Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

I wanted the month to end with a bang (not a boom).  Unfortunately I spent most of the afternoon dodging thunderstorms.  By 4:30 I hadn't fished more than half an hour.  Called it quits and was headed back to the camp when the sky cleared and the sun came out. Stopped at a place on the BE that has always had fish (until this year), and decided to give it a fair try.  Fished from about 4:45 until 8:45 and came away with the feeling that it really doesn't have very many fish.  Saw a few risers when I got there and got a hook into 8 fish  but there were an array of duns and spinners that should have gotten fish up and just didn't.  I stood looking for a rise for a half hour before I departed with almost an hour's worth of light left in the day. The fish I did see were mostly two year olds.  Never saw any big fish that usually can be found in the BE.  This has been the norm in many places this year.  Either a lot of big fish have "been t...

 Decided to follow my own advice and turn my attention to the cold water in the WB and UEB. Had hopes of finding a good hatch of summer sulfurs mid afternoon.  Arrived in Deposit a little before two and knew right away by the absence of fishermen that the sulfurs hadn't started.  Tried two places one above the no kill and one in the no kill.  There were a very few sulfurs hatching.  The only fish up were yearlings and hatchery fish. At 3:30 I left the WB and headed to the UEB.  By the time I got to Corbett I knew the sulfurs weren't going there either.  Saw one car at long flat and one at Thayer Hollow. Fifteen miles of stream and two fishermen!  The falloff in the number of anglers in the last two weeks is amazing.  I know a lot of fishermen head west about this time but Hancock is a ghost town.  Last Friday there were anglers everywhere I wanted to fish. Today I could fish where ever I wanted. I know that the crowded conditions durin...

With  the warm nights and  daytime sunshine the areas of thermal concern all hit temps in the low 70s today.  While there may yet be periods of cooler temps and cloudy days when you can fish anywhere in the system, on most days the BK, BE (below confluence with the BK) and the big river below Stockport will be too warm to fish after early morning.  The trout will begin congregating at thermal refuges and should not be fished! Both the UEB ( EB above the confluence with the BK to Downsville) and the entire WB are fine to fish as long as releases are not reduced. The big river section to Stockport should be checked for temp before fishing (especially in the evening). It was good while it lasted but summer is here and the area where we can consistently fish without endangering the fish has shrunken to a "mere" 30 to 35 miles.  Not many rivers offer that much fishing water anytime.  Respect other anglers and the fish and enjoy that portion of the fishery th...

Buoyed by my success the last two days I again set out for the EB in the morning.  Fished a riff/run where I had success early in the year and had a big zero the second time around.  Today turned out to be sorta in between.  There were no olives (or any other bugs for that matter) nor were there any (alright I saw one) risers. Started with an olive and later switched to an iso. How'd I do?  In three hours of blind casting I rose 12 fish,  hooked (and landed ) four.  Never got a single one of the refusers to look at a second fly.  Saw one drift boat (courteous) and no other fishermen. After my mandated rest period I set out to fish the BR.  What was I thinking?  It's Friday and anglers were as thick as maggots on a road side kill, filling up parking lots , rowing upriver in pontoon boats, and carrying kayaks over the RR tracks to launch and paddle across the river (to where I intended to fish).  After three false starts, I pulled the ...

It was just 12 days ago that I was in the midst of rising fish, green drakes and 18 boats.  Just a week ago I saw my last coffin flies of the season. Today I did not see a boat or for that matter another fisherman.  The pictures of "fish of the day" on other sites have been replaced by pictures of the USGS water flow graphs.  Some sites are reporting M-W-F, while other reports have become intermittent or sporadic. Me?  Happier than a hog in a sty full of slop.  While the river temps are creeping up to the danger zone and some of the river system will soon be off the table,  I have found delightful (and productive) fishing early mornings on the BE and late evenings on the BR.  Olive duns and their spinners have been the catalyst triggering most of the feeding.  The fish are very careful about what they eat but they are feeding and every once in a while they can be fooled. Not having boats going by with sports throwing at your fish and guides an...

