East and West Delaware

Drifly

Drifly

Member
Joined
May 3, 2022
Messages
68
Location
Wayne County PA
I just read from a pretty reliable source that starting 6/1 the West will flow @1500 and the East @700 indefinitely, until a 30% void is created in both reservoirs (they have no idea how long this will take due to inflow) This being done to control flooding in the event of rain while the new aqueduct under the Hudson is connected. Gonna be some happy fish thru summer.
 
So, you follow Joe D on Instagram? 😂. I had it sent to me by a local. Last September, I was notified by a business owner on the bank of the river that October 2022 - April 2023 would be an increased release for work on the aqueduct..... never happened. Based on past performances, not getting too excited until I see the flow match the promise. If it happens, sure it will be great...if

Looking at it from a different perspective, will this hurt other fisheries? With the increased release on the upper Delaware, does that mean that water will not have to be released from the neversink, Francis Walter or wallenpaupack? I'll be interested to see how that changes everything
 
The Neversink was named in the article too but only had a release of 200. Interesting indeed we’ll see.
 
At 700, the upper East will very limited wading. Probably worse wading in WB at 1500. Same on main.
 
No one has a clue how this will all play out. No inflow and a 1500 cfs will drop cannonsville very quickly and could possible deplete the cold water pool in no time. That is a very real scenario.
 
Oh, they will release the absolute minimum up to the point where they run it down. I'd rather see them save the coldest water for June -August anyhow.

It was just a couple of falls ago when the season ended on 10/15. We were up, EB release might have been 100 max and WB was 225. On 10/16 or 10/17, they opened the gates and ran the east at nearly 2k all the way into mid January. West was cranked to 1500k for the same time frame. They could have run 750 out of each all August, September, October and still has water to spare.
 
I heard today the releases for the draw down are scheduled to start June 1 depending on conditions.
 
"depending on conditions".....aka ......10% chance 🤣
 
I read a similar report from someone who attended the meeting where this was discussed so I believe it will happen for sure (if NYC water is at stake…it will occur).

So how will this change the tailwater? Too much flow to wade? Will sulphurs hatch normally from June to ??? Saw a report saying the Main Stem will fish great.

Put this thread together with the one worrying about no water in PA (…crying wolf thread…) and it really makes me think that we will need to work very hard to find good waters this year to fish.
 
Will the sulphurs still hatch at 1500 cfs? Sure, why not? Back in 2013 or 2015 we had flows of 5500 cfs at Hale during the hendricksons and it was as good as I'd ever seen it. I even saw two Old timers on foot, defying death in the monument pool. If the releases are what they are promising, add in minimal volume from the feeders and it will be a tough year to fish on foot. Limited opportunities but the veterans will know where to go and how a handle it.

I had a convo with some guides who are with FUDR. If I'm not mistaken, they told me that so much water is lost through that aqueduct that if it was ever fixed, they could release a thousand from each lake during June, July and August and still have the same amount of water or more showing up in the city. Speculation on how the main office because I don't think we've ever faced this situation. Should be interesting and I probably won't even get to participate in the windfall ☹️
 
hooker-of-men said:
What cfs does wading start to get hairy on the West Branch?
Click to expand...

Which section? Up at stilesville or barking dog, you can get away with wading at higher flows. If you want to crawl the banks, you can fish very high flows with some danger involved.

Personally, I don't like wading most sections at more than 600-700 at Hale gauge. It just gets to be a lot of work.
At 1500, you would be limited to shots closer to the banks or islands.
 
Drifly said:
I just read from a pretty reliable source that starting 6/1 the West will flow @1500 and the East @700 indefinitely, until a 30% void is created in both reservoirs (they have no idea how long this will take due to inflow) This being done to control flooding in the event of rain while the new aqueduct under the Hudson is connected. Gonna be some happy fish thru summer.
Click to expand...
I am pleased that the reservoir authorities have the foresight to drawdown the reservoirs early to mitigate any potential flooding That is one of the reasons for the histrionic flooding in June of 2006. Of course they didn't have as long a lead tune to draw them down. There were weather reports indicating multiple days of epic rain.When it was all over 44,900 cfs of water coursed down the river. My cabin didn't move off the foundation but it was ruined and I wound up putting $25K into it to recover it to a livable seasonal property
 
hooker-of-men said:
What cfs does wading start to get hairy on the West Branch?
Click to expand...
It depends on where you are fishing, If it narrow 700 would be hard to wade. I would venture to say 900 cfs the limit for safe wading. My opinion. Some people may feel safe to wade in higher flows.
 
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