Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

After six straight fishing days with big, fish seemingly lining up for a chance to eat my flies, I just may have been a tad full of myself. 

Waited until about 9:30 to head out in search of a spinner fall and on the way came as close as you could ever come to running over a new born fawn. The fawn trotted out onto my lane from under the guard rail in the median on rte. 17. I have always said don't...

If you are planning on joining the hoards of fishermen expected to be on the Delaware system this weekend be prepared for the unexpected. A river system that just two short weeks ago was too high to wade is now too low to float! NYC's desire for full reservoirs on the first of June coupled with no rain has led to a major reduction of flows. The fish, the wade fishermen and those still floating are...

While driving back to the fishing camp at 9:00pm tonight I ran over someone's rod and reel on that beautiful piece of highway running from Lordville to Equinunk.. Fortunately the rod was lying parallel to the traffic lane and I was able to straddle it. Parked the car with flashers on, got out my flashlight and retrieved both the rod and reel. Rod appears no worse for the experience. The reel has a...

 With the weekend coming up, thought it might be helpful to try to bring you up to date on river conditions. The freestones (BR, BK and BE) have all had Hendricksons for over a week. The Apple Caddis are hatching throughout the BE and I assume on the BR.  I haven't seen them on the BK.

When the spills stopped on the UEB and the WB the water temps plunged and the hatches slowed. The reservoirs are...

Back when "The Opener" was April first, trout fishermen had something to look forward to. Preseason trips were made to finger lakes rainbow spawning streams to check out "the run" and lines would be in the water on April 1st at the 5:00am starting time in hopes of catching one of the big spawners. Ice in the guides, you bet, but you were fishing again. Now that trout season is open all year long,...

                                                   BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Knew it was time before I got out of bed this morning. Was going to drain the pipes today but it was just so nice I decided to wait until tomorrow. Mowed the grass, washed the kitchen and bathroom floors, cleaned out the cupboards, had lunch, shot the bow and before I knew it, it was 2:30.  Didn't matter, fishing today was like the last day of the Tour de France (mostly ceremonial).

I've been...

Stopped on the way down at the Troutfitter in Deposit where Dave manually transferred yesterday's offering onto the Troutfitter page. He said he would look for tonight's and get it up where it belongs asap.

Set out from camp about 1:15 hoping the pseudos would find the cooler water temps to their liking and hatch during their scheduled two to five slot. They didn't. Drove up and down the BK and...

Back in Lafayette waiting for the 10 pointer to walk in front of my tree stand. Fortunately most of the weekend rain fell up here and missed the Delaware. With the BK once again at a level where it can be waded and the water temps now low enough to hopefully trigger pseudo hatches, I'm planning on heading down to both fish and work on the camp shut down. Will let you know how things are when I get...

Am probably the only person in all of New York grumbling about the weather, it's simply beautiful. Fifteen degrees above normal, bright sun and the leaves are at their peak. Driving up and down the river system (which I did today) afforded me one beautiful vista after another. However, the pseudos have decided they like it right where they are and are not hatching until they get some cold snotty...

It just happened again. Tried to type the word AND and the entire blog page disappeared, the only thing on the screen was ND.  There is nothing near the missing A that could make five paragraphs disappear.  

My Perfect Manhattan is watery and I'm sorry but I'm not typing it again, even for the faithful few of you out there that are still willing to indulge me by reading it. NEVER BUY A DELL (at...

Fall days don't get any nicer than today. Woke to fog this morning and the sun didn't burn through until after 11:00. Grass was so wet I waited until after lunch for bow practice. After a kind of erratic day yesterday I shot lights out today. Actually moved my aim point around so as not to endanger the nocks. My 8:00 am call from Jean didn't come until almost 11:00, she and her sister Pam were in...

With sunshine and an air temp in the 70's there would be no pseudos on the freestones this afternoon (if they didn't hatch with cloudy skies and 57 degree water yesterday, they certainly wouldn't hatch in 60 degree water today). Headed for the UEB, which with 700 cfs of 44 degree water being released from Pepacton has the only temps suitable for pseudo hatching in the system. 

