September 10, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 10, 2011 – ALWIVES!!

Hooray! We are officially below flood stage! Unfortunately, we are still WELL above 10,000 down here in Starlight.

Home Pool at 10,000 + CFS but clearing. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

The water is clearing, and on spots that are drying out, we’re finding some really cool things:

BIG Alwives brought over by the flood, found on the grass after flood water receded. Photo by: Jeff White

Dead Alwives found on shore. Photo by: Jeff White

This is the reason that Jeff ties streamers bigger than some of the fish in this river – big browns will POUNCE on a 6″ Alwife! Once the river gets down, the steamer fishing will be outstanding!!

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 9, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 9, 2011

Well we survived the peak of the water, but we are still above flood stage here on the West Branch. Chocolate milk outside, but we have at least dropped down to 17,000 CFS. There is at least 10,000 CFS coming over the top of the dam at Cannonsville as well, which will make the drop in river level much more gradual than we had anticipated. The rain stopped early yesterday, so the feeders are no longer pumping the huge volume of water into the system, which is likely the best news. Cars are going by the shop, which means that our road is back open as well. Check back to this page (and the graph below) to see how quickly we are falling!

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 8, 2011

Delaware River – no wait, YooHoo Plant Report / Conditions 9/8/11

We are well above flood stage here – looking to crest tonight if the rain holds off. We are all safe, as the Club is well up on the high ground. Thanks for all the check-in calls and emails! We will be here for the duration, as Winterdale Road is covered / flooded in several areas above and below the club.

Right now, the West Branch is about 22,000 cfs right now and will hopefully start dropping shortly.

We will keep you posted so long as the power stays on!

September 7, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 7, 2011

Needless to say, we have been pounded AGAIN by the rain. Cannonsville has started to spill, and every river around is raging, some (Beaverkill) hitting flood stage. So, pretty much:

This is what the river looks like.

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 6, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 6, 2011

*note – sorry for the late post, blog did not want to publish this morning for some reason*

Slow but steady the wet stuff keeps coming down from the skies. Although it appears that the East Branch took the brunt of the rain last night, the West Branch did come up slightly, but remains pretty clear. We had lots of insect activity yesterday, and with the rain I would plan on seeing plenty of olives on the water for sure. Stay tuned and feel free to call for the latest on the weather and its affect on the river.

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 5, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 5, 2011

The rain keeps coming! We had a good bit of it last night, which brought the West Branch up to just shy of 3,000 CFS, but it is dropping rapidly. The good news is that it did not discolor the river at all, while the bad news is that there is a good chance of Cannonsville Reservoir spilling at some point this week, which could adversely affect our water color and temperature. We will see what happens and keep you posted!

My sister Megan with her FIRST FISH caught on the fly - and it was a dry fly (Iso comparadun, of course!)! This bass was rising right along with some rainbows. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 4, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 4, 2011

Fog fog and more fog! With a strong bit of humidity falling over the region yesterday, the river was completely fogged in by almost 6:30 PM last night – putting a bit of a damper on the evening fishing. The cloud cover earlier in the day yielded some decent olive and steno activity, but when the sun came out mid-afternoon, the river did shut down for a little bit. We are expecting a partly-cloudy day today, with some thunderstorms floating around. Basically, back to ‘normal’ summer conditions with likely some decent hatching in-between the breaks of sun!

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 3, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 3, 2011

Despite the strong upstream winds that we experienced yesterday on the West Branch, the fish still cooperated. While there wasn’t an abundance of bugs coming off, there were enough Olives to bring up numerous fish as well as a good number of Iso later in the evening. Once the winds picked up and the fish stopped working, throwing streamers was the most productive means of hooking up. With the forecast of  light winds, overcast skies, and potential thunderstorms for the next few days, the bugs should become more abundant allowing much more action on top.

David holds a colored up WB brown caught yesterday while chucking streamers Photo By: Bob Lewis

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 2, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 2, 2011

A nice calm day yesterday, mostly cloudy, brought out quite a few bugs, but as expected the fish were a bit ‘shocked’ from the flow and cold water. It looks like more of the same today -overcast and highs near 80. We expect the West Branch to fish well throughout the day, so long as the bugs decide to cooperate with us!

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

September 1, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions September 1, 2011

Wow. September. Gotta let that sink in….. OK.

As David and I put our Canada Goose decoys out early this morning, we were a bit shocked by the water level – as in, “why the heck am I up to my chest here?” Well, the reason is that the release from Cannonsville has been increased to 1,500 CFS, so we are probably back well over 2,000 CFS here at the shop. This also accounts for the large amount of fog on the river not present last night (and making all the geese sit tight). In all likelihood, the fishing will be a bit off today as a result of this shock of cold water coming down through the system. The rule of 24 applies however (and no, not that Jack Bauer always gets his guy) – everything tends to even out after a 24-hour period, which should be this evening for most of the river system, definitely picking up for the better by the weekend!

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

August 31, 2011

P-O-W-E-R!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Power has been restored!

We are keeping our fingers crossed that it stays this way. We are taking showers now just in case. So hopefully it will be business as usual going forward. We will have the office open for most of the day today, but we are still in-and-out dealing with some post-storm issues, so please leave us a message if you get the answering machine.

August 31, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions August 31, 2011

Alright, still no power. Penelec gave us an estimate of “3 to 10 days” yesterday. That’s not a broad range at all, is it? Let’s just hope we are up and running by the weekend.

Regardless, David and I fished last night, and while we saw quite a few bugs, there were very few fish to be found, and we didn’t even move one on a streamer. Likely they are still a bit stressed from the dramatic river changes, but the late-night spinner fall gives me hope, as does the rain in the forecast for tomorrow. Regardless, still flying ants around, and a substantial number of spinners in the air. We also have no answering machine / voicemail on the land line at the minute, so please feel free to call back if you don’t get us, as we are likely out dealing with some type of disaster.

Hatches:

Black Flying Ants #14-#20

Isonychia bicolor – Iso/Slate Drake #12-2XL

Ephemerella dorothea – Sulphur- #16/18/20

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

Hydropsyche sp. – Tan Caddis – #16-#18

Emphemerella invaria – Light Cahill – #12

Brachycentrus sp. (Dark Grannom – Charcoal) #16- #18

Pseudocloeon – Little BWO’s- #22-#26

FYI: RED = BAD