East and West Delaware

[wbranch]

This will give you an idea of what to expect on the upper east. Very very technical and demanding

Looks like the tailout of Long Pool.

 

[Nocktavius]

Now if they’d just stop stocking the upper EB it’d be worth the frustration

 

[falcon]

It is my understanding stocking of the EB was discontinued last year under the new NY statewide steam/river classifications. The EB is classified Wild Premier (WP).

 

[krayfish2]

Let me take what I wrote in post #60 and expand a tad more.

After getting spooled and having the long drive home to process what happened, you decide to burn a vacation day the following week and head back up to even the score with the fish in that pool.

Knowing that the action didn't happen until later in the day you run errands and get to the river around 3pm. The flow looks identical, the temperature and clarity are perfect. You suit up and get to your spot. The next 4 hours are spent watching the river for bugs and risers. You double check the leader, your knots and drag setting. The sun starts to fall and you think you know what is about to happen. Blanket hatch of ISO and not a single rise. As you stumble back to the vehicle an hour after dark, you blurt out "What the XXXX was that?". Voice out of nowhere, "You had a good night too, eh? That was as something else tonight. Lots of good fish ". It's a car parked on the shoulder with an angler changing out of his waders. You just wave, load up and head back to the room.

Was that guy full of it or did you completely miss what was going on? You grab a quick breakfast and listen to the fly fishermen in the next booth discuss the killer morning they just had over by where you were last evening. You hear them saying that they were on the water 30 minutes before sunrise and had trash feeders for the first 3 hours of light.

Same river, 2 conflicting stories. You ignore it and set out to try a different section during the day and then to the top of 'the pool' for an evening rise. You spot several fish but they refuse your terrestrial and caddis patterns. You trudge on to find the big fish of the day. You spend 45 minutes creeping up to a casting position. You observe him eating every single daytime sulphur going anywhere near his feeding lane and tie on the perfect match. As you dress the fly, an eagle passes overhead. The shadow goes over the fish sending him bolting for deep water. You sit for 90 minutes but the fish never returns. Oh well, heading going back to "the spot" and evening the score with the one that spooled you the prior week. 3 hours spent watching the pool without a bug or rise. Driving back to the room, you begin to wonder what you are doing wrong or if first light is better.

Sunday, day three, last chance for glory. You decide to get up at 4:30, grab a gas station coffee and get some of those trash feeders at first light. At 11:30, you are fishless, hungry and a little pissed. Back to the gas station for a questionable tuna salad sandwich and more coffee. Hustle back to the good spot by 1 and see what happens. Micro caddis and midges. No risers but you know ISO hatch should pop by 6pm. In the last 30 minutes of daylight, hatch starts and you finally see a few fish feeding. You land a beautiful 7" wild brown on the first cast. Refusal after refusal as night approaches. You lay out the perfect cast, it drifts a foot and disappears. You go tight only to see an 8" chub roll on the surface with your fly in it's lip. As you water-ski the chub toward your hand in hopes of getting a few more casts before it's too dark to see, boom! Just before the chub is to hand, 24" brown smashes the skimming chub with enough force to take your fish, fly, tippet and the two sections of line above it. Too late and dark to re-tie so you stumble back to the vehicle. Sickened, you start the vehicle and head for home. "F this place, I'm never coming back here" you yell as you merge onto the highway.

Most don't come back. Those that do, have paid their dues and they continue to come back for 35+ years.... like me. The river rewards persistence and you look for "that epic day" which comes every 7-15 years 😁

 

[hooker-of-men]

Now if they’d just stop stocking the upper EB it’d be worth the frustration

As mentioned above, I don't believe either of the Delaware tailwaters get stocked anymore - or at least not by the DEC. Both branches still get stocked above the reservoirs:

Spring 2023 Trout Stocking for Delaware County

www.dec.ny.gov

 

[hooker-of-men]

I mean, I've been skunked before, many times. It's not that serious. I know where alcohol is sold.

 

[krayfish2]

The WB and main were stopped years ago.

