Posted on May 04 2024
Home for a social obligation (grandson's law school graduation party) so no fishing today.
The last four days were my best stretch of fishing so far this year. It has proved difficult to be in the right place to fish good hatches but I have had the good fortune of finding little spurts of feeding where the fish have been happy to eat flies with hooks in them.
Last night I drove over to the BK out of desperation when the 3:00 pm Hendrickson hatch on the upper reaches of the WB lasted all of fifteen minutes. Found some rainbows quietly sipping something in a shallow riff. Made repeated short casts over them with caddis spinners which they ate without hesitation when they finally looked up and saw them, (it was clearly not what they were feeding on). When the feeding died down I moved upstream hoping to find a caddis spinner fall. Found fish eating Hendrickson spinners instead.
The day before I had about an hour in what was a modest paralep/Hendrickson hatch where the fish ate my flies without a care in the world. Then went from 3:00 until 8:00 without any action at all. The two big 'bows sipping caddis duns just before dark were a pleasant ending to what was a long dry spell.
The middle and lower sections of the WB and from Stockport up on the BR have received the most pressure lately. Some Hendrickson duns are still hatching there. You should also find Hendrickson spinners, and both apple caddis duns and spinners. Most of the fish have felt the sting of a hook and are getting fussy about what they eat, but there are lots of targets.
Hopefully the upper WB Hendricksons get going a little better over the weekend and into next week.
If you are looking for solitude, try the lower BR, and the EB, both are in the Doldrums, (the period between the end of the Hendrickson/caddis hatches and the first March browns and Gray Foxes). You probably will see very little bug activity, but the fish are there, all you have to do is figure a way to get them to eat. (Just ask Jack McDonald).
Right now, with the most recent cutback in the Cannonsville release, the wading levels are the best we've seen all year. There is quite a bit of rain in the forecast for the coming week so get out there and catch some fish while you can.
Thanks Angler 119 for the suggestion about moving around, I took, it and failed to take it.
Thursday I drove up and fished the mid WB. Despite the strong S wind and generally small number of risers I did OK, and had takes from 4 of the 5 rising fish and caught two, 17 in and 18 in Browns.
I moved to the BR late and found one rising fish that I guessed at 24 inches. He was in full-on pig-out mode, rising frequently and poking his snout out of the water to do so. I tried a Hendrickson emerger that he didn’t seem to care for and kept preferring the naturals. I switched flies and on the 3rd or 4th drift my fly was moving downstream at the right pace and his head rose up, he opened his mouth: I promptly jerked it away before he could suck it in. That put him down for the night.
Friday, I again fished the middle WB but found no consistent risers despite a reasonable quantity of bugs. So like any hopeful fisherman would do revisited the BR and the fish I missed the night before. It was late enough that all those wade fishing had gone home. To my surprise and delight, there he was again nose out of the water eating. This time he took my second choice fly, a CDC Hendrickson form Troutfitters. He leapt clear 3 foot out of the water, revealing that the brown was not standard 3 y.o., 20 inch fish, that he needed to be weighed in pounds. He dove down and bull-dogged on the bottom until I put sideways pressure on him. He leapt again, allowing a 2nd clear look at him, and broke my leader above the tippet. This was by far and away the biggest fish I’ve ever seen on the Delaware. After retying, I’ld like to say I killed them, but I missed a clearly smaller fish and my heart just wasn’t in it anymore.
It’s better to have love and lost…
Friday was clearly the best day I’ve ever been skunked.
I fished yesterday on the upper WB it was miserable!! I landed 3fish. The hatch was almost non existent. It’s the coldest I’ve been all year. We did see some BWO and very few Hendricksons.
The only bright spot was when we saw Dave from the troutfitters with enough food to feed an army at Little Italy.
Thanks Angler 119 for the suggestion about moving around, I took, it and failed to take it.
Thursday I drove up and fished the mid WB. Despite the strong S wind and generally small number of risers I did OK, and had takes from 4 of the 5 rising fish and caught two, 17 in and 18 in Browns.
I moved to the BR late and found one rising fish that I guessed at 24 inches. He was in full-on pig-out mode, rising frequently and poking his snout out of the water to do so. I tried a Hendrickson emerger that he didn’t seem to care for and kept preferring the naturals. I switched flies and on the 3rd or 4th drift my fly was moving downstream at the right pace and his head rose up, he opened his mouth: I promptly jerked it away before he could suck it in. That put him down for the night.
Friday, I again fished the middle WB but found no consistent risers despite a reasonable quantity of bugs. So like any hopeful fisherman would do revisited the BR and the fish I missed the night before. It was late enough that all those wade fishing had gone home. To my surprise and delight, there he was again nose out of the water eating. This time he took my second choice fly, a CDC Hendrickson form Troutfitters. He leapt clear 3 foot out of the water, revealing that the brown was not standard 3 y.o., 20 inch fish, that he needed to be weighed in pounds. He dove down and bull-dogged on the bottom until I put sideways pressure on him. He leapt again, allowing a 2nd clear look at him, and broke my leader above the tippet. This was by far and away the biggest fish I’ve ever seen on the Delaware. After retying, I’ld like to say I killed them, but I missed a clearly smaller fish and my heart just wasn’t in it anymore.
It’s better to have love and lost…
Friday was clearly the best day I’ve ever been skunked.
Congratulations on your grandson’s graduation. The guy at Troutfitters shot said Dave’s son was graduating law school too.
Thanks for you updates and insights. I thing they are great.
I just started reading your reports last year and enjoy the information you provide and also really enjoy your prose. I have what might be a stupid question but I can’t figure out what the initials BR mean in your reports. Can you help me out? I fished with a guide on the mainstem last week, and the guide taught me a very important lesson… Without a perfectly drag, free, fly first presentation, close to the fish without spooking them, is what it takes to get those fish to eat. Frustrating but if it was easy, we would not enjoy it. Thanks for your reports.
A119 congrats on your grandsons graduation. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!!!!
Angler119-Congratulations on your Grandson’s law school graduation. Fantastic. Fishing is fishing, seeing your grandchildren succeed is amazing. Sounds like you’ve had great fishing.Thanks for the information, always welcomed and appreciated. I’ll be on the upper WB on Tuesday and file a report. Ed
Thanks for the plug A119!! Certainly helped to have a great guide for three days.
It was very hard to leave and go home!!
Congratulations on your grandsons graduation!!
I was going to head down to the BK tomorrow because it’s going to be a cooler day on the upper WB. Will the cooler weather hurt the Hendrickson hatch or is the BK the place to be with caddis?? I’ve been having some good days on the WB with Hendricksons hatching for at least 1-3hrs.
Fished the last few days….Stockport, lower WB and upper WB and like your report today stated, the fish would only rise consistently for a very short period of time.
The Friday Hendrickson hatch on the upper WB was only 30 minutes even though the bugs were present for a few hours. Had a big caddis hatch on Thursday on the main stem and lower WB, but fish didn’t rise for hours. Any thoughts as to why they weren’t feeding for longer periods of time? I’m sure the sun, wind and water temp were factors but there were so many bugs on the water that it was disappointing to not see more fish feeding.
Congrats to your Grandson on his graduation. You must be very proud. A chip off the old block!