July 6, 2012

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.

Just as an idea for those tying / using crayfish imitations, which can be great this time of  year.  This guy was 2.5″ long, and you can see the interesting color scheme! Photo by: Bart Larmouth

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

July 5, 2012

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!

Good customer and friend of the club Norm Price sent us this from Montana, showing us possibly the perfect beverage for after hot days like today! Photo by: Norm Price

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

July 4, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions July 4, 2012

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Always one of my favorite holidays, we here at the DRC wish you and yours a patriotic, fun, and safe day!

Now for the other stuff you tuned in for! Yesterday was pretty typical until the early evening, when we had a front move through, supposedly the precursor to some serious thunderstorms occurring around midnight. Instead, we had some good insect activity and action on the lower West Branch – the first we’ve seen in what seems like forever. The fish did not fully take advantage of the situation, but they were definitely more active than they have been as of late. Unfortunately, most of the weather stayed south of us, and we only got a smattering of rain, barely affecting the flows. We are quite overcast this morning, which bodes well for those heading out after a cup of coffee. After stuffing our faces with hot dogs, hopefully the evening will produce as well!

Intern Will Hazzard with his FIRST bass EVER! Growing up in Seattle, the pickings are slim. Not a monster, but still a first! Photo by: Bart Larmouth

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

July 3, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions July 3, 2012

Well, the clear nights have done wonders for keeping the water temperatures a little bit more in check overnight, which has definitely been a blessing. The lower west fished better last night than it has in the past few days, but was definitely not stellar by any stretch of the imagination. The wind yesterday also created problems as the day went on,but definitely laid down as we approached the evening hours. Today it is supposed to be a bit warmer, with slightly fewer clouds and humidity. Great for a warm up to the Fourth, but not exactly the dry fly weather we would prefer. Pray for rain and clouds people!

<<Having trouble uploading a photo today, so I’d like everyone to just imagine a nice, big, fat brown trout instead of my lame attempt at humor>>

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

*NOTE* – The graph above was incorrect by date at the time this post was published – the USGS should update it at somepoint today. This happens on occasion.

July 1, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions July 2, 2012

Yep. It blew out there. Dang near 25 MPH gusts at times with steady 10 MPH for most of the day. Needless to say this kept the fish down and bugs off the water for the most part. The heat and sun pretty much finished the job. There was a bit of an evening flush, but definitely not as strong as the two previous nights. Today – more of the same, albeit with slightly slower winds and lower temps. We’ll see how it turns out!

Bob Lewis holding a FAT WB Brown. Photo by: Steve Shen

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

July 1, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions July 1, 2012

Holy…..did I just type JULY up in there? Where the heck is this year going at such break-neck speed??? Anyway, much better day out on the water yesterday, with more fish up and rising all the way down to Balls Eddy, but again not much down below or during the heat of the day. The fog also held off until after dark, which was a nice respite for those fishing late into the evening (that would be everyone). Today we’re looking at a slightly cooler day, but similar conditions as far as the summer heat goes. It’s a good time to get out early, take a break in the afternoon and head out for the evening hatch!

Dave Lisnock Shows he can still get it done. Photo by: Kevan Smaracko

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

June 30, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions June 30, 2012

Interesting day out there yesterday. Pretty quiet throughout the day, until later afternoon up river by Deposit, when there was a little bit of a bug explosion. Dortheas, psuedos, stenos, and even a bunch of BWOs (deficiens, some cornuta-looking ones). The fish were fairly cooperative, but a bit spooky up there, and virtually non-existent down river from Hale Eddy. The best part of the night? The cursed FOG that likes to plague us on those warm, humid evenings decided to stay away. Glad the weathermen were wrong on that one! Otherwise, ewe had some nice, hard takes on isonychias, and even more on size 18 dortheas. It was nice to have the fish actually COOPERATE for a dang change! Today we’re looking at a bit hotter temps, and perhaps the same sort of action both early and late – if the predicted cloud cover rolls in, expect to see even more BWOs.

