Any info on upper delaware? 4/23/15

[salmo-trutta]

Looking to do a weekend on the west branch and main stem of delaware. But with all the rain and cold weather, wondering what's going on up there. Any info from anyone in the area???

 

[camdogrs]

Did you check here?

http://thedelawareriverclub.com/blog/

 

[fisherboy3]

small black stones. bwos(vagans), little black caddis, quill gordons just starting and blue quills as well. Water was up in the mid fifties earlier this week but has dropped from the colder weather. Will go back up in a few days. I would wait till early may to go up, dont waste your time for fish that are still lathargic.

 

[moon1284]

Very slow over the weekend. Decent amount of bugs (black stones and some dark caddis), but hardly any risers. It should pick up any time.

 

[krayfish2]

Strongly urge that you purchase Weamer's book and digest it. Doing so will save you from asking a million questions on the forum.

If you are asking if the flows are fine, yes. Are their hatches? Yes. Are the fish responding? They were but imagine that will come to a halt with the abnormaly cold evenings we are currently experiencing. Stones and chimarra caddis are hatching along with a sprinkling of paraleps but the fish aren't really responding.

I'll make the following suggestions:
* Buy and read Weamer's book.

* Learn what flows are safe to wade and to float.

* Add 6-7 USGS flow gauges to your favorites.

* Understand how to read gauges and understand rising or falling water trends.

* If you plan to float, have you used a pontoon before? Do you know where the access points are? Do have any idea how far it is or how long it will take to get from 'point A' to ' point B'? Do you have a shuttle set up for doing a float?

* Do you have required safety gear? Do you have emergency repair kit?

* If you have not floated before, strongly urge that your first couple trips are with experienced person.

* If you are new to fishing that river system, lower your expectations. A 50 fish day on the Breeches is awesome but many times, a 2-3 fish day on the D is an equal accomplishment.

I've offered to assist so you don't waste 20 years...like I did. I wanted to go this weekend but the colder water temps killed that idea. Next weekend is 5-2-15 and I'm floating Yough with yinzer crew. Following weekend is mother's day and I'm out of state. My first opportunity is weekend of 5-16. I believe my new boat is being delivered to Hancock that weekend so I hope to get it in the river ASAP. I'll then be up 24-31. After that, who knows. You are welcome to join and I'll share as much info with you as your able to digest. I'm sure there are more on here that have fished it longer than I have but I've always share d info and jot all guys do. Just call me sometime.

 

[salmo-trutta]

Thanks guys. Krayfish, thanks for the great onfo. I'm not new to the upper delaware. I've been fishing it for many years. Was just wondering how it was fishing and what conditions were like. But I can always learn so I'll take a look at those books.

 

[afishinado]

Krayfish wrote:
I believe my new boat is being delivered to Hancock that weekend so I hope to get it in the river ASAP...

What time should I meet you at the launch, Andy?!? :lol:

^Nice!...Good luck.


Hey ST,

The Weamer book is the best, no doubt.

Here are detailed daily reports to look at for the Upper D:

http://thedelawareriverclub.com/blog/

http://www.westbranchresort.com/delaware-river-conditions.html?id=Mf2wheae

Here is a daily report with info on the Upper D as well as the major Catskill streams (scroll down the page for stream conditions):

http://www.catskillflies.com/pages/stream-conditions


Like Andy said, it's a little early for a good trip up there. Check out water temps below. I will make a bold prediction, barring really bad weather and flows, next weekend, May 1st the hendricksons and grannoms will be on out in force.

Good luck.

 

[krayfish2]

Tom,
I'll let us know once I get a firm time from the delivery guy. You're welcome to join me and the pooch.

One thing you missed in your prediction.......next weekend is the one bug event. The long range weather doesn't look all that warm or rainy either. I've always used 50 degrees as the 'standard' for signaling when it will turn loose. 48-72 hours of constant water temps of 50 degrees and it's on. Once the hendricksons start, they usually keep going no matter the weather changes.

 

[afishinado]

krayfish2 wrote:
Tom,
I'll let us know once I get a firm time from the delivery guy. You're welcome to join me and the pooch.

One thing you missed in your prediction.......next weekend is the one bug event. The long range weather doesn't look all that warm or rainy either. I've always used 50 degrees as the 'standard' for signaling when it will turn loose. 48-72 hours of constant water temps of 50 degrees and it's on. Once the hendricksons start, they usually keep going no matter the weather changes.

Time will tell, Andy....they gotta come sooner or later.

 

[camdogrs]

Kray,

Trying to meet up again since last years plans fell through. I will be up Friday - Sunday May 1-3. I am also going up May 29-June 5. I plan on floating sometime that week as well and have a guide trip with Coz on June 1st.

 

[Big-Bass]

I have the Weamer book and it is just a fantastic read. I am not too far from Hancock (could be there in about 35-45 minutes) and have fished with Krayfish and a few others from this site on the Delaware. The book for some reason makes me feel like the river can't be that close to me (since it is such a good river I feel like it should be in Montana). It is a very testing river though and Krayfish is a knowledge-box of information so take his advice...

