Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 The sulfurs continue to hatch, the fish continue to feed, the algae continues to flow, and the fishermen continue to line up, curse the algae, marvel at the number of sulfurs, and try, with very limited success, to hook a trout or two. My resistance to the affair with the Dorotheas is growing by the day. Arrived in Deposit at 1:30 and couldn't find a place to fish until 3:00 when the five guys occupying a pool left in unison. Remarkably I had fish to throw at. Under current conditions hooking a fish does not necessarily mean he ate the fly. Refusals, at least for me, outnumber the takes by at least ten to one. If you hook each time a fish rises to your fly you are bound to "foul hook" a few. Foul hooked at least two yesterday and another two today. Did have five fish take, landed three 'bows, a 3lb 15 incher, (algae included), a nice 18 incher and a juvenile of 9 inches, lost a nice 'bow and a brown. Hatch ended and was in the car by 4:15. Tired of driving to and...

 It's 9:45 and I'm beat. Got in the water on the WB at 12:30, which was about an hour too early. There were plenty of bugs on the water but the fish knew what was coming and were in no hurry to get started. It was crazy windy, or to say it better the wind was crazy. There were times when it was dead calm, times when it blew twenty and the crazy part, it came from every direction on the compass. Missed a rising fish by 15 feet. Two fish hooked themselves when I was watching "my fly" so far away from where it really was that I never saw the rise. Had countless refusals, had three fish suck my fly under the surface and not have it in their mouth when I lifted. Hooked 10 fish, (two of which were foul hooked). Landed but three. Frustrating, exasperating, exciting and just plain fun. Drove back to the Lordville Estate, put my feet up and got about a third of a crossword done before I nodded off. Left at seven and decided to get out of Dodge, (Deposit). Since the boats have ...

 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...