Fly Fishing Report for the Upper Delaware and Catskill Rivers

WEEKEND UPDATE

This WIld Delaware Rainbow is pretty special. This was Craig's first Upper Delaware Trout and his first on a fly rod!

The weather is changing again. It looks like warm weather plans on sticking around a while. There is a very small chance of some passing showers over the weekend but no substantial rainfall is expected.

The prospects for this weekend look very similar to the last 2 weeks river conditions. The local Trout are active and visiting anglers have a lot of fly fishing options. Currently you can choose to fish Dry, Nymph or Streamer with good results.

At this time there is still a heavy release of 1120 cfs. from Cannonsville reservoir. This cold water release has the West branch and the Main Stem fishing well. The Upper East has also been Ice cold but low. It is fishing well but it is always a very challenging place to consistently fool wild trout.

Our other rivers The Beaverkill, Willowemoc and Lower East Branch are now cooling down. They are all very low and in need of some rainfall. The overall action in these rivers should improve instantly with some rainfall of another cold front.

Currently insect activity is good in most places. Over the last week there has been a very noticeable increase in insect activity. Most days this week my guests had shots at rising Trout. We have been adding a few fish to our catch every day with surface flies.

Isonychia, Olives, Cahills, Sulfurs, White Flies, Caddisflies, Midges and Terrestrials are available to the Trout at times. You should have a good fly selection since the activity is random and it changes by river section. Our best fly late day has been our Hackle wing spinners in the larger sizes #10 and #12

Overall the fishing is good. All of our trips this week have been heavy on catching! Our staff has been on the water and taking advantage of the diversity of conditions. This week the majority of our trips have been for Trout but we are still taking booking for Smallmouth Bass as well. All of our trout trips have been killer.

We are currently choosing between the streamer bite in the turbid waters of the West Branch or Nymph Fishing the miles of riffle water on the Main Stem Delaware.

Both Guide Matt and Guide Zach have been running their guests over to the West with the Streamer Rods. The last few days have been action filled. Recently there has been an improving number of rising Trout on the West Branch. There were one or two days recently where you were able to find risers pretty reliably.

I have been on the Main Stem every day. The nymphing game is hot!. My guests have been running up the numbers and many of the WIld Rainbows have been very big. Yesterday my buddy Rick put a half dozen 18" bows in the net along with some juveniles. At this time the fish are hot. The hookups are steady and we are averaging about 1/3 of the fish making it to the net. The rest are just too crazy to get under control. Super Exciting action!

Right now is the time period for hot nymphing. It will remain hot until the cold weather spurs the heavy olive hatches that occur every autumn. My guess is that we should have superb nymphing for about another 2 weeks.

For those of you who liik forward to the super heavy Olive Hatches of fall and the all day dry fly action, you will need to remain patient. It is simply too warm here to spur these hatches. It looks like the best dry fly activity is yet to come. Our guides are on the river every day and we will let you all know when this activity kicks in.

TIP OF THE DAY

If you are planning to fish in the coming days bring your nymphing rod. The subsurface action is hot. The dry fly is improving but not an all day affair at this time.

Right now it is best to rig up for searching the riffle water. Our guides are currently running 3 flies inline. Use a bigger BH Isonychia for your weight. Follow it up with 2 smaller nymphs in descending weight with the last fly being a non - bead head. The best flies have still been variations of Pheasant tails, Caddis Pupas and Isonychia. On most days smaller is better. Most days a #18 is the hot item. Indicator nymphing will cover the most water and increase your odds. I have been setting the indicator about 20" above the first fly.

If you would like to get out for a trips give us a call today. 607-290-4022

If you are in Roscoe make sure you stop in and see our new fly shop. We are now on Stewart Ave. Roscoe's Main Street. We are right next to the Pharmacy and across from the towns big parking lot.