Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 Having taken pains assembling a seemingly well qualified panel of septuagenarians  and octogenarians, all  supposedly well versed in music from the 50's and 60's, I was appalled when Jim N., (exquisite fly-tyer though he may be), (but a still wet behind the ears newbie), was first on a Beach Boy's song. Compounding my pain was the fact that he then had the audacity to suggest a Cure by establishing a New Order that would never let me down again.              Things didn't improve today when no one, young or old, gave credit to Spiral Staircase for Every                   Days a New Day. Diana Ross's song didn't appear until 1999. Too bad Black Boat isn't around to                   keel haul the lot of you.              Hope at least one of the eleven cars parked at the Hale Eddy...

Had the best night's sleep of the season last night, no leg cramps and no trips to the loo. Have been doing a series of exercises to tighten up my shoulders which wake me up whenever I turn over in bed. It's a familiar story, do the exercises, get feeling good, sleep well and stop doing the exercises and within a couple of weeks you're waking up every time you roll over in bed again. Spent the morning finishing the annual peach thinning project. Pruned the tree back by over half two years ago, and this year I was able to thin the entire tree in just three sessions. Pulled about 500 peaches off over laden branches each time, the deer do the cleanup. Finished the peaches at noon and I really can't tell you what happened to the next three hours but I didn't get to the WB until three-thirty. Wasn't concerned because the hatch yesterday went from 3:30 until about 4:45 and I didn't catch anything anyway. To my surprise the water was filled with Dorothea nymph husk...

It's nine-fifteen and I've been home for over an hour, yesterday I didn't get into the car until 9:37. What happened? Mother nature, the trout, and a guide who apparently thought dropping the anchor no more than 40 FEET below me didn't constitute "low holing". Short term anyways, I'm done praising guides, some are thoughtless, others inconsiderate, and others want to get their sport a fish to ensure a good tip. Started the day by driving down the river from the route 8 intersection with river road to the town bridge in Deposit and it was packed with fishermen, (sorta like sardines when you peel back the lid on the can). At 1:45 every one of them was standing there waiting for it to happen, (with the cloud cover there's a chance it never did). Drove down stream to Hale Eddy, walked out on the bridge, saw a few Dorothea's in the air and decided to fish. Seldom do I get an ass kicking like I got this afternoon. There were bugs, (quite a few), and risi...

Had several items to cross off the to-do list so I got up early, had breakfast and got to work. Put up the ladder and unplugged the gutter on the backside of the house, turned the ladder around, got the chain saw and cut off two dead limbs on the apple tree, then went down to the back yard and cut down and cut up the dead plumb tree, disposed of the remains of both trees, took down the storms and put them away, came in, took a shower, sat down at the fly tying bench and replenished my iso box, before I knew it it was lunch time. (I did that last sentence just for Mrs. Haskins, a long time admirer of my run on sentences.) May have dozed off for a bit in the recliner after lunch 'cause when I walked out to the kitchen the clock said 2:15. With the sun shining brightly, the freestones were given a reprieve and I headed for Deposit. Stopped at the Hale Eddy bridge for a "look see" and ended up having a good conversation with two guys from the USGS who were checking the river ...

 Awoke this morning with two bruises the only evidence of yesterday's encounter with the EB's rock strewn shoreline. Had plans to fish one of my favorite places on the freestones today, but they were put in the TBD category last night. The trip was back on the schedule this morning. Spent a couple hours replenishing my Invarias and Cahills, (always a sign of prior success on the river), and was ready to go. Left the fishing camp promptly at two with the sky overcast and the freestones all showing temps around 60 degrees. To say I felt great would be a lie, (nobody over eighty ever feels great), but I never gave taking an Advil a thought and took on one of the more difficult pieces of water that I still fish.  Never saw a mayfly on the water or in the air, there were a few caddis and but an occasional rising fish. It was evident from the start, however, that the fish were hungry, rising fish ate, and two fish that refused my first offering came back and ate the second. The Cahi...

 Drove down this morning in a steady rain with the temperature in the mid 50's arriving at the Lordville Estate just after noon. Had lunch, did the Monday puzzles and at 1:30 headed out to fish the freestones.  With a cold rain and no sunshine the freestone water temps were down to about 60 degrees and I wanted a break from the chorus line of anglers up in Deposit.  Started on the BR, there were no bugs, and no rising fish. Fished for an hour and a half got two refusals and hooked five fish, (one being a 9 inch yearling rainbow). Drove over to the BK and looked at four different pools, never saw a rise. Tried one for a half hour never saw a bug or a fish. Went from there to the BE and fished two pools from 5:00 until 8:30. There were some small olives on one pool and I saw no more than a couple dozen Cahill's in the two pools combined. Was refused on both an iso and a small olive, but the fish gleefully, (until hooked), ate my Cahill's with nary a refusal. Lost two flies ...