Arrived at 2:00 to...

It's five thirty and both my perfect Manhattan and laptop are on the table in front of me.  That should tell long time readers all they need to know. Left the fishing camp about 1:00 (both the bugs and fish were going when I found them yesterday and I didn't want to be tardy today), and went right to the UEB where the 43 degree release water has had the pseudos hatching.

First let me say this -...

Drove down with the same plan as last week, mow the lawn, watch SU football and North Florida women's volleyball and fish tomorrow. Funny thing happened. The SU game was on ESPN2 so You Tube didn't have it and neither did ESPN+. At 3:30 I got in the car and headed east to the Willow which was at least fishable. Saw lots of fishermen but nary a bug or a rise. At 4:30 I was in the car heading for...

It doesn't really matter much what the weather forecast says, if the rivers get anywhere near a safe and potentially productive wading level, you just know it's gonna rain. Woke up this morning and stepped outside to see if I could hear Humphries Brook roaring. If it's making noise you know you're done. It wasn't too bad. Looked up the BK flow and it was in the 800s and the rain had stopped....

With the water levels dropping and the grass growing I got up early Saturday and drove down to the fishing camp. Knew that I wouldn't be fishing as I had to mow the lawn and then wanted to watch Syracuse play Florida State in football and North Florida (our grandaughter's team) play FGCU in women's volleyball. The games were streamed back to back from 3:30 until almost 10:00. Both exciting,...

No, I haven't closed the Lordville Estate or even taken my gear out of the car but deer season opens Friday and it's pretty much time to move on. If I'm down at the camp fishing, I'll write, but reports are likely to be both sporadic and intermittent.

The eastern side of the system remains very high and even without any additional precipitation it will probably be a week or more before you can...

Headed for home about 2:00 this afternoon when it had become clear that the the rivers would be blown out once again. It's 10:00 pm and all of the USGS flow charts are still going straight up. The rivers will be high and muddy for several days and there is a strong probability that NYDEP will again max out the releases from both reservoirs in an attempt to create a flood mitigation void behind the...

If there was a bug hatch on the river system, one thing was for sure, A-119 didn't see it. It was windy but that wasn't even a good excuse. The wind was from the south at ten to twenty. The rivers run basically east and west so there are plenty of places where the hills let you get out of the wind - and I did. It was 78 degrees on the car thermometer and that is way too warm for fall bugs. They...

Spent the afternoon and evening (3:00 to 7:30) fishing the BK with my gray haired old friend. No, we didn't stand shoulder to shoulder sharing a pool, that's not our way. We both set out with a plan to go east and to have dinner and perhaps a libation at the Riverside in Horton. Plans changed late when we drove into the parking lot at the Riverside and found it was closed. Adjourned to the Hancock...

With the Beaverkill dipping below 500 cfs today and the nighttime temps back down in the 50's, I decided to come down and try to get in a couple of days fishing before the next rain is predicted to fall (Wed., Thur. and Fri.). Bought a BJ's roasted chicken, filled the car up with gas and took a leisurely drive down, arriving at 12:00 on the dot. Had lunch, got stuff put away and headed out about...

If it were Hendrickson time I'd be on the river system fishing. The current water levels offer limited wading opportunities if, you are familiar with the area you want to fish and are comfortable wading at the current USGS gage levels. 

But it's not Hendrickson time. Yes, there are still a few iso's, cahills, and white flies but the bread and butter fall flies are the pseudos. These tiny olives...

As you've probably guessed, I'm back in Lafayette.  For dry fly fishing this time of year the outlook is bleak. The pseudos' like cold water and the trout like to eat them in slow moving  (low water) pools. We have high water and some of it is too warm.

The outlook - the NYDEP has the release valves almost wide open with (I assume) the intent to create a void in both reservoirs to reduce flood...

