Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 My ploy to get the fishermen off the river with the, "Let me tell you where it's at", offering on Friday worked like a charm. At 4:30 when I drove up to Deposit, there were but two cars in the Men's Club lot, neither JF or Mike-the-Cop were parked at the Lee Conklin Plaque tree, and not a fisherman was in sight. There were no fishermen below the town bridge and but one above. Drove up river to the Red Barn/ Stilesville area and was perplexed by what I saw. Three fishermen in the Red Barn pool and five cars parked at the Red Barn, even more perplexing was that there was but one fisherman in the water at Stilesville with six cars in the parking area, (there was one fisherman standing in the road talking with what appeared to be a non-fisherman). Me? I had things yet to do both at home and at the Lordville Estate before I could don the waders. At 2:30 I was finally ready to go. With a cloudy overcast sky, I decided to see if the lack of sun got some isos or even olives ...

 Home in Lafayette resting up after some yard work and figured it was a good time to answer questions.  James gets the Dennis Molter award for most questions asked. I measure the trout by holding it up against my rod where the nice people at Winston put little white lines every two inches. If the fish is 20 inches or above and I'm near shore I lay the fish on my landing net which has an inlaid tape measure to get a more accurate measurement. The drift boats coming and going on 191, (and 97), are almost certainly on smallmouth bass trips down river. I've not done it, but have heard that the bass fishing is very good. Cold nights help cool the water down so fish return to their home pools which opens up the entire river system. Rainy days should help bring on the olives. Fish are not happy rising on bright sunny days. John H - October usually offers pseudos, isos and hebes, the colder the weather the better. A 15 year old, (really any trout over say 6 or 7 years), is as big as t...

Spent a minute or to before writing tonight reading fishing reports from DRC, WBA, and AI. All gild the lily to varying degrees. I don't blame DRC and WBA one bit they are trying to rent rooms/cabins and keep the boats floating. AI, however, should be able to see through the bs and tell it like it is. DRC has had 3 pictures of fish in the month of August. AI says there are sulfurs, olives. isos and Cahills providing steady dry fly action. I say bull shit! The sulfurs - God bless 'em have been on the water for more than six weeks and they still are hatching. The hatch is waning and the best hatches are up above Deposit. The sulfurs can be seen from about noon until dark. The fish seem to be ignoring them most of the time but will feed heavily in short concentrated spurts. It's still the best chance to fish to rising fish before 8:oopm. The olives - Need to get get in the game. Traditionally as the sulfurs start to wane the olives start to hatch. Yes, there have been olives m...

 After yesterday's lackluster, rain shortened effort, I resolved to do better today. Got to Deposit at 1:30 and drove up to the Red Barn where two cars and two fisherman told the story. Stilesville had five cars and unless I missed someone, an equal number of fishermen. Glassed the water in both places and yes there were sulfurs, but not many, didn't see a single rise. The cedar wax wings, (about a dozen of them), were picking off every sulfur that got airborne. Saw Troutfitter regulars, JF, Mike the Cop, and The Tenant all driving around looking for a reason to fish. I went back to the Lordville Estate and pulled up crabgrass in the backyard. The good - With the recent high water event, and the relatively normal August temps there may well have been movement of fish from their thermal refuge haunts back to their home pools. Most water temps have peaked at about 70 degrees for the last couple of weeks and that for only an hour or two a day.  The bad - With over seven inches of...

 After yesterday's woeful fishing performance, my usual reaction would have been to spend more time fishing and less time doing crosswords. Today it was 6:45 before I pulled the suspenders up over my shoulders, put on the fishing vest and headed for the river. Why? I'm tired of fishing the Sulfur Zone, had yard work to do, and wanted to try to fix the front door, it works fine in April and May, but refuses to close, and this year latch, in June, July, and August. Got a jack post and raised up the door frame on the latch side. It no longer binds but I still have to push down on the door handle to lock the door.  Everyone who regularly reads the reports is familiar with the choice that has to be made with the raincoat, (under the vest or over the vest), well there are two more choices, (leave it in the car or put it in the back of your vest). I left it in the car, with but two hours of fishing and thinly clouded skies to the west, it was a no brainer. Fifteen minutes later, a qu...

 Mowed the lawn this morning as soon as the sun dried the dew off the back yard grass. Felt no need to hurry up to Deposit as I had rising fish from two until almost five yesterday. There are bugs on the water from at least noon until dark, but the fish seem to decide when they want to eat. There are fish feeding everywhere, you stop to change flies, (don't bother, they're not looking at them anyway), look up, and there isn't a fish feeding, the bugs are still on the water but the fish are done. There seems to be an hour and a half to two hours when the fish are up during the afternoon and another feeding spell sometime between six and dark. I've been weaning myself away from the Sulfur Zone, making evening forays down to the lower WB where I've found a dearth of bugs, but fish more willing to eat what's put before them, until today.  The fishing - For me, wasn't worth a damn. Tried up in Stilesville for the first time since the Invarias departed and I proba...