March 29, 2012

WEEEEE’RRRRRE BAAAAACK!

Sorry for the downtime everyone, had some issues with our web host over the last few days, but all should be rectified! Thanks to everyone who let us know it was down, we greatly appreciate it! I’ll put a new post up later today with some pictures (and hopefully video!) if the tech Gods will it.

March 26, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions March 26, 2012

What a swing from the weekend to today – it’s near 40 out, with 40MPH wind gusts forcing you into a ski cap (toboggan for you Canuckistanians out there) if you want to head out. We had good hatches over the weekend, with the Paraleps and Baetis making their presence known river-wide. The fish still seemed pretty keyed in on the stone flies kicking about, but I am sure they will work that out of their system soon enough. There have been SCATTERED sightings of the OCCASIONAL Hendrickson floating around. Please notice the emphasis. They haven’t started yet, and with temperatures dropping below the 20s here tonight, it’s unlikely that they will get started in the next week. So reports you may be hearing about them being full-blown ‘on’ are hotter than the air we had here this weekend.

A Baetis vagans dun with a bit of a crippled wing. Photo by: Jeff White

Hatches:

Tiny Black Stoneflies – very infrequent, #18

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

Baetis species – #20

Chimmarra Caddis – #18 & #20

March 22, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions March 22, 2012

Will someone PLEASE explain to me why I am wearing shorts in the middle of March? We are already over 70 today, and it looks like we will get to 77 or so in ambient air temp. Bugs have been reported from about 12:00 to 3:00, and our first ‘magic hour’ flush happened last night at 6:30 or so. We have a few test subjects out on the river today, so we’ll give you a report once we hear from them!

Jeff's little black stone pattern that has been uber effective. Photo by: Jeff White

What we now have in the shop (and WISH we were using!) - the SLG courtesy of Jeff White. Photo by: who else? Jeff

Hatches:

Tiny Black Stoneflies – very infrequent, #18

Baetis species – #20

Chimmarra Caddis – #18 & #20

March 20, 2012

Delaware River Report / Conditions March 20, 2012

It still stymies me that I am doing a river update in March, and it all revolves around the late-May-esq weather we are currently experiencing. Water temps have been jumping up above 50, so we anticipate the fish will be getting more and more active. Proof of that was Jeff White fishing Home Pool yesterday, and in a two-hour stretch caught a slew of pint-sized rainbows – which is in itself odd for this time of year. We have tons of little black stoneflies hatching, and some Chimmarra (black) caddis are starting to materialize as well. The temperature balance also helped create a bit of fog on the river yesterday – looked more like August than March. Yikes!

MARCH fog on Home Pool. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

Early black Stonefly. Photo by: Jeff White

Hatches:

Tiny Black Stoneflies – very infrequent, #18

Baetis species – #20

Chimmarra Caddis – #18 & #20

March 16, 2012

Last-Minute Off-Season “Fun”

The warm weather has finally gotten Jeff and I in gear, as both of our boats needed new gel coats on their respective bottoms, and shipping them to Idaho for repair seemed a bit unreasonable. The rocks in this river (and some in the mountain west for mine) took a pretty good toll on these work horses. Deep gouges and exposed glass are signs of a ‘well-loved’ boat. What ISN’T well loved – all the dust from the three hours of sanding. My hands still feel like they’re holding a orbital sander! Hopefully the good weather will prevail tomorrow and we can finish them up. Also, we will open the shop for limited hours this weekend (i.e. appointment only!) for those of you who are going to venture out. We will not be FULLY open until April 1, as usual!

Jeff sanding is Low-side while I take a break from my High-Side. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

This was just the start - I looked like an albino after awhile. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

March 14, 2012

River Report / Conditions March 14, 2012

Why, hello summer. We hit almost 70 degrees here yesterday, and the bugs were definitely responding. We had large numbers of tiny black stones, and even some super-small (#20) Baetis kicking around as well. It doesn’t seem like the trout have caught on to this fact, however. No matter how much I stared at Home Pool, the fish just didn’t seem to materialize. The water temps are still mercifully low (we don’t want everything hatching out too early!) We will see what this spate of warm weather brings over the next few days. Rain in the forecast is a  blessing as well, as it will hopefully bring the reservoir level back up, as NYC is drawing it down at a pretty good clip through the aqueducts.

Hatches:

Tiny Black Stoneflies – very infrequent, #18

Baetis species – #20

March 5, 2012

River Report / Conditions March 5, 2012

Ok, ok – it’s been more than a week. Sorry for the delay, your amusing reprimands are heeded, faithful readers! Here’s an actual report for you!

