Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 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...

 Jean came down and we spent the better part of Saturday driving around taking in the damaged areas where the tornado touched down. I've seen videos of F-5's sweeping across flat grass land where there is nothing to break them up except towns and trailer parks. The ones we get here don't last long and don't get up a good head of steam because they run into mountain sides covered with trees. One came through my yard here in Lordville back in the 90's. Took down three trees one on each of three sides of the house, each fell in a different direction, none hit the house. The huge Norway Spruce that would have crushed the house like a match box, was on the fourth side in the fifteen foot wide space between the road and the house, it didn't lose a limb. Both the one in Lordville back in the 90's and last Saturday's were rated as F-1's. Each time they touch down they do incredible damage but quickly lose power. When they become airborne they regain power. I...

 With very little new happening, this is probably a good time to list my abbreviations for the rivers in the Delaware System: WB - West Branch Willow  - Willowemac BK - Beaverkill UEB - East Branch Branch from Downsville down to where it meets the BK. EB- East Branch from Junction Pool to Jaws, (confluence of BK and UEB). BR - The Delaware River from Junction Pool to Callicoon, (also called the Main Stem). Don't know when everybody enters the water to stake out their claim in the sulfur zone, but clearly 1:30 is too late. Found a little corner of a riff with half a dozen rising fish. Rose five of them, two refused, three ate, all on different flies, none of them sulfurs of any kind. With nothing else to throw at, I walked back to the car, and drove up to Stilesville, was awed by the number of boats and fishermen on the WB, and left. Took 17 over to East Branch and 30 all the way up past Corbett. At 3:30 there wasn't an angler on the stream. Drove into the yard of an old acquai...

 The sulfurs continue to hatch, the fish continue to feed, the algae continues to flow, and the fishermen continue to line up, curse the algae, marvel at the number of sulfurs, and try, with very limited success, to hook a trout or two. My resistance to the affair with the Dorotheas is growing by the day. Arrived in Deposit at 1:30 and couldn't find a place to fish until 3:00 when the five guys occupying a pool left in unison. Remarkably I had fish to throw at. Under current conditions hooking a fish does not necessarily mean he ate the fly. Refusals, at least for me, outnumber the takes by at least ten to one. If you hook each time a fish rises to your fly you are bound to "foul hook" a few. Foul hooked at least two yesterday and another two today. Did have five fish take, landed three 'bows, a 3lb 15 incher, (algae included), a nice 18 incher and a juvenile of 9 inches, lost a nice 'bow and a brown. Hatch ended and was in the car by 4:15. Tired of driving to and...

 It's 9:45 and I'm beat. Got in the water on the WB at 12:30, which was about an hour too early. There were plenty of bugs on the water but the fish knew what was coming and were in no hurry to get started. It was crazy windy, or to say it better the wind was crazy. There were times when it was dead calm, times when it blew twenty and the crazy part, it came from every direction on the compass. Missed a rising fish by 15 feet. Two fish hooked themselves when I was watching "my fly" so far away from where it really was that I never saw the rise. Had countless refusals, had three fish suck my fly under the surface and not have it in their mouth when I lifted. Hooked 10 fish, (two of which were foul hooked). Landed but three. Frustrating, exasperating, exciting and just plain fun. Drove back to the Lordville Estate, put my feet up and got about a third of a crossword done before I nodded off. Left at seven and decided to get out of Dodge, (Deposit). Since the boats have ...

 The Dorotheas have been here for three weeks, most all of the fish have been fooled at least once, they are as difficult a challenge to take on a dry as you would ever want. If you are up for the challenge, here's what you need to know. 1-We are in the midst of a very good Dorothea hatch. The hatch begins each day when the water temp nears 52 degrees. There are two peaks in each days hatch, one in the early afternoon and one in the evening. So far there have been sulfurs on the water from the start until it finally shuts down near dark. Some days fish will be feeding all day long, while on other days the feeding is limited to the two peak periods which seem to last about 2 hours each. 2- Usually most of the big browns change their diet to fish as soon as the Drake spinner fall is finished in early June and your opportunities to catch them on dries is greatly reduced. This year the percentage of big browns in my catch total has actually increased as the season has lengthened. Why? ...

