Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

After two days of overcast skies with rain, bugs and rising trout, a mostly sunny day and my desire for seclusion brought my fish catching down to a more realistic level. I didn't leave the camp until 3:30PM   and didn't actually don waders until 5:30PM .  Saw boats galore putting in at the "barking dog" launch ramp on the WB and decided to fish below Balls Eddy in hopes of avoiding the Friday afternoon crowd. My plan was successful in that only one boat came by and only one other angler appeared.  The bugs (little sulfurs), however,have moved farther up stream and everyone knows it. There was little action until a few sulfurs hatched and hungry trout ate them (carefully).  When it got dark enough my fly, which earlier was disdained, became magic. If you are heading out this weekend and want bugs and rising fish, look up around Hale Eddy.  If you want solitude  go low. If it's overcast and rainy be on the river by early afternoon.  Bright sun?...

It was all you hoped it would be, olives and sulfurs on the water by early afternoon.  Big fish up and eating tiny little flies . When the boats came by me late in the day most weren't even fishing. They said they had great fishing up river and were just rowing out. Saw a couple of Troutfitter guys on the river, don't know if they came after reading yesterday's report, or if the trip was already planned, but they hit the river at it's best. A foggy,drizzly olive kind of a day.  Who could ask for anything more.

I haven't been on the river since last Wednesday so I decided to drive around and see if anything was happening. What a change in the number of anglers. Totals- Lower EB - 0              Upper EB- 0              Beaverkill- 0 I tried the upper EB late in the day and had two boats go by.  I was also joined by the only other wade angler on the river, who was apparently lonely. There were bugs (isos, olives and sulfur), but little or no feeding. I avoided the dreaded "collar"  by  landing a 17 inch hatchery holdover. On course for one of the poorest June's on record. Note-  There was one angler fishing at jaws and I wasn't' sure which stream to credit him to.

Never looked at the gauges  at Stilesville or Downsville yesterday or today.  Yesterday on the EB I had colder water than I expected, bugs, but  no rising fish.  Today I  went to the upper WB  and was again surprised by how cold and high the water was. There were bugs when I got there and occasional rises from good fish.  In four hours of fishing I rose 10 fish, hooked four and landed three.  When the hatch was waning Coz came down the river in his boat and said how great it was that  the  River Master had  given us more water. And you are expecting to get good advice from me??? At  6:30   I headed down stream and ran right into a sulfur hatch with feeding fish that went 'til dark.  Sometimes it's more important to be lucky than good. If you can get here while the water is still flowing it's worth the drive.

The Delaware watershed finally got hit with some real rain.  It needed it. Both branches are high and muddy without any help from reservoirs releases. In addition the water is warm and is predicted to stay that way at least until  Monday  night. Sure you can float at these levels and throw streamers towards the banks but you'll be more likely to hook fish by waiting a couple of days (or more) 'til the waters clear, cool and drop.  At these temps the only bug activity will be in the late evening. Wade fishing in high muddy water is dangerous. Stay home!

One of the nice things about doing volunteer work is there is no reduction in pay when you quit. After fishing at least part of 10 out of the first 11 days of June, I needed to get home, pick up my wife (without her bag which never managed to make it out of Nashville, let alone JFK) at the airport, wash clothes, mow the lawn,etc,.etc., etc. If things progress in orderly fashion on the home front perhaps I'll get a get out of jail card for Father's Day. In reading the DRC's blog I couldn't help but notice that they are on their sixth day without an "angler with fish" photo. The fishing has really slowed.  Fewer bugs, smarter fish and still, at least up until last weekend, lots of anglers. I know the rise in the water livened up the action for me and hopefully for others as well. If the angling pressure drops off as I believe it will and the river master needs to call for releases to meet minimum flow, the fishing may well pick up again. For now, don't expec...

Last Friday evening I tried a pool on the upper EB in 150cfs. There were large sulfurs and feeding fish.  I caught one fish and got one nose bump refusal. The rest of my casts were ignored. Today with the water up to 250cfs I decided to try to get even. I arrived at about  5:00pm , the sulfurs were hatching and the fish were feeding. My very first cast was inhaled by a brown that was eating every dun that came his way. My second cast also found an open mouth. The third rising fish I threw at came right up to the fly, opened his mouth and did a back flip at the last instant to avoid eating it. Thereafter things settled down into a fairly even match of takes, refusals and ignores.  The sulfurs kept coming, not heavy but enough to keep the fish feeding.  Good casts got a response.  Bad casts put fish down. An adult bald eagle lit in a tree behind me, perhaps to critique my casting which was at times awful - (did you ever hook an apple on your back cast and on the f...