On the plus side, very little has changed insofar as conditions are concerned here as of late. A bit of snow, followed by warm weather to melt it off brought the flows up a little bit, but the water temps are still (mercifully) cold, so we’re not worried about Hendricksons popping as of yet. With the water temps staying below 40, there has been little to no surface activity out front, and the fish have been sluggish as well. Occasional little black stones will get an occasional rise, but not frequently enough to really get anyone excited.

Cannonsville is down to 86%, which makes me think that NYC must be drawing water from the lake via the aqueduct, as there is definitely more water coming in than is going out – ice could also be a factor in that measurement. Here’s hoping for more snow / rain before April!

A little black stonefly crawling on the driveway yesterday. Bad cell phone photo by: Bart Larmouth

Hatches:

Tiny Black Stoneflies – very infrequent, #18

February 16, 2012

Dreams of the Future

Ok, not the distant future. Maybe a couple of weeks. With the reservoir hovering around 90%, and no real snow pack to speak of, this is a bit of daydreaming,but I am REALLY looking forward to the early season streamer fishing. In a perfect world, we will get a bunch of spillage right as the alewives are hovering near the warmer water at the surface of Cannonsville – much as we had last year!

Let’s hope these pictures get you through the day today:

Dead Alewife from last March. Photo by: Jeff White

Big, White Streamers - what's better? Photo by: Jeff White

February 8, 2012

Where is Winter?

Hello Everyone!

I hope the “Winter” has been treating you well. I put Winter in ” ” since we really have not had much of one up here in Starlight,with only one storm dropping enough snow to mention. That being said, we are still above-average insofar as precipitation is concerned, the only problem is that we are looking at starting the season with no snow-pack up on the mountains surrounding the river and reservoir. Let’s hope that February decides to send us a big pile of the white stuff, otherwise we will be starting VERY early this season. I will be updating the blog once a week from here on out, due to popular demand (and since everyone is tired of looking at that Halloween cat picture), and to keep you updated on the river,  etc. Have a great week!

A look down Home Pool this morning. Notice the grass is getting green already! Photo by: Bart Larmouth

October 31, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!

The shop cats wouldn't pose for a Halloween photo so this will have to do.

Today is our last official day open for the season – at least for the shop – our webstore never sleeps! Thanks to everyone for a great year – can’t wait for next spring! We will be in the office Monday – Friday, from 10AM – 3PM daily if you do need us for anything.I will still be periodically updating the blog, so keep checking your RSS feeds and the like! We will be at the Fly Fishing Show in New Jersey again this January, so be sure to see us there.

The fishing is definitely not over, however – we actually had some half-frozen pseudos sitting on the screens this morning. The influx of cold water from the melt-off will without a doubt affect the fishing for the next day or two, but the warmer weather in the forecast should heat up the water a bit, and the bugs will hopefully be back for one last big hurrah! Have a great week!

Hatches:

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

Pseudocloeon – Little BWOs- #22-#26

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

October 30, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions October 30, 2011

It is calm and peaceful outside this morning without a sound from trucks on the highway or cars down Winterdale. In other words, we got hit with a fair bit of snow yesterday and into the night. Much of it will melt off over the course of the next few days, but we have a bit of a winter wonderland on our hands here until that happens. No real word on how the river fished yesterday, as everyone pretty much stayed away, aside from a few heathens with the gall to swing eggs on this river, who I hope caught nothing but a cold. Water temps stayed pretty stable, as well as the flows, so there is an outside chance the pseudos and other olives will return once the ambient temps warm up a bit!

Looking down Home Pool just before sunrise. Photo by: Bart Larmouth

Hatches:

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

Pseudocloeon – Little BWOs- #22-#26

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14

October 29, 2011

Delaware River Report / Conditions October 29, 2011

GREAT day on the river yesterday – Olives galore on both the lower East, West, and Main Stem. I had fish rising all the way until dark right out on Home Pool, and Jeff had a great day out on the main with plenty of hungry rainbows grabbing every little Pseudo that floated past. Not sure whether or not the incoming snow was their motivation or not, but I think that it might be the case – we are on the tailing edge of the storm, and predicted to receive 4-6″ of the white stuff between this afternoon and tomorrow.

Hatches:

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

Pseudocloeon – Little BWOs- #22-#26

Stenonema sp. – Light Cahill #12-#14

Ephemerella deficiens- Blue Wing Olive #14