Upper Delaware Camping Locations

[bradtheflyfisherman]

My buddy and I are heading up to the upper D with his drift raft this weekend...curious about any riverside campsites. We plan on fishing from the Cannonsville reservoir on down into PA on the West Branch.

Currently looking at Soaring Eagle Campground - right on the water in PA between the NY towns of Long Eddy and Hankins. Does anyone have any idea how long of a float it is from Stilesville/Deposit NY down to this location? Likely will get a heavy day of fishing in, taking our time working a lot of the river. Also float time depends on the water level and conditions, right now with this weather it likely will be high and fast.

Also looking at the Upper Delaware campgrounds in Callicoon. Anyone have any idea of a float time from somewhere in PA or NY down to here?

Also would like to do a quick two hour float Friday afternoon/evening if anyone has any suggestions about a put-in location and take-out location (preferably easy take-out location as it will likely be low-light conditions before the sun sets, and likely will be cloudy). I was simply thinking the State Gamelands 299 in PA down to Hancock.

That said, weather looks super iffy...highest chance of rain/thunderstorms is 50% all weekend, so we will be quite cautious about being on the river in the appropriate conditions. Playing it by ear all this week, and there is a high likelihood we'll call the entire trip off.

Also do we need any launch permits etc for fishing the Delaware?

 

[Acristickid]

Stayed at a place once near Equinunk on Equinunk creek. I recall it being spartan but had bathroom with shower. I think it was called Pleasant Valley campground.

 

[afishinado]

bradtheflyfisherman wrote:
My buddy and I are heading up to the upper D with his drift raft this weekend...curious about any riverside campsites. We plan on fishing from the Cannonsville reservoir on down into PA on the West Branch.

Currently looking at Soaring Eagle Campground - right on the water in PA between the NY towns of Long Eddy and Hankins. Does anyone have any idea how long of a float it is from Stilesville/Deposit NY down to this location? Likely will get a heavy day of fishing in, taking our time working a lot of the river. Also float time depends on the water level and conditions, right now with this weather it likely will be high and fast.

Also looking at the Upper Delaware campgrounds in Callicoon. Anyone have any idea of a float time from somewhere in PA or NY down to here?

Also would like to do a quick two hour float Friday afternoon/evening if anyone has any suggestions about a put-in location and take-out location (preferably easy take-out location as it will likely be low-light conditions before the sun sets, and likely will be cloudy). I was simply thinking the State Gamelands 299 in PA down to Hancock.

That said, weather looks super iffy...highest chance of rain/thunderstorms is 50% all weekend, so we will be quite cautious about being on the river in the appropriate conditions. Playing it by ear all this week, and there is a high likelihood we'll call the entire trip off.

Also do we need any launch permits etc for fishing the Delaware?

Stilesville to Hankins!!!.....not possible at all. Soaring Eagle is on the mainstem, and way downstream of the west branch, where the cooler temps and the trout fishing is right now.

Also, you will both need NY state licenses to fish anywhere above the PA game lands area.

Plus the river flow is up right now and the weekend forecast is for more T-storms.

This is not an ideal time to fish the Upper D. I suggest you save your money and hit it at a better time.

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

Thanks afish...I honestly don't know much about the Upper D.

I plan on getting a NY state license as well since we'll be fishing up there.

I imagine it'll be even more blown out by the time the weekend rolls around...but I'll be keeping a good eye on the forecast and water levels.

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

Looking for alternate floating options as well...never have floated or fished the Lackawanna River either so I'll be looking into that.

 

[D-nymph]

Does anyone have any idea how long of a float it is from Stilesville/Deposit NY down to this location?

2 1/2-3 days

 

[afishinado]

bradtheflyfisherman wrote:
Looking for alternate floating options as well...never have floated or fished the Lackawanna River either so I'll be looking into that.

The Lackawanna is not really a really a river that is float fished.

And unfortunately the the Lehigh is too warm and high for floating and trout fishing.

I have no other suggestions for a trout fishing float trip for this weekend in eastern PA.

Normally I would recommend going smallies fishing in August, but most of the rivers are also blown out right now.

Tough time for all FFers in most of PA right now in the bigger rivers.

Finding fishable conditions on some select smaller streams is the only real option until the monsoons end and we dry out a bit.

Good luck.

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

Interesting, thought the Lackawanna would be large enough to float fish after the additional tribs add in more water.

Penns Creek is an option, with the water levels right now, it is perfect for streamer fishing from a raft, if it gets any higher though before the weekend it will be too much. Also, minimal people are probably fishing it from shore/wading so we wouldn't be in anyone's way.

I usually stick to small stream fishing this time of year, but my buddy is itching to use his raft.

 

[Tigereye]

Brad. Lehigh is currently flowing at 1000 at WH which is definitely at floatable levels, though fishing will be difficult. Pounding soft pockets and pools along the banks with streamers/wooly buggers would be my ploy.

Temps are hovering at 70 +/- F at guage. Downstream will be a bit cooler do to contribution of tribs. Also the very nature of the river ie riffles and rapids keep the river well oxygenated. Much more so than rivers that lack those features. That said, (and I know I will catch hell for this) at 70F you are probably not doing much harm provided you play fish quickly.

May want to consider floating from guage to WH or Rockport. JT may be stretching a 1 day float. WH/Rockport to JT is another option. Guage to JT would be a good 2 day trip and plenty of camping/hotels in area.

I didn't check ACE website for this weekends release plan. It would be prudent for you to check that prior to your excursion. Have fun and be safe!