 In Saturday's Wind Knots and Tailing loops page, I wrote at length about the situation here in the Delaware River System regarding the fish population. Brian, unless he's being factious, said I was correct, and went to the trouble of looking up and posting a statement from the "fish and game commission", (NY, PA or ????). The statement is laced with errors, is generic in nature, does not take into consideration the changes wrought by catch and release fishing, it has no relevance to a tailwater fishery such as the Delaware. John asked what caused the discrepancies in trout sizes, and what did I mean by paying the piper? Here goes - In the days before catch and release became popular almost no trout lived past two years. An 11 or 12 inch fish was fish of the day and a 14 incher was fish of the year. Brown trout in my trout pond can and have lived ten years. The NY DEC has killed some big trout in the Delaware so that they could determine their age and I'm quite su...

Home watching t-boomers pass by while awaiting my dentist appointment on Monday, (possible new crown or root canal then new crown). Not many questions in the past month but found a few things to comment on. Rich T. - Jean and I winter on the original Zane Grey Creek on Long Key down in the Florida Keys where both ZG, and I have tangled with many bonefish. FWIW there is a Zane Grey museum on the Delaware in Lackawaxen Pa where he practiced dentistry in his spare time. Small world. Steve L. -Haven't seen but a single rattle snake so far this year. The surges/pulses are well worth putting up with as they maintain a huge thermal refuge for trout, ( perhaps as far down the BR as Buckingham). The two problems they create are both in the sulfur zone. They usually shut down the evening hatch and if you are not paying attention they can make crossing the stream to get back to your car a challenge. The trout just hunker down and enjoy the cold water. James - Invaria, (aka Spring Sulfurs) are...

 The worst of the smoke seemed to have gone elsewhere today, blue sky, white clouds and sunshine. The bugs started a little after one and went until three with fish up and feeding the entire time. The bugs actually continued hatching in more modest numbers but the fish were full and stopped rising. I wasn't in the best location as the boats had to row right through where I was fishing, (my fault not theirs). After fishing I took the time to drive up River Road. The Red Barn lot and the Stilesville lot had six cars each. Red Barn was the usual circus but even with the binoculars I failed to see risers or many bugs. Upriver towards Cold Springs Brook the absence of both bugs and rising fish was even more noticeable. Drove back to Lordville and rested up for the evening fishing. At six I headed out again as the hatch has seemed to reignite about that time on sunny days. The river had a picket fence of anglers down its middle from the town  bridge all the way to Barking Dog and pe...

 With the smoke again blocking the sun and turning the Catskills into the "Blue" Ridge Mountains, there was no need to hurry to Deposit. Without the sun's rays, the water took much longer to heat up and there was little to no bug activity before 1:30. Spent a pleasant hour streamside talking with a local guide and three other senior citizen fishermen. By a little after 2:00 both the bugs and fish were going and I left to try and catch one. There were lots of bugs on the water and lots of fish all eating sulfur nymphs subsurface. I hooked but one fish during the apex of the hatch, as most of my casts were totally ignored. It wasn't until the hatch had slowed down that some fish started to look up. When they did I could suddenly fish again. Cast at five fish I saw feeding on the surface, hooked four and was refused by the fifth. After the hatch I circled back up to the Red Barn, three fishermen in the water, with a few Dorotheas in the air, didn't see a rise. At Sti...

Headed out at noon today with a fresh batch of sulfurs  that I had put on the car dash to cure the water shed I put on them. Usually an hour in the hot car and they are dry as a bone, not today, with a heavy cover of Canadian smoke the sun couldn't do it's job, shrugged and headed for the WB.  Arrived streamside at about 12:30 with sulfurs all over the water and the fish up. Suited up, left the new sulfurs on the dash to finish drying and went fishing. Picked a pool that I hadn't fished yet this year and for about an hour I wondered why I hadn't. Hooked six fish, landing four when I noticed things slowing down, fewer bugs and fewer rising trout. At 2:00 I was walking back to the car past another angler who said "the waters too cold, no sun", and the light came on in my head. Without sunshine the water often stays below the 52 degree temp the sulfurs love to hatch from. Drove both up and down stream and saw neither bugs nor rising fish. There was not a single w...

