2017 Catskills JAM - aka no room at the Inn JAM

[krayfish2]

Pointless but I'll throw it out there......

Fishing September 30 til October 4 (or 5)

Location: Catskills / Upper Delaware

Ground zero: Upper Delaware Inn (formerly the Capra). Unfortunately, we have booked all remaining rooms so you'd have to find lodging at WBA, DRC, Smith Colonial or camp Peaceful Valley, Ocagua SP.

Fishing: TBD by conditions. Could be floating, wading or just sitting on the porch drinking beer. Could be dry fly action.... could be good streamer action and will likely be good nymphing if you're willing to put in the time / effort.

Attending: krayfish2, DaveS, Stimey, Bruno, Alby and Don, legendary Catskill hippie Daddy Frank, Morgan (the guy who spends 4 months a year in room 17).

Possible attendees: Fishwagen, SurfCowboy, BigBass if out of babysitting duties, PhilC

Good company, beautiful scenery and some pretty good fishing. Be advised that this section does not contain snakeheads and requires skill to catch fish. Lol. Sorry Fred, had to get in a cheap shot.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

DaveS will stop by "my" jam, sleep the night at the cabin, won't fish w/ us, and then will drive up to your jam ;-)

 

[krayfish2]

Hey, I just work here

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Hey I ain't complaining! There's ALWAYS room at the Denton Hillton Inn!

 

[krayfish2]

Ha, no sooner do I post the "JAM" and then FUDR drops this turd....


Playing High Risk Games with the Upper Delaware River......Again

Today New York City announced they will be phasing out the voluntary release program that began on June 1 when the 5 Decree Parties failed to reach agreement on a long-term management plan for the Delaware River basin reservoirs.

The voluntary release program helped the Upper Delaware River escape severe damage through the summer with a lot of help from Mother Nature in the form of cool seasonal temperatures and plenty of rain. The program helped avoid the dangerously low releases called for under "Revision 1", the antiquated plan that went into effect on June 1.

If a long term plan is not in place by October 10, Revision 1 releases will be reinstated and here's the bottom line:

Cannonsville: 45 cfs on October 10 and 33 cfs on November 1
Pepacton: 70 cfs on October 10 and 50 cfs on November 1
Neversink: 45 cfs on October 10 and 25 cfs on November 1

In case you can't visualize these levels, a 45 cfs release from Cannonsville can accurately be characterized as a trickle that will de-water more than half of the upper river.

The ecological and economic impacts of these extremely low releases could be catastrophic to people, communities, and the aquatic habitat of the Upper Delaware River region.

Please contact the Decree Parties NOW. Here's the message:

Continue the voluntary release program until a long term plan is adopted that is fully protective of the river.

Here's the contact information for the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Decree Party Principals/Designees :

Paul Rush (NYC): prush@dep.nyc.gov, 845-334-7107
Mark Klotz (NY): mark.klotz@dec.ny.gov, 518-402-8233
Jennifer Orr (PA): jeorr@pa.gov, 717-772-5633
Dan Kennedy (NJ): dan.kennedy@dep.nj.gov, 609-292-4543
David Wunsch (DE): dwunsch@udel.edu, 302-831-8258

For the River,

Jeff Skelding, Executive Director

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

Yeah, Kray. I saw that yesterday. WTF? These decree parties need to get their $&*% together before they go and do something stupid.

 

[Fredrick]

Andy I'll be thinking about you when your drift boat starts to collect dust since you wont be floating the trickle that used to be known as the Upper Delaware River this fall . Be a man Andy and get your waders wet like real fisherman.

 

[krayfish2]

The boat already collects dust....only gets 10-12 days use up there per year (if I'm lucky). How about the 25+ years I've waded up there, they don't count?

 

[Fredrick]

They got voided when you started using the boat int:

 

[albatross]

Looking forward to the fall colors of both the leaves and the fish. Thanks for organizing this Andy!

 

[krayfish2]

Looking forward to having more yinzers join in. Hope we are able to find some good fishing half as good as we did last year.

 

[AFISHN]

I plan on attending a few days.,Flexible on which days.Il be coming up from the West Chester. Area ,if anyone needs a ride.Will wade and/or drift depending on conditions

 

[krayfish2]

I wouldn't get too excited about this "JAM". It may have to be cancelled.

 

[krayfish2]

Well, after making several calls, I was able to confirm the following:

* WB release will be no more than 275 cfs during the time we are there
* EB release will be no more than 150 cfs during the time we are there
* The BK discharge averages around 150 cfs that time of year

Without s significant rain event just prior to the trip, nothing will even be close to being floatable. I also found out the cause for the flow agreement not being reached.....thank you PA DEP. Push it back to the 10th and pray for agreement to be reached, wade fish and hit the Lehigh, scrap it and hit the Yough. Thoughts?

 

[AFISHN]

Lehigh is a vg alternative.I also have been fishing the Lackawanna a bunch this year and doing well....might also be a good alternative for a WADE trip only alternative.
Tom

 

[Fredrick]

This is going to be the D soon

 

[AFISHN]

So sad and avoidable....

 

[albatross]

The Yough gets a little warm in september, but should be safe to fish by the very end of Sep or Oct 1. I'm sure we can find motel room, but we will need to make a decision and change reservations.

North Branch Potomac will likely be too low to float this time of year.

 

[krayfish2]

Dave and I discussed several options / alternative locations. We decided to stay the course and revisit the situation somewhere between September 23 & 25. That will give us an idea of UDR conditions we will find and give us several days to reorganize if needed. Lots of activity in flow meetings and on the weather map. A lot can change in the next 14-21 days.

I believe big Frank has 3-4 rowboats at Cannonsville. If they don't release water, we can fish for 10# browns and 5# smallies. That would suck..not really.

 

[DaveS]

I forgot about the rowboats! I would definitely not be above drifting a minnie for a big brownie.

Let's see what the coming week or two brings.