Sunset last night looking upstream from Rest Stop Pool. Photo by: Geoff Adams

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

June 29, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions June 29, 2012

Good morning Happy Campers! Looks like we’re getting some extra water today, the question just is how much more – typically this time of year we get the yo-yo flows so that the minimum requirement at Montague can be met. We’ll see if that is the case today, or we just got bumped up a little bit to the 554 cfs as of 7AM today. Decent day out there yesterday, as some heavier intermittent clouds gave the bugs a chance to pop a little bit, and the calmer evening led to quite a bit of hatching right towards dark. The fish were cooperative in sections of the river, but mysteriously absent in others. The good news for today is that the forecast has changed slightly, and we’re not going to be in the mid-90s as predicted earlier. There will be a distinct lack of cloud cover however, so this could make it a bit tough during the day. Let’s hope the flows don’t go TOO high on the West Branch, or we’ll be looking at early evening fog shutting everything down.

Bugs on the shop lamp this morning. How many species do you see? Photo by: Bart Larmouth

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

June 28, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions June 28, 2012

There was a bright spot out on the river yesterday, other than the sun of course – the wind decided to calm down much earlier than the previous days, and we had some really decent hatching on the West Branch from about 5:00 PM on. Dortheas, small stenos, big stenos, Isos, and of course Psuedos as well. today we’re heading in the direction of warm / hot temps with a whole lot less wind. This should get us back into our routine of early morning fishing and bugs hatching again once the sun decides to dip down behind the mountains.

We are also starting to scout and explore some new water for summertime fly-fishing trips forSmallmouth Bass fishing trips, both on the Delaware and out on the Susquehanna. Drop me a line if this is something that you might be interested in! I’d love to gauge the interest for these things. Jeff, Wiley, and I went on one such trip last week in the blazing sun, and had a decent day – definitely quality over quantity, as you can see below.

That fat, FAT fish (look how I'm holding the gut) is a Boga-grip weighed 4.5-lb Smallmouth folks. My biggest on ever, and it ate one of Jeff White's SLG streamers! Photo by: Jeff White

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

June 27, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions June 27, 2012

Ok, so we’re not sunburned today. Just windburned. I’m pretty sure I blew threw three tubes of Chapstick so far. For those that were here, it was pretty damn brutal out on the water. Gusts up and over 30 MPH with pretty regular degrees of frequency, coupled with bright sun made for a craptacular day over all. That being said, Wiley and Steve were able to find some ports in the storm, as well as some rising fish amidst the gale, mostly working on smaller sulphurs. There were some iso spinners out and about, but they were blown off the river before they coudl fall. Today, the weatehr will be warmer, and the wind is supposed to lay down significantly. Realize however, that ‘significantly’ is a relative term, and we’re still looking at gusts up to 20 at times, so be ready!

These guys have been showing up late in the evening river-wide. Night fishing anyone?. Photo by: Jeff White

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

June 26, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions June 26, 2012

It was a great day for sailing yesterday, but not so great for casting 5-wts. Wind with heavy gusts at times, as well as a mostly sunny day made it tough out on the river. The cooler temps were a welcome change, and helped to keep the water temperatures from sky rocketing. Unusually, the wind continued on late into the evening, blowing the bugs all over the surface of the water. The winds should calm down a bit today, but there is a good chance of afternoon thunderstorms making the day interesting. We are starting off pretty cool this morning with good overcast skies, so it may be a good idea to head out on the water early!

More 'summer vacation' pics! Norm Price rocking the DRC colors with a BIG Beaverhead 'Bow. Photo by: Pam Cavanagh

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

June 25, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions June 25, 2012

Well, that was a rough night. The interns had a new net, went out, and just as Aaron hooked a decent enough fish for Jim to say, “sweet! we can break in the new net!” the fish wrapped itself around the anchor and broke off. Gotta love the kiss o’ death! Otherwise, it was slow out on the river last night, but fished well throughout the day up in Deposit. Sulphurs were the name of the game, and I am anticipating much of the same today. We are looking at overcast skies and rain all day, with temps below 60! …..this is where I think we are the only sadists happy about a “cool” summer.

We're filing this under the 'what I did over my summer vacation' for Bruce. Excellent RI striper! Photo by: Bruce's buddy Slick

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