Upper Delaware Fly Fishing Report
The 2016 Trout Season is now underway. Yesterday I had my first float of the season on the Main Stem. We had some unpredictable weather and gusty winds but the fishing was very good for opening day.
Currently we are fishing with low water conditions across the entire Upper Delaware System. Water temperatures are in the low to mid 50's in the freestone rivers and in the 40's on the East and West Branches.
These conditions should remain constant until we get some heavy rainfall. There is a cold front forecast for the next few days that include some wintry weather. We are expecting a few inches of snowfall over the weekend.
On yesterday's float trip we had rising fish from the first pool and throughout the day we were able to consistently find rising Trout.
We also nymphed some riffles and found active fish in most places. For the first float of the year the catching was quite good. Below is the first Trout of the season on my boat, about 5 minutes in. Not the biggest guy but it's always exciting to net the first one.
Overall we spent a large portion of the day pursuing risers and waiting out the wind to get our casts in. If we had put the same amount of time with our nymph rigs I think we would have really run the numbers up a bit.
We did come across some places where the nymph action was pretty hot. Here is a shot of two Wild Rainbows that were hooked and landed at the same time. Not the biggest fish but 2 Delaware Bows at the same time always create some chaos.
Most all of our nymph fish came on my Ice Pupa patterns in either Light Olive or Cream color.
The fish are active and I only had our nymphs set about 2' to 3' below the indicator for most of the float.
Insect activity is steady but no one insect is covering the water at this time. On yesterday's float there were Stoneflies, Caddisflies, Hendrickson's, Quill Gordons, and Blue Quills. There was not a time where you could say there was a big emergence of one species but the multiple species combined kept the waters surface looking buggy all day.
Below is one of our Bows that came on the dry. This fish took a CDC Stonefly / Caddisfly pattern.
Anglers can expect this type of action to continue through early April. The real key now is picking days where the weather cooperates and provides comfortable conditions for humans.
Baxter House guides are now available 7 days a week for Fishing the Upper Delaware System.
Give us a call today to get in on the early action. 607-290-4022