Hey Kray, shoot me a text or give me a call if you want to fish this spring. From work I can make it to Hancock in about 25 minutes going pretty quick on the wonderful pothole heaven of 191.

 

[AFISHN]

Krayfish pretty well nailed it in his post.
The only minor point I would add is this:the Delaware system sees multiple hatches quite frequently.And even if it's "snowing" tan size 14 elk hair caddis AND you are not catching fish don't stick with the"obvious" hatch too long ...it may even be a hatch that is barely happening to your eye.

So don't be reluctant to switch frequently if your not catching.
You might not catch many but you will never forget the fight....

 

[krayfish2]

One last thing..... A 20" rainbow from the D is considered to be a trophy as they very, very, very rarely get larger....right? I've also heard people say that it's impossible to measure one 22" and people claiming to catch larger are liars.

Well, to confirm that there are some big ones and they do grow larger than 20"......check out the April 1at issue of the Deposit Courier newspaper. The mayor of Deposit (using a crawler of course), caught and creeper a 29" rainbow weighing over 7 pounds!! It's very rare but I'd bet it's not the only 25" bow in the system.

 

[Big-Bass]

Kray,

Do you have a link or a pic of that fish? I would love to see what it looked like. Was it kept? I sure hope not.

 

[krayfish2]

It was text to me. I'm. Forward it. Can't upload from phone to website and I'm too lazy to turn on desktop

 

[fisherboy3]

I was up when the one bug happened last year, Andy you were too. The fishing that weekend SUCKED. Got downpoured on all saturday, then a break and caught a few fish on hendricksons, but this year looks to be exactly the same. LOL i caught 6 fish on the delaware between sat and sun....Fished the beaverkill on the way home at cooks falls and got 5 bows and a 21 inch brown....in 4 hours. Figures. NExt weekend mayyyyyybe okay. If it warms up and the water gets over 50 paraleps and quill gordons will be all over. Then if the water keeps that same temp hendricksons and apple caddis will be out as well.

 

[afishinado]

krayfish2 wrote:
One last thing..... A 20" rainbow from the D is considered to be a trophy as they very, very, very rarely get larger....right? I've also heard people say that it's impossible to measure one 22" and people claiming to catch larger are liars.

Well, to confirm that there are some big ones and they do grow larger than 20"......check out the April 1at issue of the Deposit Courier newspaper. The mayor of Deposit (using a crawler of course), caught and creeper a 29" rainbow weighing over 7 pounds!! It's very rare but I'd bet it's not the only 25" bow in the system.

Anything is possible, but chances are that behemoth came from one of the many stocked tribs that flow into the D and was a holdover bow. The wild bows that have been in the D for well over 100 years seem to top out at close to 20" because of a shorter lifespan. A wild bow from the D even close to that size is one of the most fun fish to land (or lose) as any fish that swims.

 

[krayfish2]

I agree Tom but on occasion, I think some end up living an extra year or have better genes. I hooked one 2 years ago that I was positive to be near the 5lb mark and 24". He was so fat, his jumps were pathetic but his runs were amazingly fast and strong. Had him to net 3 different times and then he put foth his best effort snapping my 4x flouro. I've only measured a handful that touched or broke 20". I think the smaller ones are more of a handful with the acrobatics and freakish speed runs. Just as 30"+ browns do exist (just not in large numbers), I honestly believe that there are bows in there that will pass 24" on the measuring tape.....very, very few of them though. One of the guys that fishes the lake up there was showing me photos of huge smallies and big browns from the lake....in the middle of the stack was a pic from the late 80's. Rainbow he cught under Hale Eddy bridge on corn. He ate it of course but the fish did measure just under 25". Maybe in another 20 years, ill get to tangle with another mutant bow.

 

[afishinado]

krayfish2 wrote:
I agree Tom but on occasion, I think some end up living an extra year or have better genes. I hooked one 2 years ago that I was positive to be near the 5lb mark and 24". He was so fat, his jumps were pathetic but his runs were amazingly fast and strong. Had him to net 3 different times and then he put foth his best effort snapping my 4x flouro. I've only measured a handful that touched or broke 20". I think the smaller ones are more of a handful with the acrobatics and freakish speed runs. Just as 30"+ browns do exist (just not in large numbers), I honestly believe that there are bows in there that will pass 24" on the measuring tape.....very, very few of them though. One of the guys that fishes the lake up there was showing me photos of huge smallies and big browns from the lake....in the middle of the stack was a pic from the late 80's. Rainbow he cught under Hale Eddy bridge on corn. He ate it of course but the fish did measure just under 25". Maybe in another 20 years, ill get to tangle with another mutant bow.

No way to tell for sure, but there are many stocked fish that end up in the D from the tribs. The fatty you hooked into may be one of them.

The wild bow strain in the D is really something special. I've caught bows from a lot of places out-west and the D bows, while not the biggest, but they are the wildest. I caught my first one in the 70's as a kid, and have been hooked on them ever since.

Doesn't really matter..........all fun!

 

[mcwillja]

My biggest bow on the D is 19.5 inches. I think they only have a 5 year lifespan so that is why they don't get as big. Im sure there are a few though that top the 20" mark. Those things are pure missles and love catching them. I hate when they run straight at you when they get hooked.