May 17, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 17, 2012

Well that wasn’t what we were expecting. Typically, after a big surge in the flow, the fish and bugs go crazy the following day, and we just can’t wait to put the boats in the water, as we know it’s going to be good, whether you’re throwing streamers or dries. Not so much yesterday. The sun was bright throughout most of the day, hampering both insect and icthyological activity (yeah, that’s my SAT word for the day). That being said as the day went on those who had patience found good fish and them caught on dries, typically near the banks or in the slower moving pools. The evening did turn on for some decent spinner falls as well. The streamer fishing was a bit unpredictable, and turned on and off throughout the day.

Also – we’ve now got a 401 CFS release coming out from Cannonsville – we’ve magically gone from the bottom table in the FFMP, 4a (drought prediction) to the top table 4f/g (tons of water coming into the reservoir). This will cool off the river a bit, and definitely help with these sunny days we have coming, but it also shows how we need a better plan, at least insofar as the prediction factor of available water in concerned. This bump will positively affect the increasing clarity, and also slow our dropping flow. Bright sun is again predicted today, but with lower temps and humidity – we may have another ‘summer’ type of day, where the bugs pop during periods of clouds, and in the evening.

Alan Rupp in the bright sun. Oh yeah, there's a fish there. Photo by: Sam Dennis

Hatches:

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Stenonema fuscum – Grey Fox – #12-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Ephemerella cornuta – Light BWO – #14 (sporadic)

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 16, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 16, 2012

That was a slight bit of rain yesterday. While the West Branch stayed clear down low for a good chunk of the day, Oquaga Creek and many of the upper tributaries dirtied the river up pretty well. Even Stilesville (right below the dam) was affected, with several drainage ditches dirtying it up – a true rarity! We have dropped precipitously overnight, and now sit at about 1,560 CFS, with just a little bit of greenish tinge to the water out front in Home Pool. I would suspect the farther up you go, the clearer the river will become. As for the East / Beaverkill / Main, well, that’s a different story. The Beaverkill hit 16,000 cfs yesterday (you read that right), and that slug has finally moved its way down through the East and Main, which is still pumping over 15,000 CFS. We haven’t had a report as to the clarity over there yet this morning, but I would suspect it will take awhile to clear, likely being back to ‘normal’ clarity by the weekend. The West should be fairly clear by the end of day today, so long as there isn’t another deluge in the forecast!

The view out front as of 7:30 AM this morning. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 15, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 15, 2012

Well that was disappointing. By ‘that’ I definitely mean yesterday. What a complete waste of an olive day – very few bugs coming out, and as such not many fish at all up and working, despite what many consider to be optimal conditions (myself included). You’ve gotta love this fickle river! As most of you have cheated and looked at the graph below, I’ve got no amusing lead-in for today. Cheaters. It has been steadily raining since yesterday afternoon, but on our side (West Branch) of the basin, we have avoided any torrential downpours, so we are coming up, but not as fast as the East and Beaverkill are. I would expect with the continued precipitation to see the river muddy up at some point, but currently out front as of 7:45 AM we are barely off-color. The guides will go on a drive-about to see what the rest of the system looks like after they are caffeinated, and I will update if anything unusual comes to light.

New slave... er.... INTERN Jim Swift III with a great Brown. Photo by: Bob Lewis

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 14, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 14, 2012

A bit of a strange day out there yesterday, as conditions were great, but there weren’t a ton of bugs out until later on into the evening. And a TON was a good description – blanket hatches of dortheas on the Main made for some rip roaring fun in the evening, making the long wait through the day well worth it.

We woke up to a little bit of rain this morning here at the club – looks like it was enough to stabilize the drop of the West Branch, keeping us up above 400 CFS. We have about an inch of rain in the forecast over the next 36 hours or so, which will hopefully bring the West Branch back up to floatable levels. We expect overcast skies all day, with low wind and high humidity – a perfect recipe for bug soup!

Bob Lewis holding Doug Kriebel's chunky Brown. Photo by: Dick Kriebel

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 13, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 13, 2012

Happy Mother’s Day!

What a blue-bird day we had here yesterday – bright sun, warm temps, and very little breeze. While all that sun does not typically make for good dry fly fishing, the bugs were still showing themselves sporadically throughout the day, and even hatching in great numbers in a few select locations, right in the middle of the day. The evening was one of those you always hope for here on the Delaware – good hatches of sulphurs, Cornutas, as well as spinners, caddis, and even stoneflies in the air depending on where you were fishing. If you were patient and ready, it was a banner night! Today we are expecting similar conditions, but with the addition of some clouds, as well as passing shower or two in the afternoon.  With no large swing in the barometric pressure, today should fish fairly well if the clouds do materialize as predicted!

Great self-shot of a West Branch PIG caught in the sun yesterday by good friend of the shop Dave Crescenzi. Photo by: Dave Crescenzi

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 12, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions – May 12, 2012

If you had a sail out there yesterday, you certainly would have made it down river in a hurry! The wind was certainly vicious, but many of the bugs decided to still hatch anyway. Unfortunately, with the surface being disturbed by the 30 MPH+ gusts, the fish were not able to see the smorgasbord on the surface at times. The wind did lay down briefly around dark (as expected), and there were nice fish taken around that time. Today, we are looking at a warmer day (highs near 75) with some clouds and hopefully an afternoon shower or two. The wind will be back at a more manageble level, so here’s hoping the armada stays home, and the fish make up for what they missed yesterday!