Today, like yesterday, promised to be a hot one. As soon as the grass was dry, I mowed the lawn and then practiced with the stick and string. There is no doubt I'm better for the archery lesson I got last year but I still have my bad days and this was one of them. It was 80 on the porch when I quit and I was in no hurry to head out to fish. The weather forecast was for severe thunderstorms once...

It was an interesting day. There is one lone hummingbird still using the feeder. She sits in the apple tree and tanks up on the sugar water all day long. Every morning I look out expecting her to be gone and she's still there. There are so many apples this year that the deer can't keep up with the drops. The ground is covered with them. Usually the deer lay out in the back yard and come over to...

Got up early this morning and took care of remaining items on my at home to do list. Drove into town, got the car washed and filled with gas, picked up supplies for the weeks stay at camp and made it to the barber shop fifteen minutes early for my 10:30 appointment. It was good that I did because my name isn't Dan. I botched my attempt at scheduling the hair cut appointment and Dan was scheduled...

With bright sun, high water and a stiff breeze it wasn't hard for me to pack up my dirty laundry, the last of the peaches and my bow and arrows and head for Lafayette at 1:00 this afternoon. The peaches don't keep well and by 4:15 we had them all canned. One of my grandsons has a volley ball game tomorrow morning and Syracuse plays Rutgers at 2:00pm. Will probably dine out with Jean after the...

Has it occurred to you that we are living in a strange world? Politics aside, Covid-19 has been a huge disruption. It's been over 20 months since the onset of the pandemic and the supply line is still in disarray. Manufacturers can't hire enough workers or even get the necessary parts to make their products. It is certainty symbolic of the problem rather being an important factor in anyone else's...

Left camp about 2:00 and decided to spend the day over on the BK. Why? It has been too high to fish since Ida, it has the best iso hatches in the entire river system, it has good fall olives, it was almost down to the level at which I like to fish it (300 to 450 cfs) and todays predicted rain would probably put it back up into the unfishable category.

Found the rocks along the shoreline covered...

Had three items to cross off the list before I could go fishing today. The first was to get the leak in my right rear tire fixed. Warning light came on Friday night of Labor Day weekend. Fortunately it was a slow leak and I had no trouble keeping enough air in it. Drove over to the Equinunk garage about 8:30 and was back on the road in about twenty minutes with the hole plugged. Next stop was the...

Yesterday the stars aligned. Heavy overcast with an on and off again drizzle, olives on the water with fish eating them. Fishermen had targets all over the river. Todays weather forecast promised clouds with a chance of a shower and maybe some sun. Well, there were clouds this morning, no shower and just when I started to wade out in the river, bright sunshine in a cloudless sky with a wind strong...

If you were ever going to hire a guide to float the Big River today was the day to do it. Why? Well we just had the fall "redistribution rise" in water courtesy of Ida. The flow is now back down to around 2,500 cfs which can be safely waded if you are familiar with the place you are wading but is not a good level at which to learn the river. The BR fish have been lightly fished since the drake...

It's been so long since I've been to the LVE that I had to punch the address into the GPS just to find it. Was delayed yet another day by an unscheduled social obligation that arose last night. This morning Jean and I drove down in separate cars (her's has the trailer hitch), unloaded a trailer full of junk metal, unhitched the trailer at camp, exchanged cars, Jean headed back to Lafayette and...

It's Thursday night and I'm not at the Lordville Estate. The pond restoration project took an extra day and I had lots of cleanup work to do after the excavator departed. He did a fantastic job working with some of the wettest material (pond dredging's) you could ever imagine. Don't want to jinx the project but the inlets and outlets should be able to withstand whatever mother nature can throw at...

Was out picking peaches early this morning when I got a call from the guy who is repairing the damage done to our ponds by the three flood events of the past month. He was there working and wondered where the hell I was. Got in the car and headed home. Work will last at least two days. Jean returns about noon on Wednesday and we will be canning peaches in the afternoon. If everything goes well I...