I split the day again.  Fished above Hale Eddy in the morning.  Bright sunshine, cold water, no bugs or risers.  As I was wading up to where I intended to fish I saw a nice fish out on a gravel bar.  Made a poor cast that landed two feet to his left and he swam over and ate it.  This at least gave me hope, in about two hours of fishing I rose six, hooked five and landed four. With the bright sun and breeze I was content to eat lunch, do yard work and take a power nap. There were no afternoon sulfurs on the UEB yesterday and there has been no mention of them on the WB either.  Without the sulfurs there is little incentive to spend the afternoon on the water. About six I got in the car and drove around looking for a sign that said I should be fishing - there wasn't any.  Was headed back to camp when I decided to give the big river a try.  With water temps climbing the season on the big river is drawing to a close.  With the big bug hatches ...

According to the people who keep track of such things today is one second longer than tomorrow will be.  Tomorrow the pendulum begins its long swing back to a cold gray November day when it won't be light until after 7:30 in the morning and will be dark again by 4:30 in the afternoon.  I savor the hour and a half of additional sun light we get upon our arrival in Florida in late November and secretly rejoice when we gain our first minute of sunlight back the first week of January. I don't like it that tomorrow the days will start to get shorter.  You don't notice it at first but its there.  I got back to the car tonight at 9:55.  By this time in August I'll be driving home by 8:30.  The fishing didn't even start until after 7:30 tonight.  In October it'll be dark by 6:30. When you are self employed one of the fringe benefits is the ability to celebrate holidays no one else does. Opening day of trout, pheasant, duck and grouse seasons were always ho...

It was a dark, overcast, foggy, misty kind of  day,  that you expect to see olives and isos on.  There were olives but not isos.  Tried a tailout on the big river and found fish eating something sub surface.  A big brown lured me into the tailout by eating my olive and then running and jumping through 75 feet of backing before coming unstuck. The next two hours produced one refusal, three fall fish and too many ignores to count. Second (and last) stop was on the BE which has been a disappointment this year.  The fish population seems to be way down and as a result the river has received less pressure than any other part of the system.  Found a good olive hatch (including cornutas) and some fish feeding just under the surface. A boat went by and the oarsman said they had seen risers but couldn't get any to take.  I pretty much had the same problem.  My fly patch was covered with flies that didn't work.  To make matters worse I lost half...

With Cannonsville no longer spilling and the release cut back to 275 cfs it was time to spend a day on the WB.  With the low water there were sure to be fewer boats and the wade fishermen probably  wouldn't  come in numbers until the weekend. My morning fishing was above Hancock.  It's a place I fish a couple of times a year.  It's a good long walk along the tracks but there is seldom anyone there. Saw two anglers, one across the river and one in the distance.  When a drift boat appeared I had already turned around and was headed for the car. There were no bugs hatching and probably saw no more than half a dozen rises that were not to my fly. Rose a dozen fish hooked a handful of hot rainbows and landed four of them. The afternoon fishing didn't go as well. Fished a piece of water below Hancock.  In the first half an hour six boats went by me and an angler appeared out of no where and followed me upstream no more than a long cast away.  Again ...

It kind of sneaks up on you. When the first hendricksons started hatching late in April you thought it would never end. We had  a major period of high water where even floating was dangerous and wading was out of the question.  The doldrums seemed to last forever and just when things started  happening the second big rain washed out the better part of the gray fox, sulfur and drake fishing. The lightning bugs are lighting up the yard and as I sat on the porch tonight the last toad stopped singing and all was quiet. It may be a week away on the calendar but on the river it's summer. I saw a few green drake duns on Sunday on the WB and won't take them out of my vest 'til I fish there again in the evening and confirm that they are gone.  The big bugs are clearly over on the BK, BE and BR.  I stopped in the drake water on the UEB late last night and saw a few coffin flies but no duns. Even the dreaded black caddis are winding down.  Fished the big river tonig...

