Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  Decided  to try the tricos this morning, it was cold so there was no rush. Took a page out of my GHOF's book and decided I needed to replace the olives that got chewed up yesterday, and wouldn't you know it, both the time and temperature got away from me, (11:00am and 64 degrees when I remembered to look). With the spinner fall being so late I quickly made a sandwich so I could stay and see if there were any afternoon sulfurs or olives, jumped in the car and headed for East Branch. Felt better at the top of Lordville Hill as the temp was down to 62, it fluctuated with the terrain and was 64 streamside.  Found an open pool right away and waded in with fish up and eating tricos everywhere. Funny thing, even before I started to cast, the fish kept rising but got further away. My first cast landed the fly about five feet upstream of the fish and they all stopped rising and moved further downstream. Had to land the trico 15 feet upstream of the fish for them to keep rising a...

  Had breakfast with Jean who left with enough tomatoes to feed the extended family, waited for it to warm up, (45 at 6:15am), and then went out and spent an a couple hours fishing another BR pool. The pool I fished has a small stream running into it which usually provides a summer refuge for a few trout. If any trout spent the summer there you couldn't prove it by me. Never saw a rise the entire time I was there. The only troublesome part of the morning was the fifty feet of knee deep mud I had to wade through to get to shore when I abandoned the venture. Spent from noon until five killing time, shot the bow, read the newspaper, did a crossword, thought about tying a few flies, (will have to tomorrow), and took a short nap. At a little after five I drove up to Deposit and chatted with river friend and veteran fisherman Stewart and his landlord who purports to be a guide/ fisherman. Stewart's experience this year closely paralleled mine, while his landlord talked mostly of the ...

  If perhaps you got the feeling that I was a tad discouraged with the fishing on the Delaware yesterday, you were right. Today was the day Jean was coming down to have lunch with Sue, one of her friends from Florida who lives in Honesdale. The lunch was scheduled for 3:00 and I called her at 6:00 to see if she was headed back to Lordville. She was still in Honesdale and said she would be at the camp when I got back from fishing.  The river master increased the release again and the flow is now high enough to make fishing the down river pools on the WB difficult. Drove further upstream, found an unoccupied pool, and at about 6:30 waded in. First thing I noticed were the olives, good sized ones, that were all over the water, then I saw the rises, everywhere. After the first few casts it was clear that the fish were eating the emerging nymphs rather than the duns, but they had the water aboil. Every cast I made was at a fish, if the fly floated six feet past the first fish it fl...

  It's time to just say it. I'm having a hard time working up enthusiasm for the fishing conditions at present. Had to make a few calls this morning, mow the lawn this afternoon, but about five this afternoon I had no excuse. Got in the car, drove to the post office only to find it had just closed, put the letter in the blue box where it will sit for the next twenty-four hours. Drove over the WB on 191 where two boats were anchored, pulled into the Shehawken lot, walked out on the ramp, saw a pontoon boat downstream and a guy fishing the run where the creek comes in. Saw a fish rise once just upstream from me, and thought if he rises again, I'll go get the rod, he didn't. Love to fish the BR and decided I would spend the night trying it in three places to assess both the bugs and the fish. The first place had no fishermen, there were a few bugs, (saw a handful of isos, one Cahill, several olives and small swarms of midges along the shore. Was there 45 minutes, hooked an...

  Back at the Lordville Estate after a little longer break than usual. Had an MRI scheduled for 3:15 this afternoon. If they were behind schedule there was no way I would have driven down. Was in the machine listening to Little Eva do the locomotion, (not in time with the banging of the machine), along with several other songs of the sixties. Was in the car at 3:45, home before 4:15, and unloading the car in Lordville at 6:15. Talked with David on the way down and he said there were heavy hatches of those pesky little olives both days this weekend. Said there were fish up everywhere. I asked if the fishermen caught any, and he said, "Enough to make them happy, some even stayed an extra day". The conversation ended abruptly when I drove through a cut in the rocks on the way to Castle Creek. Left the camp at about 6:30 and headed up the PA side, it was breezy and I wrote off Buckingham when I drove down to the ramp and saw the waves. Stopped at Shehawken and watched a guy clean...

  With the Hancock temperature at 47 degrees this morning there was no hurry to get on the river for the trico spinner fall. Had a leisurely breakfast, read the paper and at 9:30 set out for the UEB. Car thermometer had the temperature still in the 50's until Fish's Eddy and it never got over 61 on my drive up to Shinhoppel and back. Back? Yep, every spot where you can park to fish the trico hatch had at least one car in it. By the thermometer I was early, but the parking spots filled with cars silently said you're too late.  Headed back to the Lordville Estate, did the breakfast dishes and decided to go out in the riff and give it a try. Now days you seldom get a chance to fish a spot before anyone else, (every boat covers miles of "spots" each day). Waded in and saw some small caddis hatching, also saw an iso, never saw a rise until I was crossing back to the NY side, and not one, but two fish rose just upstream from me. Tried both the caddis and the iso, got na...

  Spent the early morning hours watching the deer in the back yard. The winter coat is poking through the summer hair on two more does. The twin fawns are now tackling small apples. It takes contortions of their entire body to get the apple in pieces. Have previously mentioned that I sometimes turn on the flood lights that light up the back yard to see what's hatching. It helped me this year as I had golden drakes tied up and ready when the hatch got up into the colder water. My GHOF could no doubt explain it better, but sometimes the lights are surrounded by thousands of bugs that seem to be carrying a ribbon of light behind them, it's mesmerizing to sit and watch them. If you sat out on the porch any night in the past two weeks you would have seen - nothing, (just went over to the window and looked and there were no more than a dozen bugs slowly circling the light. Which is a long and torturous way of saying that there are no risers on the BR because there are few if any bugs...