Author: Bart Larmouth
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 16, 2012
How about that! We actually got some rain around here! Good thunderstorms (as opposed to the one at 5AM that I’m sure some of you in NYC heard which didn’t have the decency to drop any precipiation)rolled through the area throughout the afternoon yesterday, bringing some heavy rain with it at times, as is evidenced by the spike in flow on the West Branch yesterday. We were bumped up to about 800 CFS, but the river did not get overly off-colored, and we have already dropped back down to under 600 cfs. The water temps are warmer this morning as well, resulting from the rain, which should start fishing off early today. Mostly cloudy, warm and humid will make for some good daytime fishing, but likely shut down the late evening with some serious fog – that remains to be seen!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 529 cfs @ 47º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 590 cfs @ 51º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 185 cfs @ 55º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 981 cfs @ 68º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,490 cfs @ 66º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 481 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 82.5% – 530 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 15, 2012
It was definitely a mixed bag yesterday! We had some early morning cloud cover, which melted away towards the afternoon, then reappeared towards dark. The upper river had bugs VERY early and throughout the periods of clouds, and shut down a little bit when that bright yellow nuclear furnace came out to scorch us. The entire river had some wonderful evening hatches of smaller sulphurs (#20) and olives (#18), and the fish decided to be extra special picky just to make things interesting. ON the side of the house this morning, we definitely had a good mix of bugs that likely hatched overnight. A BIG T-storm rolled through at about 5 AM, but unfortunately did not dump much water on us – all show, and no go! Today, we’re starting off cloudy, and they are predicting scattered thunderstorms throughout the day. Hopefully this cloud cover will continue and give us good bug activity all day as it did yesterday!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 538 cfs @ 47º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 547 cfs @ 49º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 197 cfs @ 55º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 299 cfs @ 68º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 994 cfs @ 70º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 89 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 82.5% – 530 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 14, 2012
What a difference a few clouds can make! With hazy / overcast skies yesterday, we saw some great insect activity pretty much throughout the day, and especially into the evening. Reports from Hale Eddy down were more positive than they have been in several days, with tons of Dortheas coming off, as well as some sporadic spinner falls of both Isos and Sulphurs, depending on the stretch of river you were on. This morning, the upper river has already seen some hatching bugs, likely a result of the warmer overnight temperatures. The weather is calling for a mix of sun and clouds today, with possible scattered rain showers. Let’s hope they materialize!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 538 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 543 cfs @ 49º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 226 cfs @ 55º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 337 cfs @ 66º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 974 cfs @ 68º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 92 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 82.5% – 510 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 13, 2012
Happy Friday the 13th! Let’s hope it’s a lucky one out on the river! We had pretty decent hatches out there last night, and even more overnight judging by all the bugs on the side of the shop this morning. Fishing was slow during the day (Aside from way up by Stilesville), but definitley picked up in the evening. Today, we’re looking at a carbon-copy of yesterday, with the”possibility” of thunderstorms in the afternoon. We’ll see what materializes!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 510 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 534 cfs @ 49º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 226 cfs @ 56º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 337 cfs @ 68º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 924 cfs @ 70º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 95 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 83.2% – 510 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 12, 2012
Tough going out there yesterday during the day time. That bright sun was NOT a fun companion out on the water. Some clouds did roll in for a bit, and there was activity up river when that did occur, as brief as it was. The evening did fish as usual up river, but down here by the club we did not see a huge number of bugs hatching, but did find a good number of fish feeding on spent spinners floating down, especially towards dark, which gave one last rush of action at the end of the day. We are looking at even warmer temperatures today, so the middle of the day will be a great time to find a pool or comfortable place to take a nap. The evening should fish well, as the barometric pressure hasn’t shifted much, and our flows on the West have remained steady overnight. Remember – sunscreen people!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 510 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 525 cfs @ 48º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 191 cfs @ 56º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 305 cfs @ 66º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,030 cfs @ 68º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 98 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 83.2% – 510 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 11, 2012
Finally a little bit of precipitation! I can’t remember the last time we actually had a decent rain hit the ground here in Starlight. Albeit the duration was not much to brag about, it was still a welcome respite from the constant heat and sun. The change in pressure did affect the hatching slightly, but only shut it down for the duration of the rain, and then the bugs quickly shot back to the surface, making for a pretty good evening of fishing river-wide. As the temps cooled, the action slowed, so we didn’t get the typical “half-past dark thirty” hatching we normally see. The flow from the reservoir was dropped back down to 510 CFS overnight, so the fish will take a little while to reacclimate this morning, and the with no real storms or clouds in the forecast for today (as of yet), the lower west will be a bit warmer today, as will the very upper stretches of the Main Stem.