Piers MacDonald with a SLAB of a Main Stem Brown! Photo by: Wiley Paul

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 11, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 11, 2012

Yesterday didn’t look all that appealing first with cold temps and some pretty brutal winds, but by the end of the day it became another great one to experience. Early on streamers were the way to go, and several BIG fish were taken subsurface. Towards the end of the day the wind laid down, and the bugs came out. March Browns on the all the branches, with Hendricksons on the West, and Invarias (larger sulphurs) on the East. The fish were definitely eager to eat, and not too finicky for a change. Today we’re looking at a bit of weather change, with bright sun and wind predicted for the day, with gusts near 30MPH. Let’s hope their as wrong about today as they have been with most days as of late. The temps will be cool, so if the wind does lay down, we will likely have  another great day of hatching!

Joe Laspina holds out a slab of a brown. Photo by: Steve Shen

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 10, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 10, 2012

Overcast and calm – two words that every dry fly guy (or girl!) loves to hear, and that’s what we had yesterday. The West Branch was the only action in town due to the large amount of runoff from the East / Beaverkill into the Main Stem, and it was some fantastic action for those out on the water. March Browns came early in certain spots, and the fish were up and crushing them, just like we love to see them do. Today, we’re looking at another overcast day, but a little cooler and with one challenge we haven’t had in awhile – wind. Sustained downstream winds of about 15MPH, with gusts getting up near 30MPH. As always with the weather around here, I’ll wait until I see it! Also, the West had dropped and cleared dramatically since yesterday, and is at a great level for both floating and wading. The East and Main are still pretty brown, but have also cleared quite a bit overnight. Hopefully another 24 hours will do the trick, and they will be fishing again by the weekend!

Geoff Adams with a great Rainbow caught amongst a pod of Jeffs. That is, photo by: Jeff Biller, rowed by Guide Jeff White

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16 – West Branch Only

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

Ephemerella dorthea – Sulphurs – #16

Ephemerella invaria – Large Sulphurs / Light Cahills – #14

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 9, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 9, 2012

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl (sporadic, just getting started)

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

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 8, 2012

Delaware River Report / Condtitions May 8, 2012

Talk about strange out there yesterday. With seemingly ideal conditions for bugs, there were only a smattering of places that had activity throughout the day, with the “Middle” East being the most productive, with good March Brown and invaria (larger sulphur) hatches. As the day progressed however, the hatching improved, and pretty much everyone river-wide had an excellent evening.The rain started early last night, and has continued on into morning at a nice, steady pace – no big thunderstorms drowning the feeder streams. We are seeing a slight bump on the West Branch from this increase (running gin-clear out front still), and hopefully it will keep us floatable and stable for the next few days. Today is slated to be overcast with those same ‘calm’ showers throughout – the perfect BWO day!

Bob Lewis holds (whilst hiding the tail - you know better Bob!) Art Bartholomew's NICE brown. Photo by: Art Bartholomew

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl (sporadic, just getting started)

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

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 7, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 7, 2012

Patches of bright sun with slightly cooler temperatures led to a big improvement over Saturday’s activity. The bugs were up throughout the day, and the fish were more than happy to chow down. The West Branch fished slightly better than the East and Main, up until the evening when the entire river system came to life. The Hendricksons came early on the West, but weren’t seen in big numbers on the Main, where Cornutas made their first appearance of the year, as well as some Ephemerella invaria  on the East Branch. Sulphurs were also out on the main, with the occasional fish grabbing one. Today we have showers in the forecast, which will likely produce some steady hatching throughout.

It wouldn't be a complete trip for Alan Rupp without a photo in his silly hat. Fortunately, he's holding a nice Main Stem Smallie, so that kinda makes up for it. Photo by: Bruce Miller

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl (sporadic, just getting started)

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

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20

May 6, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions May 6, 2012

Man, it was tough out there  yesterday. Between the bright sun keeping the bugs down and the ARMADA that was out on the river (24+ boats on the West Branch alone), it was not the picture-perfect Delaware day. When there were sporadic flurries of hatching, the fish did accommodate, as they are READY to eat. Today is looking to be a bit sunny again, but with cooler temps and hopefully a few more clouds to encourage hatching. At least, that’s what the weathermen are saying – we’ve all figured out that their opinion is worth exactly what we’re paying for it! We did see some Ephemerella invaria yesterday, as well as some Cornutas – we’ll see if that continues, which will be  a nice ‘gap filler’ once the Hendricksons finally call it a year!

Sam Dennis with a SLOB of a Main Stem Brown. She's so excited she can't keep her eyes open! Photo by: Jeff White

Hatches:

Ephemerella subvaria – Hendricksons – #16

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl (sporadic, just getting started)

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

Dark Brachycentrus Caddis – Charcoal – #16 & #18

Baetis species – #18 & #20