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

No, we floated today. Picked a few up nymphing during the day. Had target at long flat, got a couple takes but couldn't seal the deal. We're floating again Wednesday, Thursday, fingers crossed. Rain last night was crazy, water was pure chocolate on wb but seems better now.
 
Kray - I will definetely take you up on it. Ive had weddings and family stuff to take care of this spring unfortunately thus far. I was at camp for two days to open it up and only got a chance to fish the Bkill for 2 hours before the rain came and washed me out. I can't wade the D with these flows. I have another damn wedding june 1st then I should be good to go.
 
Ryan-

Beaverkill should be OK today to wade. I'm surprised you had a slow day where you fished yesterday. That area has been very consistent for me so far this year. With that being said on Sunday I saw only one rise and caught nothing.

On the upper east don't be shy about throwing streamers at this water level (even with the current clarity and sun).
 
Moon, we waded the beaverkill on Tuesday, picked up two nymphing, didn't see a rise the entire day. No one else I talked to caught a thing. Today was much better on the D, very few rising fish, not many bugs but did great nymphing. Hoping the storms hold off tomorrow so we can have a nice last float of the trip.
 
ryansheehan wrote:
Moon, we waded the beaverkill on Tuesday, picked up two nymphing, didn't see a rise the entire day. No one else I talked to caught a thing. Today was much better on the D, very few rising fish, not many bugs but did great nymphing. Hoping the storms hold off tomorrow so we can have a nice last float of the trip.
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Hey Ryan,

Hoping things come together today for ya on your float.

This monsoon season and high flow thing has to end sometime for all the big rivers!
 
As far as access...looks like someone had the bright idea to put a cement block in the middle of the long eddy access road in front of the boat ramp. So it continues in long eddy...
 
Long Eddy access has always been a **** show, surprised it took this long
 
Yet no one is talking about the fact that it is Memorial Day Weekend and there are still hendricksons hatching and all three main river sections are floatable.

Sheeesh – There's been days with 250cfs at Hale Eddy and low 70s F on the lower West MDW.
 
Agree VC. Temps and flows are quite good for this time of year.

As for the giant cement barrier....it was removed (hopefully at the expense of the person who put it there) and the we're cited by state troopers. Stay tuned because I expect it to get worse in the coming weeks. They don't want any anglers in their town but the new parking area should be under construction before the end of fall. I believe it is to be open for 2020 season. If they get cranky about 5 cars going in and out, the parking lot will hold somewhere around 18-20 cars w/ trailers. I can't wait to see what the next bunch of shenanigans will be. In the past....50# box of cut nails dumped on the ramp, tires flattened, cars vandalized, verbal/physical confrontations, cars towed an hour away and now the barrier. There is public access there and these people are going to fight it until they're dead. It will never end
 
Never really understood the whole battle down in long eddy. Ive heard of a few complaints of guys pissing in the bushes of the landowner adjacent to the launch, trash left behind etc. do they realize though that alot of the income in the area is from fisherman..? I mean i do understand their POV, thats pretty ****** too.
 
Had an obviously mentally ill guy there threaten me once , then he threatened his neighbor , then he went down to the water and started Karate Kicking the air and throwing round house punches into the air as he hyper ventilated ... Good times .
 
So, whatever happened to them closing the access points? I havent heard of any closing this year. The only one I saw that isnt usable was Hale Eddy, and for obvious reasons. I launched many times this year at stilesville. No problems. And I did see more people this year than ever before, as predicted. June 1st, I counted 38 boats from junction pool down to buckingham. Then at the boat launch, a couple guys who couldnt back up a trailer if their life depended on it. Some of these guys have no idea about etiquette at all. Had some row right in top of fish, wrong side of the boat. Even had a raft go in between me and a rising fish towards the bank. Im not sure which guide you are referring to Andy, but I’m sure I know him. But if I had to guess, private boats are causing a majority of the problems.Spring time was an absolute circus.
 
Kevin,
To follow up with this....My understanding is that the DEC decided not to take action on closing some launch points. Not sure why or what exactly happened to change the outcome. I was on my way up to float in late spring / early summer. Wanted to take out at Long Eddy. I called a DEC enforcement guy I'd spoken to several times. He referred me to a different guy that might know something about the launch. He referred me to a different officer who answered my call. He took the call while in the middle of a confrontation with the homeowner beside the ramp. I listened to the homeowner get crucified by law enforcement. The officer then told me I should come right to the ramp. If I had any interaction that I felt was aggressive or inappropriate, call him back so he could haul the homeowner off to jail. "If I come back here again, you'll be leaving in cuffs" was the last thing I heard him say to the homeowner as he hung up with me. Since that time, I've taken out or launched there several times for fishing, scenic rides or photo floats. Never had anymore issues since.

I've seen just about every ramp overrun at some point this season. I'm talking every river too. There were ridiculous waiting times to launch or takeout. Sections were jammed with anchored boats and rather than wait.....d-bags that aren't handy on the oars would try to zig zag their way through causing everyone to get fired up. Lots of yelling, near fist fights, etc. Every time I took out, guys were bitching and saying they'd never come back. Don't blame them because it wasn't much fun at all. I also understand that some of the problems were caused by Don Jr being up fishing and secret service rerouting all anglers to the same section.

I imagine that this topic may be touched on again in the near future if the fishing pressure stays at the same level. I don't think it will as many guys were disgruntled and won't be back. I was able to find a way to miss 90% of the traffic most days ;)
 
Andy,

I saw on facebook that “landowner” bitching at people. I own the property etc etc. Guys just a ****. I would assume it was him with the cement barrier, and then the tree as well. According to my property app, he doesnt own any land there at all. I assume hes just a tenant. There were some days when it was nuts this past year. Mostly private boats to be honest. I fished in the middle of july in the lower WB and barely saw anyone at all. Perfect wading flows too. This year was an interesting one. And this year more than any other, there were more pontoons than Ive ever seen. Have two of the anchored up in the middle, each casting outwards towards the bank. No room to pass, then getting bitched at for floating over their fish. Common sense just aint so common anymore.
 
" I also understand that some of the problems were caused by Don Jr being up fishing and secret service rerouting all anglers to the same section"

Thats absolutely ridiculous and should never happen for anyone. I'm sure Don Jr can fish some other places
 
I used the ramp krayfish2 described a couple of posts above on last Saturday evening, my first time taking out on that ramp. We had no issues, but there was a heck of a rocking bonfire party at the property adjacent to the ramp. One of the guys with me said a property on the downstream side of the ramp has apparently been purchased by the state, not sure what that means for the near future.

Walleye fishing was half decent that day, the biggest one had a 5" brown trout in its belly.
 
I believe that the property was purchased by or donated to the conservancy. The plans have been collecting dust to build ramp / parking. Last I heard, construction was to start late this fall but that has been the same story for 2 years now.

Yes, right above the ramp they tune it up pretty hard....and on a regular basis. During the week too. I think that is one property over from the guy who blocks the ramp. I've heard of good walleye fishing from some sections. One May I did see a spin angler land a smallie that was easily over 5 pounds. You also get random musky, striper and other fish caught of really nice size
 
OK, I'm clear now on which property blocks the ramp & yes, the party was one property over. Yes, they were definitely going hard, complete with bon fire, multiple big tables, Halloween decorations, booming tunes & either a cop car or volunteer fireman's car with red/blue lights turned on for that "dance club atmosphere". lol
 
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