Delaware River Access..... things are a changing!

[afishinado]

I was born and raised in NE PA and fished and camped along the Upper Delaware River since I was a kid starting back in the 70's.

It's really sad to see what the River has become, a real Sheetshow. So many boats and guides and people that weekends fishing is now ridiculous in many sections of the River. I try to fish during the week, but even that is getting hard to do. And now with all the traffic being squeezed in less and less places, it's really going to get even worse.

I fished the River once last year in a drift boat, the least amount I fished since I started fishing there, I would guess. Some of the reason is because the flows remained too high to wade but the other reason is fishing there just isn't much fun anymore......sad.

 

[falcon]

The guy that owns the fancy canoe with the jet drive lives on the river on the PA side below the Lordville bridge. Usually he motors up to the Lordville pool above the bridge however I have seen him downriver below Dark Eddy. He never really disturbed my fishing but it could be a issue to others. There are other boat / motor fisherman using the main river ... mostly Walleye fisherman.

 

[Swattie87]

Update to PAFF Dictionary - 2019 Edition:

Jethoo (n.) - A yakker with money.

We were up drifting the D and these jethoos sipping microbrews and casting Helios rods full throttled us and made fun of our Yuengling and Redingtons.



On a serious note, I don't know what the solution here is. Clearly, loss of public access points for floaters is not a good thing. (I too think it's likely the guides are at least in part behind this, and possibly inflating the severity of these incidents and/or encouraging the adjacent landowners to push for this. I would not rule out $ somehow being involved either.)

The rest is best left to a laissez faire approach though IMO. Supply and demand on the water will take care of it. If it gets two crowded and guides can't consistently put clients on fish and give them a good experience, they'll stop getting clients. If the casual weekend angler/floater finds it too crowded, some will begin to go elsewhere. Admittedly, I understand this takes time to happen, and will frustrate folks who like fishing there. There's a couple Brookie streams in NE PA I like to fish that have gotten some press for varying reasons, and it's hard to get a day alone on them anymore...I either get there a half hour before dawn and am hiking in in the dark, or I just don't go there anymore. It happens.

Limiting the access to a certain number of boats/day through a permit system or something of the like is a slippery slope. I suppose I could possibly support in the right context...Namely, as long as access to the permits was equal, and not preferential to guides. And there was some penalty for acquiring a permit for a day, and then not using it. Perhaps funding from the permits could be used to maintain, and even acquire, new access points. Or help enforce "bad" behavior at the current ones.

 

[moon1284]

I'd be willing to bet the mayor of hancock has his hands all over this.

Guides putting clients on fish has little to do with it. At the end of the day if you can fish you'll catch fish. If you cant you won't. There are enough fish that you really dont need a guide. And if you cant cast 30', you're going to struggle regardless of how good your guide is.

There is still plenty of access, my issue is with people who think they own the river and want to control or restrict access to others for their own benefit.

How much has the mayor pimped this system throughout the years?

To be honest, if I put in on the WB (the most crowded section hands down), i'm the first boat in the water every time. If im fishing for steelhead, i'm the first one there every time. At the end of the day the changes will impact me very little it's the principle that bothers me.

 

[krayfish2]

Moon for the win!! I've round about hinted. Some have swung the hammer and missed. I believe moon has hit the nail on the head with the first sentence of post #24.

 

[Brianh]

I don't understand why a mayor or the DEC would want to reduce the number of people fishing these sections. These fisherman are helping that economy by staying in the area and visiting the local businesses. Heck NYS reduced the non resident license price a few years ago to $50 from $75 because they saw a decrease in the number of fishermen. This doesn't make sense.

 

[moon1284]

Its not really the mayor of hancock...

I dont think any of the decisions were the DECs either

 

[CLSports]

I am so confused . . .

 

[krayfish2]

There isn't actually a mayor but somebody refers to themselves as the mayor.

 

[afishinado]

Andy,

Where does the FUDR stand on the closing of multiple access points on all three branches of the River?

 

[krayfish2]

Well, the Facebook page is pimpin the one bug, kids fly fishing school and the NJ FF-ing show. On their website....one bug and hydro dam meeting info.

Again, no official release but I'm quite confident that one is coming. The DEC have to gather the VW Beetle sized boulders, transport them to the sites and then we should be notified. Since they open 4-1-19, they need to hustle in order to give sufficient notice.

Since most of the board members of FUDR either own land on the river or have private access at their disposal, doubt it's on their radar.....until they get caught up in the traffic jams. We'll see what happens soon enough.

Honestly, hope that I was given horrible info and this is all a dream. LoL. I do trust the source that was part of the impromptu meeting.

 

[Smike]

Keep the boats on the EB and WB, it keeps the rest of the good rivers free of drift boats...

 

[SBecker]

Who cares? We have the Lehigh.

 

[sandfly]

only till it gets bad on the lehigh, then what ?

 

[PhilC]

I know someone with property that will likely let us launch in Shinhopple if need be

 

[SBecker]

sandfly wrote:
only till it gets bad on the lehigh, then what ?

Never get bad. Conservancy owns the land.

 

[krayfish2]

Shane,

I think what he's getting at is.....
Delaware becomes traffic jammed.....anglers looking for another option..... You show up at the Lehigh to find 40 boats in your favorite section of water. Don't assume it won't happen because it could. I do believe anyone from Delaware that comes to the Lehigh will make one float and say..."F that" and leave with a boat that's in worse shape than when they arrived. LoL

Phil,
Give me a call about that access. I'd like to know more about it.

 

[baileyoconnell]

I couldn’t’t imagine a hard boat doing the upper parts of the Lehigh. Would make a great video.

 

[krayfish2]

Inflatables only in the gorge.

 

[moon1284]

Very interested in shinhopple access. Would make it worth their while.