west branch of the deleware

mutzinbaugh

mutzinbaugh

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2011
Messages
222
Any advice for a rookie as far as where to go? Heading up there this weekend and not sure where would be a good place to check out. Thanks!
 
up toward deposit sulphers come off during the day. NY license needed. driving up the dirt road above balls eddy you come to the first SGL. parking on both sides of the road.
 
You will be able to tell where the gamelands are by the 25 cars parked everywhere. At the current temps, you can fish all the way down the main to Lordville....so....anywhere above that for the next 23 miles. John is right that NY license is needed above the gamelands. I'll be up Saturday-Tuesday. Caddis will be up, McWilliams, timmyt and maybe beast brown. Give anyone of us a shout and we can point you in the right direction. Don't expect the fishing to be overly user friendly this time of year. They've been getting pounded for months and a LONG leader and perfect drift is needed in the heavily pressured sections like the gamelands.
 
I love this site. Thanks john. Krayfish, would you be interested fishing with two fellow dauphin county boys on Saturday?
 
I'm taking my nephew up and it's 99.9% chance we are floating. We will be in Hancock around 8am Saturday. Got to check in and set up a shuttle at the Capra. Meet there or at breakfast will work. Have sulphurs 16-20, iso in 10-12, olives in 18-24. Be prepared to toss it 50' with a 17-20' leader. Don't go below 5x unless the line won't go through the hook eye. When are you driving up?
 
We will be there Saturday am as well. Sending you a pm if I can figure it out.
 
Sent you a pm if you can figure out how to get it and respond. :-D
 
krayfish wrote:
I'm taking my nephew up and it's 99.9% chance we are floating. We will be in Hancock around 8am Saturday. Got to check in and set up a shuttle at the Capra. Meet there or at breakfast will work. Have sulphurs 16-20, iso in 10-12, olives in 18-24. Be prepared to toss it 50' with a 17-20' leader. Don't go below 5x unless the line won't go through the hook eye. When are you driving up?
Click to expand...
Do you useIso nymphs or dries?
 
17'-20' leader?
 
I've fished w/ Kray a few times now... I don't think I ever seen him use a leader that was much longer than 19 feet, 6 inches.

20' that's just crazy!

Honestly, if Krayfish says you'll catch more fish up there by leaving your parking lights on, I'd try it. He knows that place.
 
Chaz,
I float for miles nymphing from the boat. I get out at a few of my favorite riffs and nymph while wading. I have a rig that is 9' from indi to the bottom fly. Iso WILL be one of them. If I don't start hooking fish quickly, I'll go up top with iso dry. Blind casting sucks but usually gets some results. When I find rising fish, stop the boat and get down to business.

CL,
I've used leaders up to and possibly exceeding 22' up there. If you can turn it over, is it easier to keep 20' of line in the air or 20' of leader? Start with a 12'-15' tapered leader in 2-3x and build it out from there. If the biggest water you've fished is Penns, this sounds absurd. When you're in a pool that's 100+ yards wide and a mile long, it's much easier to use a leader that long because you are actually throwing casts with some distance to them.

DaveS,
You mean where you, Tom and I fished waaay up? I'm going to take the youngster upto the no kill around 10pm and let him take a few casts using a 3" ffloating rapala. Pretty sure hell break off whatever hits it. :-D.
 
Some good advice from Andy there. can't really add anything other than when you see rising fish don't be in a hurry to cast. Wade slowly to get into position and make that first cast count because any drag or sloppy casting puts these fish right down. It's major league dry fly fishing right now. The fish aren't as spooky on the Isos and Cahills but the olives and sulphurs are a whole different ball game.
 
+1 to J's post.

Spend 30 minutes closing the distance on a good fish only to line him on the first cast. You then wait 20-30 minutes and he starts feeding again. You drag your fly across his feeding lane. He's back down for 30 minutes. He starts feeding again but has moved much further out so you exit the river,cross the riff and get into position. You've lost another 45 minutes of daylight. Can't get him to take your sulphur because he's switched to #22 psuedos. Fun, fun, fun
 
haha Andy that has happened to me many times. I've also witnessed these fish move as you approach them. Take a step closer and they move a foot downriver/upriver/towards the bank/frustrating as hell but for some reason I love it.
 
All makes sense. I have never even attempted to cast a leader more than 14' even up there. I will have to build one at 20' and give it a try.
 
More slack and longer drag-free drifts will be in your future. Lol
 
No, probably more wind knots and inaccurate casts is more likely.
 
My advice would be to go to the upper east branch. The west branch is sort of unbearable, well the tail water at least. I only fish the upper west and the lower part in the winter.

I'm not gonna say where, but I walked a mile of the upper east about two weeks ago and got two absolute trophies and a mess of others. I released them all so find them.

Also, when the summer temps subside, the lower east can be pretty amazing.
 
Here's a pic:

image7.jpg
 
the East is a beautiful stream. we used to fish below Fish's Eddy In the spring. storms have completely changed the stream bed there. looks to be more access on the upper East. lost a trailer at the DRC campground to hurricaine Ivan. the trailer was old and leaky but that bottle of Tullamore Dew was not even opened. had some great evenings right near the ramp at Buckingham. jeez, memory lane.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top