Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 The Dorotheas have been here for three weeks, most all of the fish have been fooled at least once, they are as difficult a challenge to take on a dry as you would ever want. If you are up for the challenge, here's what you need to know. 1-We are in the midst of a very good Dorothea hatch. The hatch begins each day when the water temp nears 52 degrees. There are two peaks in each days hatch, one in the early afternoon and one in the evening. So far there have been sulfurs on the water from the start until it finally shuts down near dark. Some days fish will be feeding all day long, while on other days the feeding is limited to the two peak periods which seem to last about 2 hours each. 2- Usually most of the big browns change their diet to fish as soon as the Drake spinner fall is finished in early June and your opportunities to catch them on dries is greatly reduced. This year the percentage of big browns in my catch total has actually increased as the season has lengthened. Why? ...

 In Saturday's Wind Knots and Tailing loops page, I wrote at length about the situation here in the Delaware River System regarding the fish population. Brian, unless he's being factious, said I was correct, and went to the trouble of looking up and posting a statement from the "fish and game commission", (NY, PA or ????). The statement is laced with errors, is generic in nature, does not take into consideration the changes wrought by catch and release fishing, it has no relevance to a tailwater fishery such as the Delaware. John asked what caused the discrepancies in trout sizes, and what did I mean by paying the piper? Here goes - In the days before catch and release became popular almost no trout lived past two years. An 11 or 12 inch fish was fish of the day and a 14 incher was fish of the year. Brown trout in my trout pond can and have lived ten years. The NY DEC has killed some big trout in the Delaware so that they could determine their age and I'm quite su...

Home watching t-boomers pass by while awaiting my dentist appointment on Monday, (possible new crown or root canal then new crown). Not many questions in the past month but found a few things to comment on. Rich T. - Jean and I winter on the original Zane Grey Creek on Long Key down in the Florida Keys where both ZG, and I have tangled with many bonefish. FWIW there is a Zane Grey museum on the Delaware in Lackawaxen Pa where he practiced dentistry in his spare time. Small world. Steve L. -Haven't seen but a single rattle snake so far this year. The surges/pulses are well worth putting up with as they maintain a huge thermal refuge for trout, ( perhaps as far down the BR as Buckingham). The two problems they create are both in the sulfur zone. They usually shut down the evening hatch and if you are not paying attention they can make crossing the stream to get back to your car a challenge. The trout just hunker down and enjoy the cold water. James - Invaria, (aka Spring Sulfurs) are...

 The worst of the smoke seemed to have gone elsewhere today, blue sky, white clouds and sunshine. The bugs started a little after one and went until three with fish up and feeding the entire time. The bugs actually continued hatching in more modest numbers but the fish were full and stopped rising. I wasn't in the best location as the boats had to row right through where I was fishing, (my fault not theirs). After fishing I took the time to drive up River Road. The Red Barn lot and the Stilesville lot had six cars each. Red Barn was the usual circus but even with the binoculars I failed to see risers or many bugs. Upriver towards Cold Springs Brook the absence of both bugs and rising fish was even more noticeable. Drove back to Lordville and rested up for the evening fishing. At six I headed out again as the hatch has seemed to reignite about that time on sunny days. The river had a picket fence of anglers down its middle from the town  bridge all the way to Barking Dog and pe...

 With the smoke again blocking the sun and turning the Catskills into the "Blue" Ridge Mountains, there was no need to hurry to Deposit. Without the sun's rays, the water took much longer to heat up and there was little to no bug activity before 1:30. Spent a pleasant hour streamside talking with a local guide and three other senior citizen fishermen. By a little after 2:00 both the bugs and fish were going and I left to try and catch one. There were lots of bugs on the water and lots of fish all eating sulfur nymphs subsurface. I hooked but one fish during the apex of the hatch, as most of my casts were totally ignored. It wasn't until the hatch had slowed down that some fish started to look up. When they did I could suddenly fish again. Cast at five fish I saw feeding on the surface, hooked four and was refused by the fifth. After the hatch I circled back up to the Red Barn, three fishermen in the water, with a few Dorotheas in the air, didn't see a rise. At Sti...

Headed out at noon today with a fresh batch of sulfurs  that I had put on the car dash to cure the water shed I put on them. Usually an hour in the hot car and they are dry as a bone, not today, with a heavy cover of Canadian smoke the sun couldn't do it's job, shrugged and headed for the WB.  Arrived streamside at about 12:30 with sulfurs all over the water and the fish up. Suited up, left the new sulfurs on the dash to finish drying and went fishing. Picked a pool that I hadn't fished yet this year and for about an hour I wondered why I hadn't. Hooked six fish, landing four when I noticed things slowing down, fewer bugs and fewer rising trout. At 2:00 I was walking back to the car past another angler who said "the waters too cold, no sun", and the light came on in my head. Without sunshine the water often stays below the 52 degree temp the sulfurs love to hatch from. Drove both up and down stream and saw neither bugs nor rising fish. There was not a single w...