Any info on upper delaware? 4/23/15

He's wearing a life jacket with a handle on top.....yea, I applied hammer throw and sent him swimming. LMAO
 
Nice report and pics kray, looks like you guys had a good time in less than ideal conditions.
Do you guys think there's any chance in the the system being wadeable by this thursday? It's coming down slowly at stilesville, and the hale eddy guage apparently stopped recording data sometime on friday.
 
Without any further rain, should stop spilling but you'll have to see what happens with the release. Should be limited wading at worst. If it is high, don't overlook the Beaverkill or Neversink as they can be quite good. Just watch the gauge, watch the temps and have fun.
 
Staying at the Capra for the weekend and plan on floating the main stem, crazy that flows and temps are this good in July.
 
My buddy and I are heading up to wb this weekend. Finally looks like the water has gone down enough for us to wade. Going to fish hales eddy and game land riffles. Caught a few nice browns and 2 beauty bows 3 weeks ago up their. Hoping for another great time. Also hope the wb does nothat get to much rain on tuesday!
 
Just got back from the wb, stayed at guestward ho campground thursday to sunday. Fishing was very tough for me and my brother. The only really good opportunity I had was Saturday evening. There were a lot of fish rising within casting distance of me(25-40 ft) for a couple hours. I tried 20-25 different patterns and couldn't get one take. There were a few factors that made it difficult for me to get consistent, drag free drifts in the right feeding lanes, but it was still overall some of the most challenging and technical dry fly fishing I've ever experienced. Had to go to fishing creek on the way home to get rid of the skunk. Even though I didn't catch any and was thoroughly frustrated, I still can wait to go back.
 
Evw659. Did you try a size 14 to 18 light cahill or sulpher? I used them and got quite a few bites on them.
 
evw,

Did you really, really take a close look at the water? You might have been seen some Cahill, Sulphur or Golden Drake duns because they are easy to easier to see. The water could have been blanketed with tiny olives though (22-26). If you don't look close, they are very easy to miss.

Next question I have..... what patterns did you toss at them? Traditional Catskill ties won't work in real flat water on pressured wild fish.

FWIW, the fish in my pics above were caught on #10 dries, #10-#14 nymphs and 4x tippet. 2 were taken on large streamers. Some of the dry fly fish were taken at long distance (feeding line til you see backing in the guides). Didn't want to but some were quite shy and we had to do what we had to do.
 
evw659 wrote:
Just got back from the wb, stayed at guestward ho campground thursday to sunday. Fishing was very tough for me and my brother. The only really good opportunity I had was Saturday evening. There were a lot of fish rising within casting distance of me(25-40 ft) for a couple hours. I tried 20-25 different patterns and couldn't get one take. There were a few factors that made it difficult for me to get consistent, drag free drifts in the right feeding lanes, but it was still overall some of the most challenging and technical dry fly fishing I've ever experienced. Had to go to fishing creek on the way home to get rid of the skunk. Even though I didn't catch any and was thoroughly frustrated, I still can wait to go back.
Click to expand...

Don't feel too frustrated about the Delaware. That river can humble anyone.

Just curious - where is guestward ho campground? I've never heard of it
 
Bill,
I think it's Scott's Family Campground up near Deposit
 
The river is difficult man.. especially in high light/slackier water. I started being successful when I stopped casting so much and just observed the fish for a little while first. Once you figure out what they're eating you probably want to use something like a comparadun/parachute unless you're fishing riffles.... fish down!
 
I did look in the water several times and all I saw was sulphurs of varying color(orangish yellow, pale yellow, creamish, and even almost white) in size(16-20). I did see a few sparse cahills and small olives, but it seemed like a full blown sulphur hatch to me. I should have taken a closer look, I'm sure there was something going on that I wasn't seeing. As far as flies go, heres a short list. Sulphur Patterns used: pale yellow cdc and deer hair comparaduns(16-20), polywing thorax patterns (16-20), half and half emergers (16-20), pale yellow and orangish parachute (16), breakout emerger (16-20), cream spinner (18). Other patterns used: iso parachute (12), iso emerger (12), March brown emerger (12), March brown breakout(12), parachute olive (20). I threw some other stuff too, but that gives you an idea. Unless they were feeding on a different bug I wasnt seeing, I feel those patterns should have worked at least good enough. I think the biggest problem I had was how I had to position myself to present the fly. I had very little backcast room(had to wade out above my waist to have any), and I also had to position myself slightly downstream and across from the fish that were rising in a slower back eddy, which made it harder for me to achieve a long, drag free drift. These are all things that can usually be overcome, but it was far from an ideal casting/presentation scenario.


