Upper Delaware Fly Fishing Report

SATURDAY

The fishing is good for everyone including this juvenile bald eagle that I photographed on the Main Stem Delaware.

Yesterday all of our guests had decent fishng. We had good action with nymphs and some late day activity with dry flies. At this time you can find late day risers throughout every Upper Delaware river. We still have a good amount of the larger bugs on the water daily. The main action right now is with Brown Drakes and Isonychia. There are also loads of smaller mayflies and caddisflies emerging daily. Yesterady there was also a good amount of stoneflies emerging from the Main Stem Delaware.

Below are a few photos from the last few days. We have not been taking many huge Trout at this time but there is steady action for our guests with the size trout in the photos.

Below are the Perelli's who were in for their annual trip.

For the next few days all area rivers will offer great fishing opportunity. There is more light rainfall in the forecast and we are expected to have overnight low temperatures in the low 40's for the next few nights.

My top choice at this time still remains the Beaverkill. This river got some more rain yesterday and it simply has the bugs at this time. There are multiple species on the water daily and finding rising Trout is not a problem. Most of the other rivers are a bit fickle at this time and the only reliable action has been right at dark. The Main Stem is my top choice for floating. This river has just enough water for seasoned roweres to navigate.

Below is a nice shot from a recent Main Stem Delaware Float. There are lots of animals taking advantage of the lush vegetation along the river banks.

River Flow Table

Beaverkill - 284 cfs.

Wilowemoc - 199cfs.

Upper East Branch -159 cfs

Lower East Branch -626 cfs.

West Branch - 351 cfs.

Main Stem -1240 cfs.

Our fly shop is now open daily. We are fully stocked with the essentials and the best local fly patterns in the area. If you are planning to fish and want to get the scoop on what's happening on all area rivers, stop in. Our guides will be in and around the shop from 8:30 am until they leave for their trips. You can pick their brains on the latest hatches, techniques and locations. Our staff will be available to you on a daily basis from now through the end of June

Currently there are Green Drakes, Brown Drakes, Isonychia, March Browns, Sulfurs, Stoneflies, Caddisflies and more emerging from all Upper Delaware Rivers. There is good spinner activity most nights. Anglers should now target the areas around the faster riffles and pocket water. Most of the insects that are emerging now are fast water dwellers and all of the late day spinner activity will happen in these same areas.

Today's Upper Delaware Fly Selection

March Brown Cripples, Green Drake Cripples, Baxter House Coffin Fly, Kens Coffin fly, Hackle Wing March Brown Spinner, Hackle WIng Rusty Spinners, March Browns, Sulfurs, Blue Quill CDC Duns, Quill Gordon Cripples, Hendrickson Knock Down Duns, Hendrickson Cripples, Red Quill Cripples, Elk Over CDC Caddis, X Caddis, Peacock Klinkhammers, Apple Caddis, March Brown Duns, March Brown Cripples

BH Copper Johns, BH Pheasant Tails, Ice Caddis, KT Pupas, BH Stoneflies, Flash Back Pheasant Tails, Cased Caddis

Small Zonkers, BH Wooly Buggers , Sculpins, Bottom Wigglers, Muddlers, Small Atriculated Flies

Streamers of 3" or less will be most effective at this time.

BEAVERKILL AND WILLOWEMOC

Both the Beaverkill and Willow are fishing well at low water conditions. Both rivers have excellent wading access at this time. The Beamoc waters got a boost from the minor rainfall yesterday. Both rivers are up this morning and anglers may find minor localized turbidity in places.

This is one of my favorite times to fish these waters. The current insect hatches are now transitioning to species that thrive in the faster riffles and pocket water. The Beamoc waters are perfect for these insects! Over the next 4 weeks anglers should have no problem finding active insects and Trout. This week angling pressur has picked up on the Beamoc waters. This is a combination of the very good action and the lack of reservoir releases on the tailwaters.

Brown Drakes, Isonychia, Green Drakes, Stoneflies and Sulfurs are on the water. At this time a rusty spinner is a great choice for any fussy fish. Anglers will also have good luch at this time blind fishing the water during non hatch periods. At this time you can't go wrong choosing a large stimulator, Drake or Coffin Fly.

Anglers should nymph early and start looking for risers in mid afternoon.

The nymphing is excellent. The best tactic for the Beamoc water is high sticking in the Pocket water. At this time the Pocket Water and Riffles are full of fish.

EAST BRANCH

The Upper East Branch East is very low and looking pretty sad in a lot of places. The lack of releases from Pepacton Reservoir have for tough fishing conditions and tough conditions for the local Trout. At this time there are better angling opportunities elsewhere in the system.

The Lower East is in the same boat with very low water for the time of year. The conditions are not however as bad as up top. On most days ther is decnt nymphing and a quick burst of surface activity near dark. This section of river is also very low on my choice of where to fish at this time.

Wading access is unlimited at this time.

Anyone fishing the East should be aware of the water temperatures and avoid catch and release fishing when it is over 70 degrees.

WEST BRANCH

The West is at low water conditions. There is a lot of weeds and algae in the drift. The 224cfs. release will continue despite the very low water conditions. Yesterday the West got a slight boost in flow from an afternoon thunder storm. This boost was a nice refresher but it will drop back quickly to just above the amount of the posted release rate.

The insect activity is decent but it is not on par with normal spring conditions. The same insects can be found as in the other rivers.

MAIN STEM

Over the next few days the Main Stem should continue to offer decent angling. The cooler nights should keep things in a good place for now. Our guides have been floating various sections of the Main with nice results. All of our guests are catching some fish with a variety of different techniques. Over the last few days I have been switching tactics up quite a bit. During the non hatch periods we have been alternating between traditional nymphing with an indicator and the Dry Dropper technique. There are a lot of stoneflies about so a stimulator is a great choice for the dry fly.

We have also been fishing the pocket water and riffles blind with oversized Isonychia patterns with some success. Now is also a good time to keep a streamer rod handy for the lon slower pools. The Smallmouth Bass are now very active and you can keep busy with these exciting game fish.

The nymph action on the Main Stem is decent at this time. Our guests have been hooking up with wild rainbows in most riffles that we fish.

Brown Drakes, Isonychia, Green Drakes, Stoneflies, March Browns, Sulfurs and Olives are possible on the Main. There is also some decent early day activity with left over spinners and Cornuta Olives in places.