Most who read this blog know I try to avoid boats at all costs.  After a bang up night Friday on the UEB, I went back for more on Saturday and had 18 boats wend there way by me in JUST TWO HOURS!!!   Now, some of those who rowed by were old river friends who I was glad to see.  Others were fishermen who stopped and shared information as fishermen do, most were polite and tried to stay out of my way. As I mentioned in an earlier post I landed one fish and had 12 fish come to the fly and refuse it.  Ya think the boats might have been a factor? Since then I may have gone a little overboard in my attempts to avoid boat traffic.  Sunday, with almost no one floating, I fished the then still high WB and had a bang up good time.  Two or three boats slid by way away from where I was fishing and I hardly noticed.  On Monday I again disdained the UEB drake hatch for fear of being rowed over by an inattentive oarsman.  Instead I fished the BE in a place whe...

With the heat turned up again today I fished early.  Was on the river by 7:00 with mist on the water and the slurp of rising trout in the air.  The spinner fall didn't amount to much.  Either they all fell the night before or the hatch is waning.  Actually did better than yesterday as there were more fish feeding where I fished today than yesterday. Quit about noon. Didn't go out again until 7:00.  With today's heat I could have waited even longer. In fact I could have waited until tomorrow.  Caught two fish that went 16 inches.  The brown was 9 and the rainbow 7.  'Nuf said. Oh, sat out on the porch tonight to watch the lightning bugs.  The heat must charge up their batteries as they were lighting up the yard like fans at a concert.  The toads were also in full voice for the third time this year (each hot spell). Have never known them to make so many false starts.  For their sake I hope tonight's the night.

With the weather forecast calling for near ninety,  I decided on a split the day.  It was a good idea and would have worked even better if I had started out earlier. Went to the UEB in the morning where a brown/green drake spinner fall was well underway.  My first two casts found fish willing to eat.  Thereafter the fish sharpened their game and refusals outnumbered takes,  It was calm when I started but the wind joined the fray on the side of the trout and made presentation of a size ten brown drake spinner something of a challenge. Mid day activities included  a power nap, fixing a fence and bracing up a peach tree that the neighborhood  buck has been chewing on (all done in near 90 degree heat). At about six I headed for the WB which I have fished exactly three times all season.  Between high water and the excessive number of boats, I have avoided it like the plague.  That said, it has the best bugs and the most fish. You just have t...

There are several guiding principles that I adhere to when trout fishing. One of the most basic is "Don't fish a pool more than once in a week."  Why you ask?  Because trout "remember" to avoid flies that didn't taste good.  Much like squirrels that are said to "remember"  where they buried up to a thousand nuts,  trout "remember" to avoid things they ate that left a bad after taste. Yesterday when the fish got going good I had a fly they were willing to die for.  Today with the water still too high to be wading (they bumped the releases again) I had very few places where I could safely wade.  Drove to a high water place on the WB only to find two wade anglers zeroing in on "my spot." Drove to the UEB and found two boats anchored in the pool I wanted to fish.  Drove by yesterdays pool and there was no one there. I know, I know but I stopped and fished. And?  The fish were rising in the same places they rose the night before....

With the drakes a good ten days behind schedule and sure to be hatching, I decided to head back to the river and try to find a place to fish.  When I got to the camp I turned on the computer and learned that the releases had been increased (WB - 1000 cfs, EB - 300 cfs).  While this is good news if you are concerned with the summer sulfurs blowing out in June due to the warn water temps created by the spill water, it was not good news for any one trying to wade anywhere in the river system today. Add bright sun and a stiff breeze to the high water and one might wonder about the sanity of anyone trying to wade fish the river. With my sanity in question I tried the conservative approach and threw an iso around on the BK for a half hour.  After all it was down under 1,000 cfs and running clear.  The only bug I saw was mine.  Never saw a fish rise.  End of story. Drove up the UEB, first car I saw was at Long Flat, another one was at Power Line.  The tr...

