Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report
Upon further review ----
Posted on September 22 2015
This afternoon I headed for the big river. Crossed the bridge at Lordville (four fishermen) and headed up the Pa...
Where to fish?
Posted on September 22 2015
The West branch is high, off color and full of weeds. NOTE - There have been reports of a bear that has been following anglers in the game lands area. I don't know if it has been fed and is looking for
How bad is it?
Posted on September 07 2015
Maybe they're tired of the breakfast special
Posted on September 04 2015
the fish will be up eating them.
Yesterday they didn't wait for me to arrive. There were a half dozen pods of fish in...
Sometimes they don't play fair.
Posted on September 04 2015
I know trico spinners fall at sixty nine degrees. Yesterday it was foggy and sixty one when I got up. Two hours later it was still foggy and sixty one. Got in the car and drove to a trico pool where it was sixty one degrees and sat for an hour watching the mass of tricos go up and down thirty feet above the water while the waxwings had themfor breakfast.
Today it was foggy and sixty four when I...
Tricos make the day!
Posted on September 02 2015
At least I didn't skin my knuckles!
Posted on September 02 2015
Had to forego my trico fishing this morning and attempt to fix the lawn mower. Monday when I was cutting the grass a tree root I have mowed over for twenty years took revenge and bent both blades. The job went better than expected. Got the blades off and was able to get new ones at a mower repair shop in town (even got an invitation to park at the shop and fish the pool). Put the new blades on...
If you're thinking of fishing the Delaware this week - - - Think again.
Posted on September 01 2015
Too much time on my hands
Posted on August 29 2015
This morning I opted for...
Time for a change
Posted on August 28 2015
A nip in the air
Posted on August 26 2015
Being a young trout isn't easy
Posted on August 26 2015
The weatherman is calling for no rain over the next ten days with temps climbing into the high eighties early next week.The tributaries are very low and the two year classes of trout residing in them are at increased risk from predators. Humphrey's Brook has gone underground in places trapping fingerlings and yearling trout. Herons and kingfishers have moved in and are dining on the trout trapped...
"Sometimes they just can't seem to get that fly in their mouth".
Posted on August 24 2015
When I was in college I worked summers at the Syracuse DPW. One of the office workers (who has long since left this world) was a trout fisherman and a commercial fly tyer. For some reason he took a liking to me and kept me well stocked with flies. On Monday morning he always wanted to know how I did with the flies he had tied. Very often our fishing results were much the same. When we both had a...
Timing, it's every thing.
Posted on August 22 2015
gage. It had peaked at three hundred and was on the way down. With
nothing else to due I got in the car and drove up to Harvard. Put on
my waders and walked down to the stream. It was high and muddy.
Drove home and looked at the gage again. Sure enough it had started
down then went straight up to over five hundred, game over.
Fished...
Sometimes it ain't easy being me.
Posted on August 21 2015
With rain overnight and wind in the morning the outlook for trico fishing wasn't great to begin with. When I got up at six thirty the temp was seventy one, tricos run out of gas and fall when the temp is around sixty nine. Grabbed two pieces of toast, a cup of coffee and headed for the river. When I arrived there were tricos on the water and in the air. There were pods of fish up and eating. How...
Tricos, ants and seven X
Posted on August 20 2015
up eating them. But wait. Before you call in sick and head for the
river know that the pods are made up mostly of nine to ten inch fish.
There are big fish eating them but they know the game and don't get
fooled often. As a matter of fact even the yearlings are hard to
fool.
The ants? Haven't seen any yet but they are about due....
Out of sync and out of sorts
Posted on August 19 2015
The Dog Days
Posted on August 14 2015
burning down, that you gotta love tailwaters. Five hundred cfs of
forty one degree water pouring out of Cannonsville, cooling off wade
fishermen, stimulating the bug hatch and sending the trout into a day
long feeding frenzy.
What? Not where you were? Well, not where I was that's for sure. It
being Friday afternoon I elected to fish...
Some days are like that
Posted on August 14 2015
Up river sulfurs never really got going below Oquaga Creek.
With a fair number of fishermen on the water and little to throw at,
I spent almost three hours in the WB no kill below the Gentlemen's
Club fishing to four bank sippers who were eating tiny olives along a
shaded side of the stream. I was in waist deep water in the shade...
Joe's place
Posted on August 13 2015
Where to find the WB bugs?
Posted on August 12 2015
With the variation in the water levels we have had in the WB this
summer finding bugs and rising fish often times requires a visit to
the local fortune teller. Yesterday there was a modest afternoon hatch
of sulfurs up top. It was over by five o'clock. At five thirty, when
I arrived there was a good hatch of small olives below the one ninety
one bridge and the fish were on 'em.
Today at the gamelands in...
