Fly Fishing Report for the Upper Delaware and Catskill Rivers

This weekend brought us our first dose of excellent dry fly fishing of this season. It was also very windy so casting was a bit of a challenge.

All of our guide trips did well and we brought some really nice Browns and Rainbows to net. Over the weekend our guide staff was split up between our normal float trips and participation in the FUDR One Bug event. With such a busy weekend our staff pretty much covered the majority of the Upper Delaware System from the Dams down to Callicoon. We also had some guests on the Beaverkill for some wading.

The fishing is decent everywhere but it is better in the warmer waters of the Main Stem, Lower East Beaverkill and Willowemoc. The Tailwaters have releases and remain colder than the waters further down stream.

Over the weekend Apple Caddis were the Big Hatch. These prolific insects were emerging by the billions and the rivers were blanketed with them for long periods of time. Unfortunately this is a vary short hatch and by the time you read this it will be waning in most areas of the region.

There are still Hendricksons and Quills emerging and there is good spinner activity from these insects. Last night there were pockets of heavy spinner activity on the section I floated. This activity is past it's prime on the Freestones. It should continue on the tailwaters for a while.

The streamer bite is now slow but our guides are still fishing some areas and taking the occasional fish.

The nymphing has improved with the falling water. Over the weekend this method has developed some consistency. My guests have taken a bunch of fish on nymph rigs with the hot flies being Ice Caddis and Copper Johns. Guide Matt's guests also had some good luch with BH Pheasant Tails which is also a good choice at any time. I especially like the BH pheasant tail soft hackles that we have in our fly shop.

We have a few openings this week for float trips if you want to get out. Call the shop for the details. 607-290-4022

Stop by if you are in the market for a new rod. We just got a bunch of Mystic Rods in. These are my favorite dry fly rods for the Upper Delaware. We have the M-Series, Reaper, Maveryck and the Inception in stock.