Posted on August 12 2026
Mowed the lawn this morning as soon as the sun dried the dew off the back yard grass. Felt no need to hurry up to Deposit as I had rising fish from two until almost five yesterday. There are bugs on the water from at least noon until dark, but the fish seem to decide when they want to eat. There are fish feeding everywhere, you stop to change flies, (don't bother, they're not looking at them anyway), look up, and there isn't a fish feeding, the bugs are still on the water but the fish are done. There seems to be an hour and a half to two hours when the fish are up during the afternoon and another feeding spell sometime between six and dark.
I've been weaning myself away from the Sulfur Zone, making evening forays down to the lower WB where I've found a dearth of bugs, but fish more willing to eat what's put before them, until today.
The fishing - For me, wasn't worth a damn. Tried up in Stilesville for the first time since the Invarias departed and I probably won't try again 'til the Dorotheas depart.Yes there were Dorotheas and rising fish, but the slow moving water gave the fish ample time to examine and reject my offerings. One good brown ate a hangy-downy not twenty feet from me. I hooked and saw his head pulled to the side, but the hook never found a place to dig in. That was the high point of a couple hours of casting at savey fish.
Went down river and spent another hour and a half getting the skunk away from my boots courtesy of a 13 inch rainbow that took a blind cast with such enthusiasm that even I couldn't miss the rise. Broke off a solid hit, and hooked and lost a third fish that ate an olive after three fish had turned up their noses at it.
At 8:00 I tried yet another down river spot, again there were no bugs. When a few fish came up to practice their rises and refusals I was privileged to get four fish to actually eat my offerings, two of which came unstuck. Not a memorable day of fishing.
However, the PA electrofishing crew were at work at Shehawken and they said I could watch. Drove there after fishing and watched them measure, weigh, insert a little chip??? in their abdomen, clip the Adipose fin on those not previously captured, make note of the ones previously shocked,(the Adipose fin clip is a clue and the little chip in their belly makes a hand held machine go beep), and return them to the river. The fish they captured closely matched, (size wise), the figures I gave you two days ago, (mostly adult fish). One thing that surprised me was that they have shocked browns in the Delaware up to 15 years of age.
Thanks Jack! Just turned 74 and my eyes even after cataract surgery aren’t what they used to be. I have a pair of 3.00x glasses that I have around my neck and sometimes they aren’t of any help..especially dusk time
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Whoa…….heading to my vise now to whip out some electroshock emergers with the hanging down thingy….
How large is a 15 year old brown anyway?
Thank you Jack, I’m “only” 51, but have a tough time threading 5.5X through 18 and under flies. I just ordered a Talweg!
For those of you that may be interested, and for those of you that WILL be interested if you fish long snuff, I have finally, (after three tries) found a tippet threader that I hope will keep me on the water at least a couple of years.
My depth perception had become so bad that I could no longer tie on a fly smaller that size 16, which as you know is a killer limitation on the WB.
I tried 3 magnetic tippet threaders, and had the following experience:
Ninja Bullseye: well made, but I still could not get the tippet in the groove necessary for it to work.
Orvis Eye Tie Threader: an improvement over the Ninja, but not as well made, and the tippet is still difficult to line up properly.
Talweg. ($29.00). don’t buy the knockoffs for less. This design works great on all flies with the exception of Harrop’s Last chance. It has given me hope that my fishing days are not yet over.
Sounds like the fat lady is starting to sing.