Summer school
Posted on August 11 2015
Cannonsville draw down. The bugs hatched in profusion on the upper WB
and fish were on them with reckless abandon. So were the guides. One
angler of modest ability hooked at least a dozen large fish as his
guide kept him in the same spot for over four hours.Fishermen came
from all over to fish in the lower water. There were boats and...
Was it a Regatta or a Revival Meeting?
Posted on August 08 2015
fishermen vied with guides in drift boat each seeking to fish the
prime locations. Where? On the upper WB where sulfurs have been
hatching and big fish have been feeding.
The area has seen little pressure this year as the bug hatches have
been poor and rising fish have been scarce. During the past six weeks
the area was unwadeable due...
Release cutback causes flood of anglers
Posted on August 06 2015
Word has gotten around that the WB is down to under five hundred cfs
and anglers have arrived to make up for time lost during the spill and
drawdown of Cannonsville. The upper EB had numerous fishermen
lookingfor Tricos this morning. The upper WB where the sulfurs have
beengoing strong had fishermen and boats in every pool. Rumors of
washovers in the upper WB no doubt added anglers to the area.
Junctio...
Multiple choice test
Posted on August 06 2015
With the entire system wadeable for the first time in over a month,
fishermen were back on the river in numbers. With boats and wade
fishermen everywhere the question for me became, "Where can I find
good bugs and rising trout without being interfered with by boats and
other fishermen"?
My first choice was to look for tricos as that is the least crowded
time of day. Early afternoon found me in the...
By Angler 119 on 2015-08-05
Posted on August 05 2015
and the EB already down to one hundred forty cfs, the amount of
fishable water in the big river is about to be significantly
downsized. The factor determining how far downstream you can fish is
of course water temperature. Trying to figure water temp in advance is
about like predicting the weather. No one does very well more than...
Cannonsville water flow update
Posted on August 03 2015
has begun to step down the release. Starting today (Sunday) the
release will be stepped down over the next five days until it reaches
the currently mandated flow of five hundred cfs on Thursday.
The East Branch in August
Posted on August 01 2015
It's August and the flow on the East Branch has been lowered from five
hundred cfs to one hundred thirty nine cfs. What does this mean?
The big East Branch below the Beaverkill junction is no longer
receiving an infusion of cold water and is too warm to fish. The
trout have either left the river or are hunkered down in thermal
refuges and should not be disturbed. Cool fall rains (or releases)
wi...
The wheels came off.
Posted on August 01 2015
nonstop bugs and rising fish in the Delaware, it was bound to happen.
Today it did. I should have seen it coming. Yesterday I lucked into a
morning olive hatch which provided me with great fishing, the rest of
the day was filled with an ever increasing number of refusals and lost
fish. Thinking the month was over I sat down last night...
The Delaware Slam
Posted on July 31 2015
weren't any but what I did find was a nice hatch of size sixteen
olives. The hatch increased as the morning went along and the fish did
their best not to let any get off the water. In their eagerness they
sometimes even ate ones with hooks in them.
Went back to the camp, tied flies, did the breakfast dishes, solved a
Tuesdaycros...
Clouds take take the day off.
Posted on July 30 2015
The bright sun in a cloudless sky on what might well have been the
hottest day of the year didn't slow down the sulfurs. They came in
good numbers. The stenos also hatched but there didn't seem to be as
many of them as usual.
The fish? They are not fond of bright sun. If there was a cloud in
the sky at any time all day, I missed it. Did they...
I don't know what to say---
Posted on July 28 2015
seemingly unending parade weave in and out of the wade fishermen
trying to get to a place where they too can fish. The Hendricksons
are hatching!!! From three 'til five most afternoons Hendricks hatch,
fish rise and anglers cast. Because of the number of anglers and the
constant disturbance created by the boat traffic, nobody...
Is it hot?
Posted on July 28 2015
it. I had two shirts on and when I got in the car at 8:30 I had to
turn the heater on. When I got to the camp the thermostat said 80
degrees. It felt good. Why? Because I spent five hours wading the ice
cold WB casting to rising trout. Was it worth it? Um, yes.
Delaware River fish are not stupid. I tell anyone who will listen that
if...
Time out
Posted on July 26 2015
full. Time to head home and get the rest of my life in order.
With the bug bonanza produced by the big releases in both branches,
this was one of the best ten day runs of dry fly fishing in recent
years. I'm not going to fret over the consequences of the Cannonsville
draw down 'til later.
Maybe I'll work on a rain dance for...
Pictures from today (hopefully worth 1,000 words)
Posted on July 25 2015
Dave and Rick at the Troutfitter said send some pictures with your reports.
Today was a carbon copy of yesterday minus the morning trip.
For the full fishing report reread paragraphs 2 & 3 of yesterdays
report. Hooked exactly the same number of fish but landed four more.
Catch included the brown and rainbow attached.
If you're not fishing the Delaware, you're missing it big time.