I've seen fish dumped into lower EB but that was close to 20 years ago. Truck pulled up on fishes eddy bridge, hooks up a short pipe and blasted a few hundred 6-8" browns off the bridge. I'd imagine the lower East will forever get washouts from Beaverkill which is stocked but has excellent wild population.

I've heard the upper East get stocked but have never witnessed it. 99.9% of the fish I've caught over there have been absolutely perfect and if they're stocked you would have fooled me. Fish from 5" -24" all looked wild.

NY stocked fish look 1000% better than the genetic misfits we get from PFBC

 

[JimNovo]

Let me take what I wrote in post #60 and expand a tad more.

After getting spooled and having the long drive home to process what happened, you decide to burn a vacation day the following week and head back up to even the score with the fish in that pool.

Knowing that the action didn't happen until later in the day you run errands and get to the river around 3pm. The flow looks identical, the temperature and clarity are perfect. You suit up and get to your spot. The next 4 hours are spent watching the river for bugs and risers. You double check the leader, your knots and drag setting. The sun starts to fall and you think you know what is about to happen. Blanket hatch of ISO and not a single rise. As you stumble back to the vehicle an hour after dark, you blurt out "What the XXXX was that?". Voice out of nowhere, "You had a good night too, eh? That was as something else tonight. Lots of good fish ". It's a car parked on the shoulder with an angler changing out of his waders. You just wave, load up and head back to the room.

Was that guy full of it or did you completely miss what was going on? You grab a quick breakfast and listen to the fly fishermen in the next booth discuss the killer morning they just had over by where you were last evening. You hear them saying that they were on the water 30 minutes before sunrise and had trash feeders for the first 3 hours of light.

Same river, 2 conflicting stories. You ignore it and set out to try a different section during the day and then to the top of 'the pool' for an evening rise. You spot several fish but they refuse your terrestrial and caddis patterns. You trudge on to find the big fish of the day. You spend 45 minutes creeping up to a casting position. You observe him eating every single daytime sulphur going anywhere near his feeding lane and tie on the perfect match. As you dress the fly, an eagle passes overhead. The shadow goes over the fish sending him bolting for deep water. You sit for 90 minutes but the fish never returns. Oh well, heading going back to "the spot" and evening the score with the one that spooled you the prior week. 3 hours spent watching the pool without a bug or rise. Driving back to the room, you begin to wonder what you are doing wrong or if first light is better.

Sunday, day three, last chance for glory. You decide to get up at 4:30, grab a gas station coffee and get some of those trash feeders at first light. At 11:30, you are fishless, hungry and a little pissed. Back to the gas station for a questionable tuna salad sandwich and more coffee. Hustle back to the good spot by 1 and see what happens. Micro caddis and midges. No risers but you know ISO hatch should pop by 6pm. In the last 30 minutes of daylight, hatch starts and you finally see a few fish feeding. You land a beautiful 7" wild brown on the first cast. Refusal after refusal as night approaches. You lay out the perfect cast, it drifts a foot and disappears. You go tight only to see an 8" chub roll on the surface with your fly in it's lip. As you water-ski the chub toward your hand in hopes of getting a few more casts before it's too dark to see, boom! Just before the chub is to hand, 24" brown smashes the skimming chub with enough force to take your fish, fly, tippet and the two sections of line above it. Too late and dark to re-tie so you stumble back to the vehicle. Sickened, you start the vehicle and head for home. "F this place, I'm never coming back here" you yell as you merge onto the highway.

Most don't come back. Those that do, have paid their dues and they continue to come back for 35+ years.... like me. The river rewards persistence and you look for "that epic day" which comes every 7-15 years 😁

No truer story has been told.

I love the challenge of this river system, which is why I go back every few weeks.

Thanks Krayfish2!!

 

[krayfish2]

The term 'epic day' gets tossed around loosely in my opinion. They happen but are rare. I had one with 2 forum members a few years back. Norm (pro4mamce) and Jim (stimey) did a float with me on the main. Perfect conditions, maybe. Perfect set up, doubtful. Right place, right time, definitely.