 Finished up some yardwork about 11:30 and gave consideration to driving home to pick up another load of  basement trash. Decided to wait until tomorrow as the transfer station will be open and I can go there directly. That momentous decision out of the way, I ate lunch and fell asleep trying (unsuccessfully) to do the Friday NYT crossword puzzle.

With current water levels and temps unfavorable for...

Finally a day where one shower was enough. Overcast skies kept the temp in the low 70's which lets you work outside without having to ring out your tee shirt when you're done. Was in no hurry to go fishing as I had work to do and the olives have not been coming until late. Left camp about four and put more than enough miles on the car trying to find the missing olives and rising fish. By six...

Knowing full well that my raincoat is hanging up in the cellar back home, I checked the hourly weather forecast for Hancock. "No rain until after midnight", it said. Left for Deposit at 5:30 hoping to again find fish feeding on olives. By the time I got to the Troutfitter it was raining so hard I didn't even get out of the car. When it let up a little I ducked into the shop to see if I could...

Yesterday had it's plusses and minuses. We have been battling flood water, mildew/mold and the need to clean out forty years of accumulated "treasures" from our basement. Jean's girl cave suffered the most damage as the new carpeting had to be cut up and taken to the dump yesterday. On the positive side her new recliner couch appears to be ok. With the temp and humidity both going into the 90's...

Just hit what was possibly the last key on a five paragraph blog page - - and - - for at least the fourth time this year it vaporized. Don't have the desire, energy or creative genius to even try to do it again. You are spared and I have to take my blood pressure medicine.

Drove down to Lordville today. Traffic along 81 was moving along at somewhere between 80 and 85 mph. As cars sped by I kept checking my cruse to see if I had set it wrong. State fair traffic? Perhaps some, but the light didn't come on until I got near Binghamton and saw the signs directing drivers to the university. Students were returning to college and traffic resembled I-95 on the last weekend...

If you are looking for a fishing report, you've gone to the wrong site. Got a call at 5:00 AM this morning that we now have a swimming pool in what was the basement. The house is almost 40 years old and we never had a water problem - until a month ago. In the past month we have been hit with three torrential rainstorms, Tuesday night we got four inches of rain and water came in. Last night I don't...

With the sun poking through the clouds there was little point in rushing out to fish the lower section of the WB. Left camp at 3:30 and when I saw no bugs on the water at Shehawken (one of my look/see places) I went over to 17 and drove up to Hale Eddy. Stood on the bridge for a good ten minutes without seeing a bug or a rise. Drove down the "PA" side thinking I'd fish the game lands. Two cars in...

 It was an olive kind of day right from the get go, dark overcast sky and a steady rain almost all morning. Was in no hurry to get on the river as olives are notoriously late sleepers. Set out at one thirty with the knowledge that I didn't need to go back to the UEB and that I had no desire to fish the "Sulfur Zone. That left the  BR and the lower WB.  

Drove up the PA side of the BR and stopped at...

 Finished up Monday morning to do's by 9:00 and was on my way to the fishing camp.  Didn't stop in Deposit on the way down and had no urge to drive back up to the SZ after lunch. The sulfurs are waning, the fish are paranoid about eating dry flies and I'm sick of fishing the same pools day after day. 

Worked around camp until about 4:00 then headed east. Haven't been over that way since the high...

Dennis wants to compare advantages and disadvantages of studded boots and felt soles. Studded boots are much better on banks with mud or wet grass, they are noisy in the water and can put fish on alert, they are good on slippery rocks. Felts are a hazard on wet muddy banks, wet grass and leaves. They are much quieter in the water and are quite good on slippery rocks. I wear felts, my only...

With another bright, sunny scorcher on tap I took a personal day. Got in the water to see if I'd finally fixed the leak in my waders. I did! Fourth try was successful. The leak was in a seam where the leg met the upper part of the waders. Ran Aquaseal along the seam for about two inches and presto dry pants. If you haven't tried to buy them, you probably don't know, but Simms waders (along with a...