Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 Hopefully today will turn out to be the nadir of this years fly fishing season. Was amazed at how much work I could get done by just not driving around hoping to find rising fish. Worked in the yard, paid some bills, made an appointment to get my trigger finger a shot of prednisone, had a couple nice chats with fishermen who live in the greater Lordville metropolitan area, (if your in the front yard working everyone stops), watched the deer coming and going to check for fallen apples and peaches, did today's crosswords and sudoku, and presto it was 5:30.  Having gotten word that there was a good evening hatch of sulfurs up in Deposit, headed up with a plan to fish an "A" spot that has been occupied by boats and or wade fishermen for the past few weeks. Needn't have worried. From the Town Bridge down to the bend at Danagher's there was not a fisherman in sight. Put on the waders, tucked the raincoat in the back of my vest and at 6:00 went fishing. While walking to...

 Making a conscious effort this week to take care of things that have been on the to do list since April, and to fish places I haven't visited this year. Didn't mow until the sun dried the dew off the lawn but was able to prune the apple and peach branches that the deer have jumped up and pulled down, while the grass was still wet. Love having the deer around but for such gentle creatures they sure can do a lot of damage to the fruit trees and a garden. Didn't finish the yard work until almost two then had lunch and worked on a crossword puzzle. Left at a little before 4:00 and stopped at the town office to get a dump sticker for the new car. The sticker is free for seniors but they want you to get a new one each year. The one on the car I traded in was from 2019. From the town office I drove up to Deposit, sometimes everyone does stupid things. Yesterday it was ok to get there at 4:30, it was overcast and there were bugs and fish. Today it was sunny and both the bugs and f...

 My ploy to get the fishermen off the river with the, "Let me tell you where it's at", offering on Friday worked like a charm. At 4:30 when I drove up to Deposit, there were but two cars in the Men's Club lot, neither JF or Mike-the-Cop were parked at the Lee Conklin Plaque tree, and not a fisherman was in sight. There were no fishermen below the town bridge and but one above. Drove up river to the Red Barn/ Stilesville area and was perplexed by what I saw. Three fishermen in the Red Barn pool and five cars parked at the Red Barn, even more perplexing was that there was but one fisherman in the water at Stilesville with six cars in the parking area, (there was one fisherman standing in the road talking with what appeared to be a non-fisherman). Me? I had things yet to do both at home and at the Lordville Estate before I could don the waders. At 2:30 I was finally ready to go. With a cloudy overcast sky, I decided to see if the lack of sun got some isos or even olives ...

 Home in Lafayette resting up after some yard work and figured it was a good time to answer questions.  James gets the Dennis Molter award for most questions asked. I measure the trout by holding it up against my rod where the nice people at Winston put little white lines every two inches. If the fish is 20 inches or above and I'm near shore I lay the fish on my landing net which has an inlaid tape measure to get a more accurate measurement. The drift boats coming and going on 191, (and 97), are almost certainly on smallmouth bass trips down river. I've not done it, but have heard that the bass fishing is very good. Cold nights help cool the water down so fish return to their home pools which opens up the entire river system. Rainy days should help bring on the olives. Fish are not happy rising on bright sunny days. John H - October usually offers pseudos, isos and hebes, the colder the weather the better. A 15 year old, (really any trout over say 6 or 7 years), is as big as t...

Spent a minute or to before writing tonight reading fishing reports from DRC, WBA, and AI. All gild the lily to varying degrees. I don't blame DRC and WBA one bit they are trying to rent rooms/cabins and keep the boats floating. AI, however, should be able to see through the bs and tell it like it is. DRC has had 3 pictures of fish in the month of August. AI says there are sulfurs, olives. isos and Cahills providing steady dry fly action. I say bull shit! The sulfurs - God bless 'em have been on the water for more than six weeks and they still are hatching. The hatch is waning and the best hatches are up above Deposit. The sulfurs can be seen from about noon until dark. The fish seem to be ignoring them most of the time but will feed heavily in short concentrated spurts. It's still the best chance to fish to rising fish before 8:oopm. The olives - Need to get get in the game. Traditionally as the sulfurs start to wane the olives start to hatch. Yes, there have been olives m...

 After yesterday's lackluster, rain shortened effort, I resolved to do better today. Got to Deposit at 1:30 and drove up to the Red Barn where two cars and two fisherman told the story. Stilesville had five cars and unless I missed someone, an equal number of fishermen. Glassed the water in both places and yes there were sulfurs, but not many, didn't see a single rise. The cedar wax wings, (about a dozen of them), were picking off every sulfur that got airborne. Saw Troutfitter regulars, JF, Mike the Cop, and The Tenant all driving around looking for a reason to fish. I went back to the Lordville Estate and pulled up crabgrass in the backyard. The good - With the recent high water event, and the relatively normal August temps there may well have been movement of fish from their thermal refuge haunts back to their home pools. Most water temps have peaked at about 70 degrees for the last couple of weeks and that for only an hour or two a day.  The bad - With over seven inches of...