We were going to start the day out nymphing to kill some time but we never stopped....no reason to. Norm had told me he has managed two trout on a fly rod in his past. One was a 7" brookie and one was a 10" brookie. Norm put 18 fish in the net and broke off two monsters. I don't believe Norm had a fish under 16" that day and I can never apologize enough for the butchered net job on the fish that I estimated at 26"-27".

Jim managed to put 15 in the net between 14"-20". Jim was also kind enough to relieve me on the oars and let me get in on the action... putting 12 fish in the net myself.

That day, we boated 45 and probably lost another 20. I don't know if seeing something like that will ever happen again. Doubtful. I heard guys putting 15, 20 or even 25 in the boat but can't recall anyone telling me of 60+ hook ups and over 40 in the net. Hope I live long enough to see it one more time.

And the fly was a ridiculously large / bright caddis pupa. Go figure

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Kray: Regarding your earlier posts, that all sound too familiar. I fish the Upper D quite a bit b/c I'm an hour away. Some days, 1 good fish makes the day. Others, half a dozen 18"+ trout each. Nothing like you described in post #69, though.

Well, there was one evening in the mid-80s when I was still learning to flyfish... My buddy was even greener. We fished around the island at the Lower Gamelands. We landed 30 trout before the light faded too much to see. I've never experienced an evening like that again and likely never will on the Upper D.

As a guy I fished with once said of Penns, "She's a fickle mistress, but ever so often she'll lift up her skirt for you."

 

[hooker-of-men]

36 hours of rain in the forecast over the weekend. Happy Father's Day. Seems like I might have to go get skunked somewhere else.

 

[wbranch]

Kray: Regarding your earlier posts, that all sound too familiar. I fish the Upper D quite a bit b/c I'm an hour away. Some days, 1 good fish makes the day. Others, half a dozen 18"+ trout each. Nothing like you described in post #69, though.

Well, there was one evening in the mid-80s when I was still learning to flyfish... My buddy was even greener. We fished around the island at the Lower Gamelands. We landed 30 trout before the light faded too much to see. I've never experienced an evening like that again and likely never will on the Upper D.

As a guy I fished with once said of Penns, "She's a fickle mistress, but ever so often she'll lift up her skirt for you."

In the early 70's before the river became so well known I had many 20 fish days. Not many big fish but most 13" - 17".

 

[wbranch]

It is my understanding stocking of the EB was discontinued last year under the new NY statewide steam/river classifications. The EB is classified Wild Premier (WP).

When they did stock all of the browns I caught were in great condition and good colors. One day near Downsville I landed about a dozen all 14" - 15".

 

[afishinado]

As a teen back in the 70's, we used to have "epic" days like that on the Upper D. Not all the time but many times. This lasted through much of the 80's. Some of my buddies fished bait and really cleaned up, but fly-fishing during a hatch was awesome. It seemed like just about every fish covered with a good drift hit your dry. Whether you hooked and landed them was another thing.

And don't forget, back then I was a neophyte kid FFer, wet behind the ears without all the skills and fancy tackle I have today. As well, the dries flies I tied back then were rather rough on old fashioned (my attempt at Catskill ties) and I used Indian necks and miscellaneous chicken feathers for hackle.

I do recall the fish being a little smaller on average than today but there were some good ones mixed in and they were more than plentiful and much easier to fool than today given the amount of pressure they now endure on a daily basis. I suppose the fact I caught so many trout during each outing would give the impression that the the population was higher back then, but I doubt that was the case.

Back then we saw a few anglers in certain spots at times but it was not unusual to not see another fisherman all day. Boat traffic was an occasional recreational canoe drifting by or a guy throwing a spinner on their way down river.

We had a place to camp on private property and slept in the truck bed or car seat. Depending on the water release and temperature we headed downstream for smallies or upstream for trout because the releases were really wonky at time with no rhyme or reason for it. The smallie fishing was as great as the trout fishing when the temps were favorable for them.

We had a great time! Things have really changed, but nothing stays the same, especially really good things. The River was "discovered" and the circus with the biggest sh*t show in the East moved in and took over the river. As Momma used to say, "this is why we can't have nice things".....