Dryflyguy, guestward ho is about 12 miles or so southwest(I think) of deposit. It's not an ideal location, but the campground is overall pretty decent with a fireplace, running water and an electric outlet at the campsite, and a bathroom and suitable bathhouse close to the primitive campsites. It was like 10 per night which is pretty cheap. My only real grievance is that they hit you over the head with a bat when it comes to buying firewood, 12 dollars for 2 handfulls of wood, which was wet and didn't burn well when we got it. It was about 10-15 mins from hale eddy, and about 15 mins from deposit.
 
Based on what you wrote, it sounds like a presentation is is why you had little interest in the flies you were tossing. Those fish can be amazingly picky since there's an abundance of food.

For best results, spend a fair amount of time observing the fish, timing it's rises, putting yourself in the proper position and flush riding flies get more attention. I'm not saying it's impossible to toss over a fish and catch it but it's upping the difficulty level by 10. I'll bet every single fish I took on top this year was fished down to.

We have a group going up for a few days in September, check it out under the events / meet ups section
 
I have been following the USGS flow report, since i am making a trip up to the WB around hales eddy and game lands fishing areas. How come they have increased the discharge flow from the reservoir up to 1800cfs? I am just curious because i can't seem to find any info on this?
 
Because of this.

And this is the best line in the entire press release.

"While repairs are made, DEP believes it is prudent to draw down the reservoir through increased releases out of an abundance of caution; reducing storage does not pose a risk to the city’s water supply."
 
Welcome to the difficulty known as 'fishing the D'. They stockpiled water April through the last rain. They refused to release the amount determined by the federal court. After the last rain, the lake spilled uncontrollably. This could cause damage to property or loss of life as one of the functions is flood control. Now dumping water to lower the lake. How long will it last? Take a guess and I'll guarantee you'll be wrong. What I expected was we'd see 1500+ cfs in September - November due to lake being too high for the winter pool target. This is a reason I bought a pontoon. Leave to fish for 4 days and it's perfect as I pull out of my driveway. By the time I get there it's dangerously high for wading. Buy a boat, rent a boat or hire a guide are your options. I planned on fishing it a few times a year so boat was the obvious choice. Every trip there is a roll of the dice......and the house usually wins. LOL. Even if the flow was perfect today, the winds would have made it brutally tough. Itsnot for everyone but sure is a challenge just to get good conditions for fishing. I usually do 3-5 day trips and may only have one day with decent conditions.
 
VC,
Good catch. Didn't see that press release. That's not the best news IMHO as it may require draining of lake or other major undertaking. The good news is th main might fish well down past Lordville......until the water runs out.
 
Thanks for the info. Now i understand why. Im still going up this weekend no matter what. If the WB is to high to wade. Looks like ill make a short trip to the BK.
 
Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you fish the main?
 
vcregular wrote:
Because of this.

And this is the best line in the entire press release.

"While repairs are made, DEP believes it is prudent to draw down the reservoir through increased releases out of an abundance of caution; reducing storage does not pose a risk to the city’s water supply."
Click to expand...

wowsers, water welling up 24ft below the surface ? that doesnt sound good for their projects prospects. LOL.

and fwiw back in May, i found success in low water and bright weather by reducing my movement speed, fishing upstream, fishing the foam lines and any slight slots in the bottom.

my conclusions and the others, were that despite the lack of hatches and rises that the fish were all around us and your drift with either dry, emerger or nymph had to be perfect - no micro drag and a slight induced take/leisenring lift.

cheers

Mark.
 
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