Delaware River Report / Conditions August 17, 2012

An absolutely gorgeous day out there yesterday, but the bright sun made did not make things easy. As per usual of late, the Tricos were around in the morning before the bright sun made its glaring appearance. You could not buy a bug for most of yesterday, but towards evening we started to see one of my favorite things – flying ants. Big ones, little ones, black ones, brown ones. When I say little, I mean tiny. Fish appeared to be honed in on black flying ants so tiny, maybe a #28, that you could only see them by their impression on the surface. However maddening that may be been, the exciting part was the immense number of brown ants  in flight between the river and the parking lot. These were significantly bigger, probably a #16, and will hopefully find their way on to the water in the next couple of days. I know that I will be ready! Today we are expected to have decent cloud cover for most of the day, followed by a few storms later in the evening. Hopefully this will encourage the Tricos to hang around past morning.

Going through some old images I found this gem of Larry Clark, Sr. giving a Brownie some love!

Tricorythodes species – #22 male and female

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16 (sporadic), #18 & #20

Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!

Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl (sporadic)

Ephemerella pseudocloeon- Tiny BWO- #22-26

Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14 (sporadic)

Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14 (sporadic)

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14 (waning)

Ephemerella deficiens- Dark. BWO -#12-20 (when cloudy)

Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20 (when cloudy)

Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18

Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16

Baetis species – #18 & #20 (when cloudy)