 

[dryflyguy]

I've had trips there like Krays in post #64.
That's just the way it goes in the D.
On the other hand, when you hit it right - its well worth it.

Spent 4 days there earlier this spring.
First day was great.
Hit double digits. And didn't start fishing until 5. A banner evening

Next day, wind started to blow a bit, making things tougher.
Still managed to land a half dozen after fishing long and hard all day

Next 2 days, a cold front really made the wind blow.
Covering the water with debris.
And it was a real struggle to land a fish or 2.

Discussing it with another forum member, and his experiences there - we both agreed that the best strategy is to plan on staying there at least 5 days. And hope for a good day or two !

 

[Drifly]

So I lived in eastern CT and used to drive to D often to fish, many times driving out in the morning fishing till bugs died jumping back in the car for the ride home. It was about a 3hr ride for me and some days I was home by 8pm other times I’d crawl into bed at 2:30 in the morning. When I quit working I relocated to NE PA and now I’m only about 50 minutes away. What I’m finding is there are so many places I simply never got a chance to fish because of time restraints. Its like a whole new system to explore. I don’t float, but wade, many times a couple miles a day. I’ve fished all over the country and can say you’ll be hard pressed to find harder fighting fish anywhere in the country. Im a bamboo guy and last night I had a couple of fish take me close to my backing. Like all good wild trout water you have to pay your dues, this spring I hit Hendricksons on the East on a cold 50d windy, rainy day where there were so many bugs you throw your fly in among 10,000 naturals it was nearly impossible fishing. 2 other guys who were fishing the pool left as the rain got a bit harder. As bugs started to wane there were hundreds of cripples and pods of big browns started gobbling. I had no idea that there were that many big fish in this pool I had fished so many times over the years. I left there soaked, teeth chattering, and shivering so bad it was difficult untying my boots, but didn’t stop giggling to myself till I got to Equinunk. It’s a great fishery that keeps me coming back.

 

[Nocktavius]

So I lived in eastern CT and used to drive to D often to fish, many times driving out in the morning fishing till bugs died jumping back in the car for the ride home. It was about a 3hr ride for me and some days I was home by 8pm other times I’d crawl into bed at 2:30 in the morning. When I quit working I relocated to NE PA and now I’m only about 50 minutes away. What I’m finding is there are so many places I simply never got a chance to fish because of time restraints. It’s like a whole new system to explore. I don’t float, but wade, many times a couple miles a day. I’ve fished all over the country and can say you’ll be hard pressed to find harder fighting fish anywhere in the country. Im a bamboo guy and last night I had a couple of fish take me close to my backing. Like all good wild trout water you have to pay your dues, this spring I hit Hendricksons on the East on a cold 50d windy, rainy day where there were so many bugs you throw your fly in among 10,000 naturals it was nearly impossible fishing. 2 other guys who were fishing the pool left as the rain got a bit harder. As bugs started to wane there were hundreds of cripples and pods of big browns started gobbling. I had no idea that there were that many big fish in this pool I had fished so many times over the years. I left there soaked, teeth chattering, and shivering so bad it was difficult untying my boots, but didn’t stop giggling to myself till I got to Equinunk. It’s a great fishery that keeps me coming back

What kind of cane rig are you running up there? Something like a Payne 204 taper?

 

[Drifly]

I’ve had a couple of Payne’s over the years but now I’m strictly an Edwards Quadrate fan, yesterdays was an 8’ model 34. To me these 4 sided rods seem have more backbone to handle larger trout. Just my opinion of course.

 

[Nocktavius]

I’ve had a couple of Payne’s over the years but now I’m strictly an Edwards Quadrate fan, yesterdays was an 8’ model 34. To me these 4 sided rods seem have more backbone to handle larger trout. Just my opinion of course.

Interesting! I’ve never fished a quad but I was wondering about those hard fighting Delaware trout and bamboo. Is that a 5 wt?

 

[Drifly]

It is a 5 but I have fished a 6 also, preforms just as good.