Too many bugs?

Fly-Swatter

Fly-Swatter

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I took this 19 second video on the West Branch of the Upper D yesterday around 3 PM. It was like this for a few hours!

Hendricksons everywhere!

I got some takers early in the emergence, but after that I had difficulty getting my artificial noticed among the crowd. A few others said they had similar experiences.

Regardless, it was awesome to see!

BTW, if you look in the distance at around 16 seconds you can see trout rising.
 
Wow! How many fish did you catch?
 
Too many lol 1 in a million chance of the fishing eating your fly out of all those
 
I spent six days on the delaware river last week. And pretty much ran into the same circumstances as you.
The hatches were concentrated in a 2-3 hour period in the afternoon - from 1 to 4 pm. And got so heavy, that I didn't have much chance at them either.
I caught most of my fish when the hatch was just beginning. And then when things were winding down.
Very little action in the mornings and evenings
 
There may have been a blanket hatch but during your entire 19 second video I saw only one rise form.

The WB of the Delaware is being so overfished that one should not go up there with any thought of having any solitude or being able to "get away from the maddening crowds".

I purposely have not gone up since April 21 partly because the weather has been colder than I like but also because of all the boat traffic. A close friend of mine, who lives only an hour away, fished below one of the launch points on the WB on Wednesday and counted forty (40) drift boats and other water craft. That is pretty sick.
 
Just got back early this morning. Hatches were good at times but there was also lots of dead periods. We didn't hit any emergence quite as heavy as what's in the video.

As Matt mentioned, the reports of blanket hatches drew lots of additional traffic. From the highway, we did an estimated wade fishermen count of 55 in just over a mile. Picture the salmon run in Pulaski. Add to that 40-50 driftboats, a dozen pontoons and a few other miscellaneous crafts and it's a real shiit show. I booked my room back in December and was an unwilling participant in the circus. Lol. For the amount of bugs on the water, there weren't as many rises as you'd expect. We took multiple fish with mouth injuries and that's something I haven't seen before.
 
Eh, the fish will get pickier. More fish for us kray
 
How much boat traffic is normal? I floated a popular float that is 1/2 wb and 1/2 main stem last saturday and the boat traffic was less than I anticipated and the fishing was very good. I started the float pretty early so that may have had something to do with it. There were certainly other waders and other boats around but there was plenty of water to fish. Once I hit the main stem, it was kind of like playing hopscotch with 3 or 4 other boats. Looking back, that is probably crowded but I had plenty of water to fish. I did my best to give waders and other boats room and even when I thought I might be borderline (and even though I was brutal at rowing), I never got any dirty looks from waders or boaters.

When i wade, i try not to fish immediately downstream of launches for the example wb gave. the only attention I paid to drift boats while wading was when they anchored and fished the same water I was fishing while wading. This only happened a twice, and it just happened to be the same guide (but on different sections of the river). I don't know who the guide is but both times he anchored and had clients who looked pretty green tossing nymph rigs with bobbers so he was probably struggling to get his clients fish.
 
Don't hate on indicator nymphing haha. It's saved many a day for me. Sure it's not as flashy as swinging wets or streamers, but gets the job done when fish are picky.
 
I don't think there's a "normal" amount of traffic. Even on busy days, you can alter your float to avoid the bulk of the traffic. We pulled up to the ramp and there were 6 boats already in the water that could be seen....our boat and 3 more waiting. We decided to leave. That's not typical and ridiculously busy IMO. You'd also expect to encounter a few more boats and several dozen waders. I can remember fishing Methodist camp back in the 80's where I fished Friday through sunset Sunday and only saw one other angler....and maybe a single dritboat. Last time I went through there, I counted 27 guys wading and 3 anchored boats. Eventually it thins out as the season goes and the difficulty gets ratcheted up.....still sucks though
 
Also got to remember that they are encountering probably the best hatch of the season right now, hendricksons. Also apple caddis and grannoms get guys going. Once the drakes are over it slows up. I floated last august and counted two boats, and 9 wade fisherman from balls to stockport.
 
We saw male Hendricksons, female Hendricksons, olives (2 sizes) and 2 different caddis in the same flush of bugs. None were a complete blanket hatch but combined....it was bug soup. Fished a different section and saw totally different hatches as you'd expect. Carry everything you own at this time. Lol
 
I grew up on the Main Stem and fished the System since the late 1960's.
Ever since I started fishing the LR 2 years ago,that river has replaced the WB and the Main Stem, as my predominate place I fish.I AM NOT COMPARING THE TWO SO PLEASE NO NASTY COMMENTS.

I had a very nice day with some larger browns and a beauty of a rainbow on the LR on Saturday,very few boats or fishermen...and it's only 1.5 hours from my house in West Chester..so it is a frequent day trip .
 
I fished saturday and sunday on the west. Satruday's crowds were unreal. drftboat hatch of epic proportions. sunday the wind was 20-30 mph. I was able to find a nice side channel away from the wind and since it was mothers day enjoyed some solitude and great fishing. Overall I did really well over the two days but i have not seen crowds like this in quite a few years. I have also noticed more and more people not respecting the water you are watching. boats coming right down and nymphing right in front of you while you rest fish. I really appreciate the boats that are respectful and thank them all when they are. there were some real idiots out on saturday.
 
Hmmm, was on the Rivah about three weeks ago and Saturday afternoon was pretty much a circus. We had the stocked trout chasers from the Beaverkill and other smaller rivers and pontoon boats, kayaks, drift boats, and even a few flat bottom boats. I had a women drift boat guide set up 50' across from us on a chute. That was a first. The weekdays were not too bad and by Sunday afternoon most of the folks were gone. IMHO the club reports of great hatches have the weekend warrior fishers coming out of the woodwork. Hopefully things will settle down in a few weeks and the Rivah is in great shape.

I had a huge walleye eat a 13" rainbow off of the end of my line in the main stem. That was another first.
 
I got three a little late, meaning the hatch had already started. My challenge, as many others said, was to find some water where I could fish and not crowd anyone else. For example, there were about a dozen cars at the lower game lands parking.

I did bring 4 trout to hand before the bugs got too crazy. They were all quite fat, feisty, and well fed.

I left shortly after the video b/c I had to be home. I live near Scranton, so it's only about an hour drive.

The Upper D is an extraordinary fishery, but the crowds are getting unmanageable. There are other good fisheries in my area. I may go to those util early summer...
 
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