Delaware River West Branch Trout Survey

[DavidFin]

Interesting thought in this thread that the Del bows top out around 19"s because of lifespan. The only no question 20" bow I caught up there was skinny and wasn't in great health. Took him on the Main, which definitely has the strongest concentration of bigger fish in the system, imho.

Also, you 100% have a shot at a 20" fish everyday on the Del. If you think otherwise you may have to consider how you fish. It's not a skill thing, but if you're not covering a good amount of water in a versatile way you're limiting yourself. And not fot nothing, you can always hit the water at day break with a fat streamer and a sinking line.

Running the risk of sounding like a jerk, but most of the people who complain about numbers and/or size on the Del only fish dries. That's awesome if you're having fun doing it, but again, it's not versatile.

 

[wbranch]

Davidfin wrote;

Running the risk of sounding like a jerk, but most of the people who complain about numbers and/or size on the Del only fish dries. That's awesome if you're having fun doing it, but again, it's not versatile.

Your not sounding like a jerk. And I'd never be complaining about numbers or size of the Delaware system fish. It is that I just prefer to fish only with dries and only to rising fish. I never cast blind. Waste of time - except if you know the river well and are in a fishy looking riffle.

90% of the time I fish dries, the other 10% of the time I am on the water when it is so dark I need a flashlight to get to the water. I am all rigged up with a 9' #7 sink tip and at least a 4" Clouser. I am off the water as soon as the mist burns off or another angler is within eyesight.

Just a few, of many, good browns from the system over the past few years. All rising fish caught on dries.

 

[ryansheehan]

by DavidFin on 2018/7/26 9:38:52

Interesting thought in this thread that the Del bows top out around 19"s because of lifespan. The only no question 20" bow I caught up there was skinny and wasn't in great health. Took him on the Main, which definitely has the strongest concentration of bigger fish in the system, imho.

Also, you 100% have a shot at a 20" fish everyday on the Del. If you think otherwise you may have to consider how you fish. It's not a skill thing, but if you're not covering a good amount of water in a versatile way you're limiting yourself. And not fot nothing, you can always hit the water at day break with a fat streamer and a sinking line.

Running the risk of sounding like a jerk, but most of the people who complain about numbers and/or size on the Del only fish dries. That's awesome if you're having fun doing it, but again, it's not versatile.

Do people really complain about the size of trout on the D? If so I've never heard it, definitely not one of my home rivers though.

 

[moon1284]

Here's another on a dry.

 

[wbranch]

Great looking fish Moon!