Delaware River Report / Conditions August 16, 2011

Yesterday was definitely……interesting shall we say. Folk on the West Branch were treated to some good streamer action, as well as good numbers of consistently rising fish, up and chasing BWOs, sulphurs, and cahills. Those of us who fished the main stem (that would be just the two of us. The whole river. One boat) expected hatching and action of epic proportions. What we had instead was one of the most frustrating days of fishing I have ever experienced – we had fish, not a ton of bugs, but enough to justify consistent rising. Instead we had fish slashing and popping out of the water to eat…..ready for it? PSEUDOS. Or so we thought. Throw a psuedo over a fish you just saw eat one, nada. Toss a cahill compardun over top of him? He’d eat it. All of the smaller 12-14″ rainbows filling up the riffles couldn’t be bought on a caddis or (GASP!) an Iso – even if they had given away their location by rising. Something the likes of which I have never seen. The only decent fish, a 16-17-ish ‘bow was the only fish that took an imitation of what we saw him eat. ARGH!

Enough whining – on to today! It looks like we dodged a bit bullet here on the West Branch, and that we missed the huge slug of water on the main by just an hour or so. The Beaverkill jumped to around 6,000 CFS (yes, you read that right) yesterday in a deluge that missed us. As such, the East and Main Stems are both blown out today (think Yoo-hoo, but darker), so the West is the only game in town. With clouds and passing showers, I’ve got great hopes for the day – could be fantastic out there with few people, and lots of bugs!

Hatches:

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26