East branch of Delaware ... fisherman access / parking advice

[Mashbill]

Gentleman,

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated by me. i dont want to trespass or be somewhere that i should not be. it would be really great to give the East Branch a shot ... i dont have to catch anything... but it would be really cool to see some of those fish ive read about and give it a try. some detail.

Im leaving soon for a month long, solo "safari" fishing road trip. ill start in Boiling Springs, then State College, then Cross Fork .... then ill end it up on the Beaverkill in Roscoe ny at the end of May. this is my 3rd year for this trip - i retired 3 years ago.

Last year it was so hot while i was fishing the BK ... i had to get on the water by 6:30 am ... fish till noon or 1pm, go back to camp and have some bourbon, relax ... then go back for evening. One day i decided to go see the EBDR ... my flyshop map said it looked close. i drove along the BK downstream to a Rt 30 ... then i turned right and drove along rt 30 toward Harvard, ( and Shinhopple?)

I drove a while , saw water down below me, it didnt look like it was moving, and i really didnt see any signs for fisherman parking or see where i could get out and look around, but honestly i didnt look real hard or go that far on rt 30, so i turned around and went back to the BK.

I imagine i was actually looking at the East Branch. when i got back home, i was able to find a Fly Fisherman copy from 2005 from my stack that had a good article on the EB ... i wish i had it while i was there.

Is there decent public access? is the parking pretty easy to find? is there a spot that would make sense for me to try that would give me a good taste of the EB experience ?

Again ... i would appreciate any help or advise from you fine gents! that whole area of the catskills has been a real treat for me to fish.

 

[discomidge]

Here you go: https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/pfreastbranch.pdf

NYS has these maps for lots of of the big streams up there. As for the East Branch experience, I'd say it's super cold and the fish are super picky. I've always preferred the BK/Willow/Neversink.

 

[krayfish2]

Well, if you drive up 30, you in fact, were looking at the East...the upper east below Pepacton reservoir. It appears to be shallow, barely flowing and void of fish. It's deeper than it appears from the road and holds some very good fish. Brilliant sun isn't your friend over there. LONG leaders and time consuming stalking is the recipe for success. You can sit for 9 hours without a rise or a bug in site. As soon as the sun dips, you'll hear rises that sound like golf balls being hit into the river. Those fish are very well camouflaged and are all but invisible.

At that time of year, sulphurs, grey fox, drakes and maybe some dark sedge. NY DEC has good map of public fishing rights. Google search: ny dec access map for upper east delaware river. Those maps in conjunction with Paul Weamers book should be a massive help.

One thing to remember is that SOME landowners DO own the streambed so wading in their portion of the river is looked at as though you were standing on their front porch. Trespass and you can expect to be confronted and possibly fined. People over there are extreme in reaction. It may be an honest mistake on your part but they see it constantly and will be very heavy-handed when talking to you. Just letting you know as it's a good possibility it might go badly.

If my memory serves me right, the article you're bringing up was done by Art Lee and is primarily talking about the lower east. Before cannonsville was constructed, pepacton was 'the tailwater '. At one time, it was the premier fishery and his article was to reflect on how good it once was, it's potential and I think was an attempt to try and get bigger releases on it like the older days. Since they let more cold water out on the west, the East just gets a trickle and the lower section warms dramatically and becomes unfishable for trout. This sometimes happens as early as mid May depending on flow from Beaverkill and air temperature. Most of the fish in that river are transient except for those that congregate near spring seeps. Fish population numbers are much much lower than the upper east, west and even the beaverkill. Radio tracking has shown that some move to the upper east, some go up the beaverkill, some drop back into the main stem or head up the west.

The last thing that you need to be aware of was the press release from New York City about working on the aqueduct system. They are scheduled to release water from both lakes beginning June 1st at a rate that will make wade fishing them nearly impossible except for seasoned angler that knows where to go. They have to draw down 30% out of the lakes which might take 3 weeks or it might take 3 months. All depends on the amount of rainfall they receive.

If you are patient, observant and persistent, you can see what the upper east holds and it might shock you. My first stop at Al's trout shop was to purchase a couple of flies. I pointed to the polaroid next to the register...."That? It's a 13 pound brown a kid caught on a nightcrawler last week.". I looked at the river (creek) and then at the fish and figured he was BS-ing me. It's one place where you can catch 4" browns and two casts later get spooled on 3x tippet. She doesn't give up secrets easily and is probably the toughest of the rivers to have success on.

 

[Mashbill]

Thank you very much Gentleman... very much appreciated.

Kray ... Master Class ... as always. thanks!