Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 Tended to some business items early this morning and was out the door at 11:15 with a car packed with enough food for the week.  Dropped off some of our home grown tomatoes, (from Florida), at the Troutfitter, unpacked the car at the Lordville Estate and was back on the road heading east by 1:30. Turns out I needn't have rushed. Stopped at all my regular "look see" spots on the EB, BK and the Willow both on the way out and on the way back. The only difference being that it was dead calm heading east and it blew 15/20 on the way back. Saw some micro caddis, a few little black stones and not a single may fly. Saw a grand total of two fish rise, one on the BK, and one at Jaws, technically he was in the UEB water.   The fishing - Never gave a thought to putting the waders on. Saw four fishermen on the BK, and one boat on the WB below Balls Eddy. DRC has had  pictures of some very large trout caught on streamers, but the absence of fishermen today is clear evidence ...

 Drove down to Deposit for a 9:15 haircut appointment at Vicky's on Thursday morning. Stopped at the Troutfitter to chat with Dave who said the streamer fishing from boats has produced some very big browns. By 11:30 I was unlocking the front door of the Lordville Estate. The yard had quite a few dead branches from my neighbors Norway maple but the town plow had mercifully left the road in place and I was spared the job of raking it off the lawn. Turned on the well pump and the pressure tank began to fill, (always a good sign), went outside and turned off the two spigots as soon as the water began to flow. Did the same upstairs noting that the hot water side wasn't yet running. Went downstairs and saw why. The 35 year old hot water heater had called it quits and was dumping water out on the cellar floor through a hole in the bottom of the tank. Shut off the water flow to the tank and called Gary Hubert the plumber  that keeps both the water and sewer lines flowing at the Troutf...

 This will be short. Going down to the fishing camp tomorrow and will report on the fridge and hot water tank. John H asked about trigger fish. I've caught some in the keys on bait and yes, I've fished for them in the Bahamas. Found them to be not very spooky, but fussy about what they eat. They feed on crustaceans, shrimp and even gnaw on coral. They have very sharp teeth, but very small mouths, try the smallest flies you've got and don't move the fly very much. Got several to eat when the tide went slack and the bonefish were nowhere to be seen. In case someone is wondering, they are good to eat, their skin will dull the sharpest knife, and they have a sharp point that sticks up on their dorsal fin, which is probably why there isn't a pelican that will try to eat one, (how do the young pelicans know this?)   

Jean and I left Long Key Saturday morning at 2:45am, and within 5 minutes were in a line of five cars following a construction truck (they work on the roads at night), with blinking yellow lights, moving along US-1 at 35 mph. Got on the Florida Turnpike at 4:00am and ten minutes later the low air warning light came on showing but 26 lbs. of air in the right rear tire. Car has neither jack nor spare, and the can of "Fix a Flat" was in the storage compartment buried under a loaded freezer. Found an open Convenience store/gas station with an air pump and for $3.00 put 40 lbs. of air in the tire. Back on the turnpike, we drove for two hours and watched the tire pressure slowly drop to 32 lbs. Stopped at Ft. Pierce where there are several gas stations and two truck stops, none of which were open for service. Bought a can of "Fix A Flat" but was unable to get more than about 10 seconds worth of the stuff into the tire before it stopped working. Spent an additional $2.50 f...

 Surprised myself and made it to 83 on Monday. Birthdays are something I no longer celebrate, but rather a day to assess the ravages of time on my aging carcass. It has occurred to me that I am now burying friends at roughly the same rate as I am becoming acquainted with new physicians (not a cheery thought). I'm currently weaning my self off a med prescribed by my cardiologist (a recent addition to the medical team), that I was told would slow down and strengthen my heart beat. What it does is lower my blood pressure to levels that, if converted to golf scores, would enable me to pin Dennis Molter's ears back with regularity.  It's been an uneventful winter here in the Florida Keys. There are almost no Ontario and Quebec license plates to be seen but the traffic on US 1 is the worst I've ever experienced. Have not seen a bonefish skiff on any of the flats all season. The Keys are warm and sunny, it never snows, but with the disappearance of the bone fish, they hold lit...

  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....