Delaware River Report / Conditions May 30, 2012

And now for something completely different….. (kudos to those who got that reference)…… Cool! Overcast! The sun nowhere (so far) to be seen! Our big heat wave broke yesterday with a band of pretty hellacious thunderstorms rolling through in the late afternoon.While there was plenty of flash and bang, we didn’t get overwhelmed with water on the West Branch. The Willow and the Beaverkill took the brunt of the rain, as well as the Poconos to our south. As such, the Beaverkill and Lower East are off color today, and muddying up the upper Main as well to some degree. With the water already peaked, I expect this to clear quite quickly throughout the day. Yesterday evening saw a good number of bugs hatching, culminating with a (literal) blanket hatch of Dortheas after dark. Wiley said the only thing he’s ever seen close to it was the famed ‘white fly’ hatch on the Susquehanna, for those who are familiar. While this was a very cool thing to behold, it unfortunately doesn’t make for a very fish-able hatch – especially when you can’t see! Today we’ve got more cloud cover in store, so I would think we’d be seeing a bit more day time hatching activity, as well as the water temperatures remaining fairly steady. No big changes to report on the bug front, except that we are not seeing too many of the Green Drakes, which makes us believe they may have hatched out at night on us. It remains to be seen!

Nate Eckhaus showing how it's done in the dark. Photo by: Dave Lisnock

Hatches:

Stenonema vicarium – March Browns – #10-2xl

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)

Ephemera guttulata – Green Drake – #8-2xl

Baetis species – #18 & #20