Delaware River Report / Conditions July 21, 2012

Ok, so we’re back up a little bit now to a 484 CFS release. Most likely they are trying to meet the Montague minimum, but realize they can save an additional 16 CFS instead of making it an even 500. Who am I to second guess the almighty DEP? Anyway, yesterday and last night were definitely interesting. Blue Wing Olives out in force all day and up until dark, consisting of smaller deficiens (#16 & #18), and a BLANKET of psuedos on the water starting around 7:00 PM. This blanket however, consisted of size #30 & #32 psuedos. No, that wasn’t a typo. I’ve seen midges bigger than that. The good news is that the fish looked on them with the same sense of incredulity that we did, and completely ignored them. Which is great, as I had left my 8X in the car (no, I don’t really own any). There were also sporadic isos hatching in the riffles, an if you could see the rise, the fish were more than willing to chomp one of those big boys down! Today, we’ve lost out cloud cover (already), but with the water temps starting quite a bit lower today, it’s likely that we’ll still see some activity until the sun gets super high in sky, and then we’re back on our evening program!

Richard poses with a nice brown taken on top during the evening “magic” hour. Photo by: Wiley Paul

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