Delaware River Report / Conditions April 18, 2012

Thanks NYC DEP. Thanks a ton. The reservoir has dropped below 90% for the first time this year, bringing us down a notch in the FFMP tables, which also means we now only have a 141 cfs release. Although I am not a conspiracy theorist, part of me can’t help but think that NYC has been intentionally drawing down the reservoir, gaming the system as we move towards months where they would be legally required to release good amounts of water (i.e. prepping for an artificial drought if need be). Especially seeing as how there was more water coming into the reservoir (300+ cfs at Walton for weeks) than coming out (170 cfs at Stilesville), yet it was dropping 1/10 of a percent of capacity per day. That’s ALOT of water, and certainly not coming down river as we need it to.

Aside from that sobering news, the fishing was decent here yesterday, albiet a bit slower than the previous. We did see spinner falls on the West Branch towards the evening as the wind died down. Cooler air temps today with greater cloud cover should help us even further today, hopefully extending the spinner fall to more than an hour or so. On a sillier note…….

So if you stand in the river long enough, the fish will jump...... (Photo by: Pam Cavanagh)

.....right into your hands! Norm Price with a GREAT 19" Brown. Photo by: Pam Cavanagh

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #12 & #14

Paraleptophlebia adoptiva (Blue Quill) – #16 & #18

Light Brachycentrus Caddis – Apple Green – #16 & #18

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #20

Chimmarra (little black) Caddis – #18 & #20