Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  It's been almost two weeks since the last Wind Knots post and to my surprise there have been several questions. Kirk S. - If you read my June first post, you will probably realize that you also encountered the "Hatch from Hell", (tiny little black caddis). Ed S. Reported lots of iso husks on the BK streamside rocks. They have been hatching on the BK downstream from Horton for at least two weeks.The heaviest hatch is no doubt over but they will continue to hatch sporadically most of the summer, with the hatch intensifying again in late August or early September. If the water is warm, the hatch occurs very late, (usually after dark). It takes water in the low 60's to get them to hatch during the day. Jim Dygert - "Gone, gone, gone, my baby's gone, gone, gone. Where'd she go, go, go? I don't know, know, know. Just let her go oh, Oh no, no, no. My baby's gone. " That's all I got, ED S.? Anybody? It's from the mid 60's and definitely

  There was no plan to fish this morning, had to stake the tomatoes, refence the blueberry bush, and mow the lawn. While mowing, I saw that the peach tree boughs had bent over far enough for the deer to jump up and grab the limbs. I've never seen so many peaches on the trees before.They are only plum size but already their weight has put a strain on the branches. When I finished the mowing job I got out the step-ladder and started thinning out the peaches on the cling tree. It was like I was trying to thin out a grape vine. There were multiple bunches of ten to twelve peaches on every limb. When I stopped the ground was covered with peaches, tomorrow it will be covered with deer shit. There is a doe, (there were a pair of yearlings, one obviously pregnant, one not, that I saw almost every day since I opened the camp, and I think it's the formerly pregnant one), that walks across the back yard several times a day and into my neighbor's unmowed back yard grass, (now four feet

  With the possible exception of the UEB, and I'm not going over there to check, the Big Bug season is in the rear view mirror. It's been ten days since I've seen a green drake on the river, although I did see a brown drake on my porch screens Monday. What does this mean? Well, there are already fewer drift boats on the river, many of the guides have departed for Montana, Alaska and other destinations where they work the summer months. The number of fishermen on the river system is also decreasing. The big bug season lasts about six weeks and is always the busiest time of the year. What happens next? The spring sulfurs will move up the tailwaters and if you find a hatch you will see rising fish. The spinner falls occur in the evening and also get the fish up. As long as the freestones stay below 70 degrees there will be fishing throughout the system. The forecast for the next week looks good in that respect. When the freestones get too warm to fish, those of us still fishin

  Spent Tuesday crossing long neglected items off the to-do list, cleaned the camp, made a trip to the dump, (a cathartic experience), and drove home in time to pick up Jean at the airport. Her plane arrived at 5:30 so we stopped on the way home for what turned out to be a nice dinner at the Dark Horse in Dewitt.  This morning we laid out our plans for the day. We have one lawn mower and two mowing jobs which  had to be coordinated, as did shopping lists. If I got everything on my list done by 4:00 this afternoon it was understood that I was returning to the Lordville Estate, Jean had commitments with our daughter on Thursday and her sister on Friday. A four o'clock departure would give me time to drop off food and clothing at Lordville and be on the stream by seven. All tasks were completed by both Jean and me, (I forgot to get my car washed), by 3:30, spent half an hour congratulating each other on our achievements and I was off. What' the happs?  - With almost no help from a

  If you want the thrills that come with hooking into a 16 inch long rocket ship, (aka a Delaware River Rainbow), you have to be prepared for the heartbreaks and disappointments that come with it. Rainbows come unstuck and break off much more often than their stodgy relatives, the Browns. To begin with Rainbows have a much more fragile mouth structure than Browns. Rainbows are designed to eat flies, Browns on the other hand, have a mouth constructed to eat fish.  When you hook a Rainbow he is often out of the water while you are trying to set the hook. If he is still on after the initial jump you are faced with the problem of clearing your loose line while he is streaking across the river jumping as he goes. Once he is "on the reel", you watch as your fly line heads across the river. If he turns and goes upstream the line may well hook around a rock or create enough drag to break the tippet when he jumps again. If he turns and heads downstream you watch your backing follow th

  After yesterday's split day and the 2:00am leg cramps that came with it, I decided to take it easy today. Did a little minor yard work, tackled some of my crossword backlog, drank lots of fluids, and tied flies.  About 3:30 I drove up to Deposit, stopping on the way to look for sulfurs and rising fish, saw no sulfurs and any rising fish were being attended to by a surprising number of Sunday afternoon anglers, some in boats and some actually in the water. Finally found an empty pool, suited up and waded in. The fishing - Was surprisingly good. Actually saw a few Hendricksons, Cornuta, March Browns, and Gray Foxes, not a lot of bugs, but the fish were looking up and if you saw a rise and made a good cast you were likely to at least get a look. Was joined mid-way through by another angler who politely asked if it was OK if he joined me. Wrapped things up at 5:30 with seven fish, the best by far was a fat sassy rainbow that went 17 inches. The only hook mark in his mouth was mine, (