Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 There's no other way to say it, the fishing has gone from the penthouse to the outhouse in one short week. Yes, by the end of last week the fish in the sulfur zone were getting pretty hard to fool but this week was another level of tough. The only fish that would even look at your fly were the yearlings and most of them refused it.  If the big fish fed at all they did so after 8:30.  The two year old's that have "made the sulfur hatch great again" have clearly had enough and are basically nowhere to be seen. The other rivers and the rest of the WB are for the dry fly fishermen anyway, still in the summer doldrums. Given both the conditions and the time of year, I was very surprised at the number of fishermen on the river this week. It was not only the sulfur zone but at least on Wednesday evening, the entire lower river was also crammed full of fishermen.  It's strange because when the sulfur fishing was on fire (for six weeks) there were times when it was crowde...

 Spent the morning grinding peeling paint off the facia boards on the back porch and the last two garage windows.  More than enough trips up and down the ladder. It was 12:30 by the time I cleaned up and had lunch. The last few days the Stilesville temp has struggled to get into the 50's and I thought maybe that was the reason for the subdued hatches.  Drove up to the red barn and confirmed Ed S's assessment.  There were more fishermen than rising fish.  Maybe they got going later ( water temp got well up into the 50's), but I was tired and had no trouble turning around and driving back to Lordville. Did a few little things around the camp (including the testing out of my new pillow) and low it was 5:30. With the shortening days things happen sooner, got in the car and drove back to Hancock to check out the lower river pools that were so crowded yesterday.  You guessed it, zero cars and fishermen in the first three spots I looked at.  In hindsight I wi...

 It's not official yet, what with the forecast for the next several days back up in the high eighties but today I took the first step.  Quit cold turkey, never set foot in the sulfur zone. Fished four different places in three different rivers and found fish at all but one stop (the Beaverkill).  There were not a lot of bugs and very few risers.  I didn't catch a lot of fish but the ones I caught were nice sized and full of fight.  Would have been a better day by far if the two biggest fish I hooked hadn't come unstuck but they were both sure exciting for a while.  Left camp about 8:30 with a plan to fish tricos.  It was still to cold for the spinner fall so I stopped a couple places and cast attractor flies.  Caught three nice fish and hooked a very large, very hot fish.  When he came unstuck he had jumped 7 times and had taken 50 feet of backing off the reel while I was running (sorta) downstream after him - just wow.  Tried a spot on ...

 Fished the sulfur hatch up in Deposit this afternoon.  It didn't start until after 12:30 (they have bumped up the release so it takes longer to warm the water up into the 50's).  Bugs got going fairly well but so did the wind.  The fish? They seemed tired of eating sulfurs, there were a few brief flurries of feeding but it was mostly quiet. I left to mow the grass just before two.  When I left there were still a good number of sulfurs on the water.  If anybody stayed late and got into fish or at least saw lots of fish up please let us know. This isn't a Q and A day but Ed S asked about the duration of the sulfur hatch and it's pertinent to today's report.  Sulfurs like about 52 degrees water temp to hatch.  When we get a reservoir spill in the summer the water temp goes way up and the bugs sometimes blow out.  Same thing happens if we get a lot of warm rain that raises the water temps. The sulfur hatch below Oquaga seems to me to have been d...

 It's Monday night at 9:30 and I'm feeling no pain!  "Well into his Perfect Manhattan", you say, which may well be true but that's not it.  Had an 8:00 am appointment with a periodontist/implant specialist to consult about old number 14 molar.  He took a look at the x-ray and the tooth and said "The only thing I can do for that tooth is to administer the last rights".  Said I'd like to schedule the ceremony on a Monday as that's the day I'm in town.  He said "How 'bout today".  He's not the new kid on the block, in fact he is probably as good and as busy as anybody at what he does. I was shocked that he could do the procedure on the consultation day. When he saw the look on my face he listed the medical reasons for doing it right away and then said that it was Monday morning and that they always left an open slot for emergencies that came up over the weekend and non had. Was out of there before 10:00am, #14 gone and the impl...

 It's time once again to try to answer questions and this week thank people for sharing their on river experiences. Jim - I've caught well over 90 percent of my fish during the sulfur hatch on a size 18 sulfur dun tied with either a yellow, orange or yellow/orange body and a CDC upright wing. A lot of fish in the Sulfur Zone now recognize it and are happy to let me know it's not as good as the real thing. Maxwell - The closer you get to a straight downstream cast the better the chance the fish will eat as he sees only the fly, however, it's an all or nothing proposition as the retrieve of the uneaten fly spooks the fish.  My power alley seems to be the 45 degree downstream angle.  Somehow the depth perception seems better and you can let the fly drift by and make a retrieve without scaring the fish.  The farther upstream you go the more leader the fish sees so the odds of success go down.  If there are lots of fish rising, as has been the case for me this summer...

Things seem to be getting back to normal after the latest flash flood.  The rivers have cleared up quite a bit and have returned to ideal flows.  What we need now is for the air temps to cool down so we can all spread out and enjoy the rest of the river system. The midday sulfurs were late to the table with the bulk of them hatching, where I was, from about 1:30 to 2:30. There were sulfurs on the water before noon but the trout passed up the hors d'oeuvres and waited for the entrée.  When the bugs got going so did the fish but man were they careful. Got refusals from several good fish and never got one to eat.  At least half of the fish I caught were two year old 12 inch hatchery fish.  A couple of 13 inch wild trout highlighted the midday catch. The evening fishing was a different story. Tired of both the crowds and fishing the same pools over and over again, I drove over to the UE where both the water level and temp were ideal. Saw very few fishermen, no bugs ...