Stenos saved the day
Posted on July 24 2015
to yet this year. There were no bugs or risers. Hooked four rainbows
and landed two. Came back to the camp and took a nap.
Went out a little after two to take on the sulfur sippers. They won.
Sulfurs hatch in the sun, they just don't stay on the water as long
and the fish don't get into a rhythm eating them. Fish don't like to
feed...
They're back.
Posted on July 23 2015
the river to myself. Today wade fishermen were everywhere. On the
upper EB, Long flat's 4 cars was topped by the 5 at the power line
pool. The big EB had one or two fishermen in every pool I could see in
my wanderings. There were four cars in the upper game lands lot and a
pickup truck at the lower gamelands lot.
A fisherman...
Midsummer on the river is different
Posted on July 22 2015
were enough big yellow ones and little green ones on the water to lure
me into a walk down the "trail" towards the river house pool. Big
mistake, anyone who hasn't walked that path in midsummer after high
water has flattened the grass doesn't know what they are missing. Felt
soled wading boots and mud are a deadly combination. Made...
Stuck on the Upper East
Posted on July 21 2015
With the DEP playing it safe and drawing down Cannonsville with the
!,500 max. release and old mother nature adding additional water via
thunderstorms the WB and the big river were pretty much out of play.
The Beaverkill? Old mother nature spared it the rain but poured down
enough sun to make fishing there unconscionable.
That left the EB. The big east, warmed by...
You have to go to know.
Posted on July 20 2015
and bad, but I am still mystified by what greets me on the stream each
day. On the best day this week the water temp on the WB hit a high of
49. There were a plethora of bugs and the fish fed like crazy. Today
the water temp was 50 degrees, the hatch was sparse and the fish
couldn't be bothered. Why? Air temp you say. Yes, it was...
I knew the answer.
Posted on July 19 2015
had walked a long way up stream. The bugs were just starting, sulfurs
mostly but a noticeable number of stenos. Why not? I put on a steno
and it was like a kid at the state fair with cotton candy. They
couldn't resist. One was busy eating another fly when mine went by
and he turned and chased it downstream three feet and ate.
Visio...
Where do they come from?
Posted on July 18 2015
boy" and hatched like crazy on the WB and on the big river (no doubt
on the EB too). There were all shapes and sizes of them and so many of
them you had to wonder how a trout ever happens to eat yours. All this
I've seen before and think I understand.
But the sulfurs, that's a different story. The sulfurs have hatched.
they are done on...
Leaky dam and high water bring bugs
Posted on July 17 2015
mystery in which stream I would fish today. I was at the river at 2:30
ready for the fun to begin.
The first olives, sulfurs and isos were on the water by 3:00 and an
ever increasing number of sulfurs and isos followed. The sun must
have affected the olives as their numbers were much below that of
yesterday.
The fish? Never showed....
Water, water everywhere
Posted on July 16 2015
with a problem that occurred at the construction site of the new
electric generator. I am going to a meeting tomorrow to find out more
about it and will post what I learn here.
It often takes both the fish and bugs a day or so to adjust to a big
release increase so I decided to head in the other direction.
Fished the big EB, the...
Cannonsville to be drained/lowered
Posted on July 16 2015
project a bore hole went into an underground stream of water that has
apparently been flowing under the dam since it's construction. The
DEP has long been aware of the water flow which has previously shown
up in an artesian well a short distance below the dam. The bore hole
has given the water a new release point closer to the dam. The...
They read the owyhee report
Posted on July 15 2015
(an annual event). Everything went well and I was able to leave for
the Delaware around 2:00, just in time to get caught in a monsoon
rainstorm between Tully and Whitney Point. Thankfully the river
system was spared as there wasn't any rain on the river 'til almost
8:00.
After opening up the camp, I decided to try the big river...
Owyhee River Trip reflections
Posted on July 14 2015
have ever seen. The fish are mostly all over seventeen inches long. I
caught 35 one day with only two of them under 17. The rest were
between 17 and 21 inches long.
The food is not plentiful and the fish are eating whatever is
available. There are rising fish from dawn til dark. The flies
include tricos, midges, baetis, pmd's, and a...
The Owyhee River, Why is it so good?
Posted on July 13 2015
far the greatest impact on dry fly fishing for trout.
The first was the advent of catch and release fishing. This has
allowed fish to grow to adult size, spawn effectively and produce wild
trout stocks. It has put mature trout in rivers and added an element
of excitement to dry fly fishing. The chance to catch a trophy sized
trout...
Owyhee River fishing trip
Posted on July 12 2015
How has the fishing been? Very very good. Last year the best fishing of the day was the trico spinner fall. With heads up every where gulping spinners. This year the tricos haven't really gotten going yet and haven't been a factor. There are a few but the fishing isn't worth getting to the river early for.
I've been...
Paybacks are fun
Posted on July 09 2015
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...