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 8:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 519 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 543 cfs @ 46º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 263 cfs @ 57º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 375 cfs @ 67º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,090 cfs @ 64º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 102 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 85.2% – 510 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 10, 2012
IT was a little bit different out there yesterday. Despite the slightly cooler weather (realize that is a relative phrase), not much happened on the West Branch in the evening until right at dark, when there was a small flush of BWOs (likely deficiens) just as you could no longer see. Down in Home Pool, there was nary a bug to be found. Very odd to be sure, so there must have been a pressure change or something of the like to keep them down. The powers that be have also started to ramp down the flow out of Cannonsville, so we now have only 737 coming out of the dam. If this remains stable, there should not be a great change in the fishing / fish holding spots. Today, we’ve got thunderstorms in the area this afternoon, and even lower temps again. Let’s hope for some good rain to get the East back up and cool the Main Stem down a bit!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 7:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 737 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 721 cfs @ 46º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 151 cfs @ 58º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 249 cfs @ 67º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,150 cfs @ 64º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 107 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 85.2% – 730 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 9, 2012
It was another pretty decent day out there Sunday, albeit mostly in the late evening downriver, and later in the afternoon up river. The sun was pretty hot through the middle of the day, but we did see some clouds show up and cool things down a tad. Below Ball’s Eddy fished well in the evening, but the bugs shut right off around 7:30 / 8:00 and the fish followed suit. Today, the temps are supposed to be significantly lower, and substantially more clouds are predicted which should yield a pretty good day river-wide. Assuming the knuckleheads who make these forecasts get it right, of course!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella cornuta – Light BWO – #14 (sporadic)
Ephemerella Deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella Attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella Pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 7:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 790 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 773 cfs @ 47º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 153 cfs @ 60º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 261 cfs @ 69º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,170 cfs @ 66º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 114 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 87.6% – 790 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 8, 2012
I don’t get to say this too often, and I do try to avoid it, but today I can’t resist – you should’ve been here yesterday! The weathermen could not have been more wrong in their forecast, and it worked out to the benefit of everyone on the river yesterday. Rain early, coupled with overcast skies to keep the nuclear hot (ha-ha) sun off the water led to fantastic hatches from just after 12PM on, well until 8:30 or so in the evening. The fish seemed a bit less picky than they have been as of late, and the only real issue was the thick, THICK fog resultant from the super-humid air and super-cold water doing the lambada. As for today, the release from Cannonsville is still around 790, but will likely drop in anticipation of the power generation picking up downstream again for the week. Until then, we should have some great hatching still, and today is considered “mostly cloudy” which as you all know, it nothing but a good thing!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella cornuta – Light BWO – #14 (sporadic)
Ephemerella Deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella Attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella Pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 7:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 790 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 779 cfs @ 47º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 153 cfs @ 59º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 273 cfs @ 70º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,180 cfs @ 64º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 122 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 87.6% – 790 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 7, 2012
What a scorcher out there today! The humidity definitely helped to add to the sweat factor, and not in a good way! The good news is that the temps did not drop dramatically once the sun went down, preventing a seriously thick fog from descending and shutting down the fishing. Clouds did roll in a bit and the late afternoon, and boy did that help! Sulphurs yet again up above, coupled with some larger cahills down river. Today is supposed to make yesterday seem cool, so we are anticipating a similar level of daytime activity, with hopefully a good afternoon. The cold water should continue thru the day, helping us in a big way. The gates will likely turn off late into the night, so we will likely be at 500cfs again on Sunday morning.
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella cornuta – Light BWO – #14 (sporadic)
Ephemerella Deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella Attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella Pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 7:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 736 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 750 cfs @ 46º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 153 cfs @ 62º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 267 cfs @ 73º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,140 cfs @ 69º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 120 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 89.6% – 730 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 6, 2012
That was a nice change of pace yesterday, and now we’ve got our weekend water starting (thanks to Montague)! Even in the heat, we had some clouds roll in for the afternoon, and the entire river decided to cooperate much to our happiness and surprise, considering the predicted weather. The only trouble spot was the higher winds early on in the day, which were not originally in the forecast – go figure! The good news is that they were downstream (out of the N / NW), and cooled the day down dramatically. Good sulphur hatches throughout the afternoon above Hale Eddy and into Deposit also showed up in the lower stretches into the evening. Today, we are expecting more sunshine and warmer temps, and with the pressure settled down, as well as this influx of cold water for the weekend, we should see continued hatching as we saw on Thursday, as well as good fishing all along the West Branch.
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella cornuta – Light BWO – #14 (sporadic)
Ephemerella Deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella Attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella Pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 7:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 737 cfs @ 46º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 732 cfs @ 46º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 153 cfs @ 62º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 279 cfs @ 70º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,030 cfs @ 6º9 |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 129 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 89.6% – 730 CFS release |
Delaware River Report / Conditions July 5, 2012
As you can see from the graph below, there really hasn’t been much change on the West Branch over the last few days. Yesterday did see some pretty significant weather changes towards the evening, however. Big T-storms rolled through, giving some nice 4th of July noise and flash, but barely got the ground wet. What it DID do was create a pressure change that put many of the bugs down, at least here on the lower river. Upstream by Deposit fished fairly well early on and into the afternoon, and slowed a little bit towards the end of day as the water temperatures dropped. Today looks like a return to steady pressure, as well as sweat-inducing sun and heat. Yay! So back to typical summer fishing again!
Hatches:
Epeorus vitreus – Pale Evening Dun – (Female) -#14
Epeorus vitreus – Light Cahill – (Male)- #14
Potomanthus distinctus – Golden Drake – #12-2xl
Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl
Isonychia bicolor – Isos – #12-2XL and BIGGER!
Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16
Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14
Ephemerella cornuta – Light BWO – #14 (sporadic)
Ephemerella Deficiens– Dark. BWO -#12-20
Ephemerella Attenuata- Light BWO- #16-20
Ephemerella Pseudocloeon– Tiny BWO- #22-26
Hydropsyche- Tan Caddis- #18
Ryacophilia- Olive Caddis- #16
Baetis species – #18 & #20
FLOWS AS OF 7:00 AM: | |
West Branch at Stilesville, NY | 620 cfs @ 47º |
West Branch at Hale Eddy,NY | 627 cfs @ 48º |
East Branch at Harvard,NY | 156 cfs @ 64º |
East Branch at Fish’s Eddy,NY | 285 cfs @ 72º |
Mainstem at Lordville,NY | 1,060 cfs @ 71º |
Beaverkill at Cooks Falls,NY | 131 cfs @ N/A |
Cannonsville Reservoir Level & Release | 89.6% – 600 CFS release |