 

[afishinado]

Tigereye wrote:
Brad. Lehigh is currently flowing at 1000 at WH which is definitely at floatable levels, though fishing will be difficult. Pounding soft pockets and pools along the banks with streamers/wooly buggers would be my ploy.

Temps are hovering at 70 +/- F at guage. Downstream will be a bit cooler do to contribution of tribs. Also the very nature of the river ie riffles and rapids keep the river well oxygenated. Much more so than rivers that lack those features. That said, (and I know I will catch hell for this) at 70F you are probably not doing much harm provided you play fish quickly.

May want to consider floating from guage to WH or Rockport. JT may be stretching a 1 day float. WH/Rockport to JT is another option. Guage to JT would be a good 2 day trip and plenty of camping/hotels in area.

I didn't check ACE website for this weekends release plan. It would be prudent for you to check that prior to your excursion. Have fun and be safe!

There is a Lehigh River whitewater release every weekend in August which runs from the third week of July thru Labor Day weekend.

2018 Dam Release Days

May 12, 19, 26-27
June 9-10, 23-24
July 7-8, 21-22, 28-29
August 4-5, 11-12, 18-19, 25-26
September 1-2

Here is the latest report from the Upper Delaware:

DELAWARE RIVER REPORT / CONDITIONS AUGUST 9, 2018
Aug 09, 2018No Commentsby Jeff White
We had some severe thunderstorms come through late afternoon and overnight. The West Branch is high and off color running at 4340 cfs at Hale Eddy. It’s much higher as you move downstream. The feeder creeks took the brunt of the storm.

A lot of the local towns are under a state of emergency while they assess the damage and begin to fix roads. We came through just fine but it will take a day or so for the feeders to drop and the local crews to do some road repairs.

Do not come up here today. We’ll keep an eye on the streams and assess the damage and have an update in the morning.

Plus you can read the latest on the train derailment of two train cars into the WB because the high water washed out the tracks.

Again, my advice for this weekend is to find a small stream to fish and be happy...

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

Thanks Joe - we are going to hold off on the Lehigh for now until we get more comfortable with rowing and manoeuvring the raft - likely will stick to Penns and the Upper D until we get a little more experience.

Afish - where did you get that report? Interested in reading the update tomorrow morning. Sounds like they got hit very very hard, and very unfortunate about the train derailment as well.

 

[afishinado]

bradtheflyfisherman wrote:
Thanks Joe - we are going to hold off on the Lehigh for now until we get more comfortable with rowing and manoeuvring the raft - likely will stick to Penns and the Upper D until we get a little more experience.

Afish - where did you get that report? Interested in reading the update tomorrow morning. Sounds like they got hit very very hard, and very unfortunate about the train derailment as well.

The Delaware River Club gives a daily report on the upper D River every day during the fishing season.

DRC Report

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

Thanks, somehow missed that one.

 

[Smike]

Temps are hovering at 70 +/- F at guage. Downstream will be a bit cooler do to contribution of tribs. Also the very nature of the river ie riffles and rapids keep the river well oxygenated. Much more so than rivers that lack those features. That said, (and I know I will catch hell for this) at 70F you are probably not doing much harm provided you play fish quickly.

The thing is with release flows 800 CFS and above, is the % of cold inflow from the tribs can be somewhat insignificant enough to lower temps. So with temps at around 71 degrees at the dam, expect that to be the temp for ways down river. I've caught trout in there at 67 degrees in highly oxygenated sections and they seemed sluggish (which is a definately a sign to me to give them a break)

Also of note is the sun and tannic % can contribute quite a bit to the viability of temps. The darker tannic outflows with the higher CFS outflows will absorb greater sun light lleading to higher daytime peak temps.

 

[Tigereye]

You do have a point on the temps and I believe it holds true when discharge is greater than inflow (think rafting releases and dam draw down). In those cases, you have an artificially large pulse of "warm" water in comparison to tribs, thus their impact is marginal.

However, this is a unique period/year when the trips are also high and feeding the river proportionally. The increased flow from the tribs is not marginalized to the extent it would be under "normal" releases.

As for the O2 ...I'm not going there and this thread gets totally derailed!!!! :>)

 

[Canoetripper]

Getting back to the original post about Callicoon, NY, I used to camp on an island just above Callicoon when I last canoed the upper Delaware. That was in the early 1990's.

It wasn't posted then, but I don't know about now. We did catch trout off of the NY side of that island, and this was June on Father's Day weekend.

 

[Smike]

However, this is a unique period/year when the trips are also high and feeding the river proportionally. The increased flow from the tribs is not marginalized to the extent it would be under "normal" releases.

Remember that largest trib Mud Run runs only about 3-4 degrees cooler at best. The coldest ones, Hickory Hayes, and Stony only all run at a fraction of the flow of main river.

Overall the fish are going to be quite happy this Fall on that river.

 

[krayfish2]

Camping on the Delaware......

State park outside of Deposit 10 minutes to the river
Peaceful Valley on Upper East
BeaverDel on lower East
Soaring Eagle on Main

Every place that can be posted is posted. Simply pulling over and camping is not advised as landowners up there are difficult at best.

I'm notorious for taking ridiculously long floats. The float you mentioned has got to be 35 miles. 3 day float unless you strap a 25 hp to the boat.

Catskills JAM might be useful to you.

 

[bradtheflyfisherman]

Thanks for for the tips Krayfish!

 

[moon1284]

One more site for you is oxbow cg in harvard on the upper east.