In case you slept through yesterdays series of storms - today's game has been postponed.  Hopefully it can be rescheduled later in the season.  All of the rivers are high, muddy and still rising.  With both reservoirs spilling they will stay high for several days even without more rain. On the positive side the spill water will be clear and probably full of alewives. Streamer fishermen will again be in their glory as soon as the tribs stop gushing mud. Dry fly guys, however, may not live long enough to fish a spinner fall. Was stream side for the first storm and a bolt of lightning hit so close that I felt the ground shake.  My ears are still ringing from the thunder clap, an interesting experience, as was the half mile walk back to the car.

Set out to fish earlier than usual today because I encountered cornutas yesterday. While they can and do hatch most anytime all summer, in the first week of June they can reliably be found hatching in the morning.  Stopped to chat with my neighbor who was standing by the road.  He asked where I was fishing today and I told him the Beaverkill.  Just as I pulled away a Rhodes & Johnston flat bed loaded with three huge pieces of uncut blustone came across the bridge and started up the three mile hill to Route 97.  Not wanting to spend half an hour inhaling diesel fumes I crossed the bridge and went up the Pennsy side. Stopped at Buckingham, as is my custom,  just to see if anything was going on.  Before I had even gotten to the launch ramp, I had seen half a dozen fish rise.  Cornutas?  Nah they were eating big yellow flies.  Gray foxes were hatching and there wasn't a soul around to do anything about it except me.  The hatch was over...

The day came as advertised, cloudy, rainy and cold. A three shirter for sure.  But we didn't get the 3/4 of an inch of rain that was predicted.  With the reservoirs already spilling that much rain could have made most of the river system unwadeable.  We have more rain on tap but today was predicted to be the heaviest soaking.  Looking at the weather radar, it seemed to go just south of us. The bugs?  Each place I went had different bugs.  The BR and the WB  had no bugs when I looked at them about 2:00 pm.  The BK had those tiny little olives that you're glad to see in the fall but  not now.  It also had iso's and cornutas.  Looked at streamside rocks and saw only two iso husks (it was raining so some may have washed off).  The fish were rising and after getting refused on an iso I switched to the cornuta - they ate it with relish (or without).  The UEB had the tiny olives, march browns, cahills, sulfurs, gray foxes and b...

It's 8:00 pm on Friday.  I'm home trying to cross items off the "Honey-do" list .  Some things have gone well, others not so well.  With the bright sunshine I didn't miss the fishing today but the breeze has quieted and there will be a late hatch and if in fact it's calm, a spinner fall.  I will miss both.  Will miss tomorrows fishing also as there are things here at home yet  to be done. Sunday, however, is another story.  If you get to pick and choose your days, the Sunday forecast looks like a winner.  Rainy overcast days this time of year are like money in the bank. Bugs hatch all afternoon and most likely sulfurs, gray foxes, black caddis and perhaps drakes will go near dark.  There should also be a smorgasbord of spinners served up for trout to eat.  Be there by noon, stay late, bring a sandwich because there won't be any place open by the time the action is over.  Look for me I'll be there!

Was finally able to get the lawn mowed here yesterday before the first storm and am heading home to tackle some chores there.  Spent an hour last night reflecting on the season to date and came up with a few statistics of interest at least to me. My fish total for May came in 9th out of the 25 years of record keeping.  There seemed to be plenty of fish and the number of fish caught would probably have been somewhat higher but for the high water that wiped out the first eight days of the month. The % of browns caught that were over 17 inches (15%) was the lowest since I've kept track.  Some of that is due to the high water limiting where I could fish. ( Never got a chance to cast to the big browns sipping hendrickson and caddis spinners in the big river tailouts.) The % off rainbows caught that were over 17 inches (40%) was right in the mid range of prior years.  This number might have been higher if I hadn't lost so many of them the last few days. On the posi...