The WBD has been an even tougher fishery these past few weeks w/ irregular air temps, windy days, rain and dropping water. Inconsistent hatches and marginal surface feeding proved to be the case in both trips. On Sunday, we arrived at Stilesville, just in time for Deposit’s Annual Raft Race Day. Emergency crew in their air boat raced up and down the river, escorting 50 enterprising rafters. Although this was a fun local spectacle to watch, it did little to help fishing conditions. The afternoon sulpher hatch was slow w/ no good trout snouts visible. Late afternoon we fished a riffle below Hancock and I managed to lose 5 decent fish. All taken on tiny sulpher/brassie style nymphs on 6x and I put a clinic on how to lose fish. Sunday’s evening hatch never materialized and we left the water close to 9:30. We did manage to see two eagles, a coyote, deer, a turkey and a host of other birds. However, no decent trout brought to net and no sustained surface feeding.
On Wednesday we experienced a better sulpher hatch from 11 am to 2, but w/ very few decent fish feeding on the surface. Plenty of 4″ to 8″ feeding in pods, but no big snouts. Now that we are in summer mode, these larger fish are less likely to feed on the surface and prefer the nymphs/cripples/emergers that lie 2-6″ under the surface. I fished a 16′ leader w/ 6x, double flies and had very few shots @ decent fish. Several times I spooked larger browns handing tight against grassy points, never showing themselves w/ feeding or breaking the surface. All the while, the 6″ smaller yearling browns are feeding all over the place. It is nice to see a healthy population of young fish in the system. There wasn’t enough bug mass on the water to get the larger boys interested. Late afternoon we nymphed two riffles (including Balls Eddy) and only managed several small rainbows/browns. To end the night, we fished the Lower Gamelands and again, the hatch/spinner fall never materialized. The WBD is an awesome fishery, but it sure was stingy w/ us these two recent trips.
The front that moved through Saturday brought gusty winds, rain, hail, sunshine, no wind, rainbows, bright sun and then clouds. Challenging conditions for fishing the ever fickle West Branch. We saw decent tan caddis and a limited hendrickson hatch (2:30 pm) w/ spinner fall (5-7 pm). Between the shifting winds, we managed to locate a number of rising fish. Attached are a few photos. I don’t know of any other East Coast fishery where you can consistently land a 20″ or greater, wild brown trout on a dry fly. Long leaders, drag free presentations, specialized flies and spooky fish are the rule, but they sure are gorgeous if you can fool them.
Good news everyone. I just came from the West Branch of the Delaware and actually caught a fish. In fact I caught two nice fish and had three others on the line that got off. I cannot stress how important it is to check your knots and play the fish to the slower water as quickly as you can. These are all wild fish and they are all escape artists.
The conditions were much improved from my last post. The state was releasing water from the dam which cleared out some of the algae and on some stretches of the river the bug activity was quit strong. Where I was, we were seeing cornudas coming off in the late morning with sulphurs in the evening. The sulphurs would create such a feeding frenzy you could throw a grenade in the water and they would not move from their spot. I tried a number of sulphur patterns and these fish would only take a number 16 CDC sulphur pattern. Of course I ran out of this fly the last night and was relagated to watching 20″ browns feed in front of me. Very frustrating!
See this guppy? He is the only fish that allowed me to catch him in 2 and a half days of fishing on the West Branch of the Delaware River this past weekend.
Thinking about going? Bring lots of alcohol and a book or two to break the boredom. The water was low, bugs were not consistently hatching, tons of algae (they call it spinach) rolling down river from the dam, and plenty of wind. Probably the worst conditions I have ever seen on the West Branch in the 6 years I have been going. On top of that in the time I was there I did not see a single angler pull a fish out of the river. My friend Craig did catch 2 average size Browns but he is a very skilled fly fisherman.
Believe it or not, I am going back on June 13th for the weekend. I am not sure why but I will fill you in on the carnage when I get back.
This past weekend my friend, Craig Dennison, filed this report from the West Branch of the Delaware River. Thanks for the Report Craig.
Just a friendly summer reminder to my angling friends that one of our Crown Jewels of Angling (West Branch of the Delaware), continues to fish well during the early summer months. On Saturday morning I enjoyed fishing a riffle stretch w/ a few trout feeding on caddis. Fun to pick off several fish in faster water on the surface. The rainbows really run and are acrobatic in the Delaware!
Later in the afternoon, I fished the Lower Trophy Water and enjoyed nearly four hours of solid sulphers, from size #16 to #20. Long leaders, accurate casts, numerous pattern hanges (cripples/emergers/duns) and I landed several quality fish from 12″ to 21″. There were times my fly couldn’t compete w/ the dozens of nearby naturals. I won’t be able to fish it again for a few weeks, but wanted to let you know that there can be some great riffle and sulpher fishing over the next month. Hope that you have a chance to check it out.
This is my first post and I am hoping this blog will be interesting and informative. Well, here we go.
Last weekend I took my yearly trip to the West Branch of the Delaware River. I love this trip every year because I always learn so much from my friends from our our Canandaigua Trout Unlimited Chapter. My friend Craig always does such a great job organizing this trip to the West Branch Angler every year.
I arrived Thursday night and only had time to get my gear ready to fish the next day. We stayed at the “White House” at the West Branch Angler. There were eleven of us and most of the guys got there Thursday morning. WBA has done a nice job renovating the White House. They blew out the wall that divided the house which created a big common area with some nice couches and chairs and a big TV. I think it is a much better configuration. Once I got settled in the guys got back from their day of fishing. A couple of the more experienced guys caught some nice fish. I do think they were all under 20″ though.
Friday morning we got up and had a great WBA breakfast to fuel up for the day. When we got ready to go fishing I ran into a small problem. My car wouldn’t start. It is a Volkwagon Passat with only 20,000 miles on it and could not imagine what could be wrong with it. Like any dedicated Fly Fisherman I hopped into another car and left my troubles behind. We fished the “Main Stem” of the Delware past Hancock NY. We found some nice water. The water levels had been low but this location showed some promise. After fishing there for a few hours none of the four of us had success. No rises, nothing. After this, my friend Wil was kind enough to go back to the White House and hang out with me while I called AAA. After some confusion about my location, AAA was able to send someone to try to jump my car. While we waited Wil and I decided to fish in the pond next to the White House. What fun! I think we each caught 15 twelve inch rainbows. About an hour later the mechanic showed up and said that I blew a cell in my battery because I left my Sirius Satellite radio on all night. He said that I would needto get a new battery. He didn’t have one for my car so he told me to call NAPA Auto Parts in Deposit NY. They did a great job and help get my car running again.
Now that I got all of this nonsense out of the way I could concentrate on fishing again. On Saturday we decided to fish the West Branch Gamelands and I had much more success. When we got to our location I decided to put on a sparkle pupa with a trailing pheasant tail nymph. After a few casts I hooked a nice brown trout. I played him for several minutes. He ended up being a 17″ brown with shoulders. Unfortunately he flopped out of my hands just as my friend Wil was about to take the picture so you will have to take my word for it.
Not long after this I landed a fiesty rainbow. This fish was not big but for those of you who fish the Delaware know what I am talking about when I say fiesty. I also hooked up and lost one after my tippet broke. Something that I should have replaced after catching the rainbow. Delaware River wild trout will always put your tippet and hooks to the test. After loosing a few fish to poorly tied knots, weak tippets, and stressed hooks, I have learned to always check and replace my setup after catching fish.
