Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 After three days at home in Lafayette, mowing the pond area grass, seeing the ENT Dr., meeting with the excavator to discuss restoration of the bass pond, and a delightful dinner at the Blue Canoe with Jean and Susan, the surviving spouse of one of the original "couples" who participated in the first, First English Lutheran couples club canoe trip almost fifty years ago, I had things to do in Lordville. Mow the grass for one, hair cut at Vicky's unisex salon for two, and catch some fish before my hands started shaking  from withdrawal.  Scheduled a haircut for 4:00 with Vicky on the ride down, jumped on the mower and did the lawn as soon as I got everything put away in the Lordville Estate, made two sandwiches, packed them in the  little soft sided cooler along with two of Jean's chocolate chip cookies, and a bottle of Gatorade and headed for Deposit. Arrived at 1:00, did the River Road drive from Stilesville down to the Men's Club, 5 cars in the Stilesville lot,...

 Woke early, got the chores out of the way and was in Deposit by 11:45. There were already bugs and fishermen. Found an empty pool in which I've seen little and done little this year and decided to give it another try. Bugs got going by 12:15 and the fish shortly thereafter. Much to my surprise there were a good number of rainbows on display eating nymphs in the water column. Fished for three and a half hours with every cast aimed at a boil, never saw a bug eaten off the surface. Mostly my flies were ignored, hooked four fish each on a different fly, had a few refusals and two fish that I felt but didn't hook up. None of the fish ate my sulfurs or sulfur emergers for that matter. It was a genuine beatdown. Drove back to the fishing camp to lick my wounds and rest up. At 6:30 I walked out of the door and came to an abrupt halt. Laying on the pavement between me and the car, soaking up the warmth was a three and a half foot thick bodied rattlesnake. He was apparently quite comfor...

 Hopefully everyone understands that basically I enjoy writing the reports, but that the summer sulfur season is a challenge. There are only three miles of stream in play, one bug hatching, lots of fishermen, tough fish, (thankfully they are HUGE this year), and a writer trying to make it sound interesting for six to eight weeks. Fortunately Jim Dygert and Dave Garlock bailed me out today. STOP right now and go back to yesterday's report and read their comments, we'll wait.  - - - -Everyone back? I do remember the RR service road. Had a van back then and Jean and I drove the service road from above Hale Eddy down through the gamelands. We also drove the service road from Stockport all the way to Lordville. We were a bit younger then and had been camping out in the van up in the Adirondacks for years. There were pulloffs along the tracks, one of which was below Buckingham next to what I called the River House pool. The pulloff was on a bend in the tracks, we fished the River Ho...

 With a large stationary low front using Albany as it's axis and rotating it's rain clouds over the entire north east there was no way to fish without a raincoat. Yesterday the heavy rain hit the Willow and Bk and sent the water level at Cook's Falls to about 15,000 cfs which is well above flood stage. The BR peaked back of the fishing camp at about 21,000 which is also above flood stage, (I will not be fishing the BR tonight). Thankfully Cannonsville reservoir got some water but the WB was spared. The level briefly bumped up over 700 cfs but by the time I went fishing it was down to 650 cfs and was running clear. The radar still shows rain in the area but the flood watches have expired. The fishing - Most sane people stayed home. Those here for an extended stay and those within an easy drive were on the WB. The bugs showed up, the fish fed, and there were lots of places to fish. The Red Barn had bugs, rising fish and half a dozen anglers. Stilesville was thinly populated w...

Drove up to Deposit to try and get in an hour or two of fishing during what is predicted to be a couple very rainy days. Drove down to the Men's Club and saw a giant tree that was growing on the riverbank just back of the club house laying at right angles to the shoreline out in the river. Glad no one was fishing along the wall when it came down. The fishing - What would you pay to be the only fisherman fishing a pool during a blanket hatch of Dorotheas with every fish in the pool up gulping the duns? Without a moments hesitation I put the $5.00 bill in the tin box, donned my gear, (vest inside the raincoat, for once), went through the gate and into the Red Barn pool. Never had to cast more than 30 feet but the competition from live sulfurs was fierce. They were no more than six inches apart on the far side of the stream. The fish seemed unbothered by my casts and kept on gulping. Singled out a fish and made cast after cast until it ate. In the first hour it didn't take long to...

 I don't care if I never fish another "A" spot, I'm not getting in line the night before the tickets go on sale to be sure I get to fish "my spot". That said, I did get to Deposit at 11:45, (early for me), and found the river sparsely populated with fishermen. An "A" spot I was unable to fish last week was open and I didn't dilly dally getting there. There were bugs from the get go, but the fish in the Sulfur Zone know what's coming and are in no rush to get started. Was there about 15 minutes before the first rise but things went from cold to hot almost before I could make a cast. I was careful, cast well, didn't make a lot of mistakes and caught 5 fish, including a 10 inch yearling bow and a 12 inch hatchery brown. Way too soon, the fish just stopped eating. There were still lots of bugs on the water but no fish up. Not only did the fish quit, but so did the anglers. Had the river to myself and decided to fish back to the car. Screwed...