Posted on September 23 2025
After spending most of Thursday, all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday not fishing, you'd think I'd be anxious to get back on the river, and I was, until I saw the release from Cannonsville was up to 1,150cfs. That eliminated the "tinted" water in the WB. The people who commented about their BR floats also did nothing to make me risk a speeding ticket driving down. The one positive, (I'll not talk about rain until it falls), was that it was cloudy.
Arrived at the Lordville Estate in time for lunch, and with rain at least in the forecast, I seeded and raked the area on the RR bank designated for an environmental upgrade, (better to mow grass than kill weeds), started up the mower and cut those few areas of the lawn that are still green, picked some more tomatoes, watered them for the last time, and went inside to try and figure out where to fish.
It wasn't easy, (see paragraph 1 above), but when I checked the water temp on the EB at Hancock it was starting down and had peaked at about 68. Drove upstream at about 5:30 and waded into water that would have been two feet over my head last May, (didn't come up to my knees), saw several fish rise, one for sure was a fall fish, hooked and landed a 9 inch rainbow, got not another fish to acknowledge that I even had a fly on, did not tip my hat to them, (may have even given them a single digit salute), reeled it in, and drove downstream). It was 6:30 when I left the car, saw rising fish and put them down just walking along the shore. Cast at several fish that never rose again, (and they were my very best casts). Worked my way back towards the car and when it was too dark for the fish to see me, I saw several fish rising about two thirds of the way across the stream, waded out and hooked and landed three rainbows 15,18, and18. From I just can't do this any more, to euphoria in less than 10 minutes. Made a wrong turn in the dark on the way back to the car but made it back safely. Clock said 7:45 when I started the car.
The outlook -We are not even hoping for rain, but if by chance it should come, and the release is cut back on the WB, come, the fish are well rested and might even eat a fly with a hook in it. Do not come at present stream levels and expect to replicate my 5 short minutes of magic after 2 hours of humiliation at the hands of the trout.
Will have a short week and I will try to answer questions from home but Skookul's query brought to mind last Friday when I stopped at Shehawken and walked down to the ramp, looked upstream and saw over a hundred Kayaks, canoes and rubber rafts heading into the riff. Left and went downstream to junction pool and watched them float by. They were having a grand time, (at least 6 per raft), and the menagerie was remarkably well contained. The entire group passed by in well under 10 minutes. Please remember, everyone has a right to use the river. If the water is too low to float elsewhere they should be able to float here. If the person putting on the floats just doesn't understand how the river is used someone should talk to them about it, (FUDR???).
Of course, these boaters have every right to the river that we do. My confusion/annoyance stems from the fact that they don’t choose bigger water that can accomodate larger groups without stretching the entirety of the river width. Below Calicoon would seem like a better option for all involved, no?
A119 – Light rain in the forecast. I agree with Ed Smith, a lot can happen in five minutes, so would Jim Croce.
Agree that everyone has a right to use the river (as long as the outfitter is within the rules set for commercial operations in the national scenic river stretch) and it’s encouraging to hear the group was mostly self-contained, fairly respectful of other river users, and passed by quickly.
Just thought it was an observation worthy of mention as this would present a significant increase in the amount of boat traffic on an already technical dry fly fishery (especially if they’re running multiple trips per day). Think most folks would also agree that it’s somewhat of a bizarre location to run whitewater trips considering how frequently I end up sore from rowing into a 40 mph headwind on Lake Lenore.Thankfully the Venn diagram between water temps conducive to trout fishing and playboating without having to wear a full dry suit has very little overlap. Thank you for your attention on this matter!
Release at Cannonsville dropped but rain…who knows. Hopefully more wading opportunities will appear. Do fish rise in chocolate milk?
Why isnt there a better release on the EB?
Angler119’s-That’s a lot of work for 5 minutes of lovin’, but 5 minutes is better than none. But you did land some really nice fish. Congrats. Boy , it’s really tough out there. Praying for rain. Ed