Delaware River Report / Conditions April 19, 2016

Yesterday was interesting / strange.  Lots of caddis on the water and in the air, good blue quills, late hendricksons, and spooky fish.  We heard some reliable reports of a decent hendrickson spinner fall but not a lot of fish eating them at dark.  It sounds like that was very location specific since a few miles away I had spinners but definitely not large numbers.  The clear water, bright sunshine, and pressure (moon phase, barometric pressure, wind gusts, insert your favorite Delaware excuse here) seems to have some of the fish acting a bit spooky .  We saw a lot of fish eat a couple of times never to return and other fish were friendly.  It’s time for a real stealthy approach and accurate casting.  We have some wind and cloud cover this morning which is actually a welcome change from the summer like conditions of the last few days.  The clouds may make the fish feel safer and more willing to feed steadily one the bugs come.  The wind should be 4 mph with gusts to 15 mph.  Let’s hope there is actually a break in between gusts.
Cannonsville Reservoir level has dropped slightly due to diversions to NYC and the 400 cfs release.  Pepacton has come up a little.

Nick with a great fish yesterday. Photo by Steve Shen

Hatching:
Hendrickson- #12 – 14 – E. subvaria
Blue Quill #16 – 18 – Paraleptophlebia adoptiva
Dark Brachycentrus sp. – #14 – 18 – Dark Grannom
Light Brachycentrus sp. – #16 – 18 – Apple Caddis
Little Black Caddis #18 – 20 – Chimarra sp.
Blue Winged Olives #16 – 18 – Baetis vagans (updated name: Baetis tricaudatus)
Quill Gordons #14 – Epeorus pluralis
Tiny Black Stoneflies #18 – Capniidae sp.
Early Black and Brown Stoneflies #14 – 16 – Taenopteryx & Strophopteryx spp.