Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  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.

  Woke at 3:30 this morning and looked out at wind and rain. Arose at 7:00 and it was still windy and rainy. By noon the yard was covered with leaves and the rain and wind continued unabated. Am surprised at how little the streams have come up so far. The River Master dropped the flow from over 1,000cfs to 525 in anticipation of the rain and today cut the release back to a mere 200cfs so it looks like more rain is in the works. Unable to work outside and unable to clean out the stove, (I need the heat), I was bored enough by 2:00 to take a drive. Had little hope of being able to fish but the UEB has places where you can get out of the wind, so that's where I went. With the wind and rain you couldn't see rises on the EB even if the were any, but in some of the quiet pools on the UEB I was given assurance that the trip was indeed a folly. Turned around at the Corbett bridge and headed back. Was surprised on the return trip when the sun came through a sucker hole in the clouds and...

  Left for Lordville at 9:30 this morning with three tasks and the possibility of either deer hunting or fishing on the agenda for today. Called Vicky on the way down and got a pruning appointment at 12:30. Drove straight down to the Lordville Estate and mowed/raked the front and two side yards before the hair cut. That left the reseeding of the areas of the lawn destroyed by the grubs the only unaccomplished task. After the hair cut I stopped and chatted with Dave at the Troutfitter who was on his 220th straight day of work, (three to go 'til closedown). He told me Al C., a lifetime Delaware River fisherman, had a lights out day on the upper BR a few days ago with olives hatching and rising fish everywhere. The fishing - Left home  reasonably optimistic about the fishing. Why?  The WB release water is the warmest water in the system. It's been running at over 1,000cfs for ages, too high to wade most places and too high for most fish to come up and eat little olives. I've...

  With Jean and her sister off to visit her brother in Cleveland, the original plan was for me to stay down at the Lordville Estate until Sunday. With gale force winds on Thursday I worked all day getting the camp ready for closedown. Spent the morning Friday crossing items off the list, filled the car with another load for the transfer station and headed out with it about 1:30. From the transfer station I drove back up to the Bk which was 50cfs lower than two days ago, and stopped at a place three pools down from my eagle encounter of a week or two ago. Was in the pool no more than ten minutes when a couple of loud screeches announced the arrival of the eagle. Rose three fish that refused my fly and then hooked a 12 inch rainbow. Kept my eyes on both the fish and the eagle. When the fish was no more than fifteen feet away from me he started to splash on the surface, saw the eagle bend forward ready to take flight, gave the rod a stiff jerk intending to break the fish off, (once ag...