 On a day like today with air temp in the 90's, the best place to be was in the water, and I that's where I was. Started at noon with Sulfurs already on the water and fish on them. Hooked a couple of fish early, then went through a couple of frustrating hours with fish boiling all around me but taking nothing on the surface. I'm sure the bright sunlight in a nearly cloudless sky didn't help things, the fish just don't like the bright sun. Moved from where the bugs were hatching to where they were just floating along on a quiet pool. Managed to hook a couple more. At 3:00 I used one of my timeouts and retreated to the Troutfitter where I rehydrated and talked with Dave and Matt, (the guide who works out of the shop).   Left about 4:30, and could have fished wherever I wanted to, (most people are smarter than me). There were sulfurs, (from now on, know that it's Dorotheas I'm talking about), in the air and on the water, but the fish had had enough of the brigh...

 Last week I carried a magic wand wherever I went. I walked into good hatches, had lots of big rising fish and they were happy to eat my flies. Today, not so much. Fished a pool where I have probably caught more fish than any other pool in the WB. Last year I caught but three fish there, this year, in two trips, none. Hooked two fish and lost them both, neither fish was over 13 inches. Pricked five other fish when they refused the fly and had numerous other fish turn up their noses and refuse whatever I offered. Never saw an adult fish, most were yearlings or two year olds. They are probably there because there aren't any big fish there to eat them. Don't expect to visit the pool again this year. There have been 100cfs surges the past three nights. The cold water usually slows or stops the hatch. With the temp expected to reach the mid to high 90's tomorrow I felt sure the surge would be increased to a point where wading would be difficult and the evening  hatch would proba...

 Left for home about eleven this morning, stopped at the Troutfitter to put my small bag of trash in the dumpster and to talk with Dave, then decided to swing down along the river "just for a look". Stopped to chat with two river friends and wouldn't you know it the bugs started up, and the fish began to rise. It wasn't a hard decision, put on the waders and vest, grabbed my rod and headed for the river, which is when it started to rain. Went back to the car, put my raincoat on over the vest and waded in.  The fish were up feeding and I saw a nice one not 20 feet away in a quiet seam, busy eating sulfur duns. He ate half a dozen more real ones before he ate mine and then the fun began. My landing net was on the back of my vest with the raincoat over it. I detach it when landing a fish by reaching back over my shoulder and pressing on a small lever with my thumb. Couldn't get to the lever under the raincoat without using both hands, put my rod between my knees unde...

 With Dorotheas on the water from before noon until dark, (yes there was a lull from 4:30 until 6:30, but there were always a few on the water), no one should have had trouble finding rising fish to cast to. Hookups for most anglers are a challenge. If you are getting fish to come up to your fly but refuse it, (no you didn't miss them), you are close, but something just isn't right. Drag is probably the number one cause, but the fish are looking at the fly from no more than an inch or two away when they make their final decision. Do your flies look like the flies floating down the river? Are they too big, (Invarias no longer cut the mustard where the Dorothea hatch is in full bloom), size down and you should do better. Pick up a Dorothea off the water and actually compare it to the flies you are using, most are far too bulky. Trim them down with a scissors or clippers and see if it makes a difference. The Fishing - For me very good. Have had lots of refusals the last two days b...

There are still Invaria up at Stilesville being attended to by unprecedented hoards of anglers. Just a historical note and suggestion. When the little Stilesville lot was purchased the farmer complained when cars were parked along the road, and no parking signs were put up, which was fair, (the State could have come up with more money for a bigger lot). This year anglers are again filling the Stilesville lot and parking down the road, some almost half way to the Red barn pool. Many are walking down the road and entering the Red Barn pool through the open gate and of course fishing without paying. If you are fishing above the riff, fine. If you are parking on the road and walking down to save five dollars please consider paying the five dollars and parking at the barn. No parking signs would eliminate access for a lot of fishermen. Just a thought. Based on what I've seen so far the Dorothea hatch looks to be a good one. There are bugs hatching both afternoon and evening from the 17 ...