the tire. Back on the turnpike, we drove for two hours and watched the tire pressure slowly drop to 32 lbs. Stopped at Ft. Pierce where there are several gas stations and two truck stops, none of which were open for service. Bought a can of "Fix A Flat" but was unable to get more than about 10 seconds worth of the stuff into the tire before it stopped working. Spent an additional $2.50 f...

 Surprised myself and made it to 83 on Monday. Birthdays are something I no longer celebrate, but rather a day to assess the ravages of time on my aging carcass. It has occurred to me that I am now burying friends at roughly the same rate as I am becoming acquainted with new physicians (not a cheery thought). I'm currently weaning my self off a med prescribed by my cardiologist (a recent addition to the medical team), that I was told would slow down and strengthen my heart beat. What it does is lower my blood pressure to levels that, if converted to golf scores, would enable me to pin Dennis Molter's ears back with regularity.  It's been an uneventful winter here in the Florida Keys. There are almost no Ontario and Quebec license plates to be seen but the traffic on US 1 is the worst I've ever experienced. Have not seen a bonefish skiff on any of the flats all season. The Keys are warm and sunny, it never snows, but with the disappearance of the bone fish, they hold lit...

  Saturday's Fishing - The wind switched from the SE to the NW on Saturday which made much of the upper WB too windy to fish. There were two anglers in the pool I fished Friday so I drove down to Shehawken to see if there were any bugs hatching there. The parking lot had six cars on my arrival and I saw four anglers in the water within 150 feet of the ramp, (on November 8th!), didn't even stop to look for bugs. Found an unoccupied pool farther upstream with a very modest hatch of pseudos and some hungry fish. If you were close enough to a riser and made an accurate cast you got a look. Hooked six fish, landed five, all but one of which were counters. The last two were 17 and 18 inch rainbows, and when a pontoon boat rowed behind me and started casting at risers about 100 feet downstream, I decided to reel it in and call it a season. Had time to drive back to Lordville to do some more bow hunting. It was a quiet evening with does and fawns ignoring the spike horn that showed up....

  Spent the last three days at the Lordville Estate where I had the phone and internet turned off on October 31st. Did some deer hunting, trout fishing and the final shutdown. Here's how it went. Friday - With the temp in the mid fifties I got down to Lordville in time to mow/rake the grass and leaves. With the wind blowing 15 to 20 from seemingly every point on the compass getting even some of the leaves off the lawn was a project. Finished up at what I thought was 2:15 and headed out to fish. Got in the car and it was magically only 1:15, (apparently the clock on the camp wall didn't remember to fall back), so I thought I was early for the pseudo fishing, should it occur, then I came to the realization that the warmest part of the day has now become 1:00 until 4:00 and I was, in fact, a little late. The fishing - Neither bugs nor fish were going in the lower section of the WB, (my first stop), thought  maybe the water would be warmer up in Deposit as the reservoir water has ...

Anyone looking for a report this morning was neither realistic nor aware of the circumstances. There was a wind alert with gusts between 45 and 50mph, and I had both the phone and internet shut off at the Lordville Estate on the 31st, (the shut off happened at 11:30am). Was marked present by Jean at our 5:00pm cocktail hour in Lafayette last night. With two stellar days of fishing in the memory bank, I should have been smart enough to say adieu, however, I sat on the back porch and watched three different bucks trying, (unsuccessfully), to get the local girls to dance, and just maybe the stars will once again align for an hour or two of dry fly fishing. The kitchen floor deeds to be washed, the gutters need to be blown out, the lawn needs mowing/raking, and I still need to say goodbye.