Upper Delaware River, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 4/29/2017

SurfCowboyXX

SurfCowboyXX

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Floated from Shehawken to Buckingham in the afternoon. I didn't realize that the One-Fly competition was that afternoon. There were a few other driftboats on the water, to put it mildly. 28 from the tourney, and guide estimates put the rest of the boats at another 3 dozen or so. Everyone fished well together and got along. There is a lot of water there, and if you use good etiquette, people are downright friendly with knowledge and beer.

The day was far more overcast than predicted, and cooler. The wind, which had been predicted to be out of the NW at 5-10 with gusts to 12 turned out to be a steady 10-15 with gusts to 20+. Long gusts, which made any kind of dry fly casting and drifting particularly trying. As a result, there was only sporadic (at best) hatching until late in the day (around 4:00, and that was further downstream).

I pulled a nice brown from the braids on a nymph, but didn't really have any decent opportunities until some better emergences started just upstream of Buckingham late in the day. There were some decent opportunities to hunt heads, but the wind made it something of a roulette. The wind had to drop below 10mph at the same time as a fish eating in rhythm. The wind had to stay down long enough for a cast and a drift. This confluence of events was rare, to say the least. I did manage to get two upstream eats on a Hendrickson emerger, one from a rainbow the size of Los Angeles-class submarine. I think I missed the eats out of sheer surprise that they would actually eat an upstream presentation (there wasn't any backing the boat upstream with the oars Saturday--the wind was just too strong--anchoring was also dicey when fully exposed to the wind).

Hatchwise, I saw:

Small black and brown stones
Size 10 golden stones
Apple Caddis (16)
Chimarra Caddis (18-20)
BWOs (18)
Blue Quills (18)
Hendricksons (14-16)

There may have been a few quill gordons fluttering about, as well. Thanks to the folks who provided beta to me over the past week (Kray, PhilC). If the rain doesn't botch everything this week, I'll be back up again next weekend.
 
We floated the same Shehawk to Buck on Sunday. It was terrible. We were on the water from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00, so we missed any evening emergence. I did see the large number of boats posted up on Sunday too. I guess from the same competition? I am glad we launched ahead of them to avoid that logjam.

Sunday was a mess weather-wise too. A big storm pushed through in the a.m. and the winds and temps took a down turn as did any chance of decent hatches or risers. We saw very few of either in that stretch. The few risers we saw were to caddis. Possible apple, but I did not grab any to see for sure. I did not see any stones, hendricksons, or quill gordons. There were some olives. All very light. Caddis were the only thing in any numbers during that time, but risers were spotty.

We generally pounded the banks with streamers all day with not much luck, A few follows and some seemed to be bass and a walleye actually. No fish boated.

We had to be off the water by 3:00, so we may have missed the best evening hatches, but there was nothing going on earlier than that for sure.

My boat mates were on the WB on Sat. and said that was not very good either. Sparse risers up until 5:00 pm when they were off the water.

I, as my boat mates, refuse to nymph, so if there are no risers to cast to then we streamer bash.
 
We threw streamers for a while until we started seeing the rises. I nymphed the one run at the braid while my partner took a leak. If the caddis you were seeing were the ones with the particularly white wings, then they were the apple caddis. They were all over the damn place Saturday, but the fish eating them were mostly small.
 
Yup, they were most likely the apple caddis as they did have very light wings. I just did not grab any to confirm.
 
Should always have apple caddis in your box when fishing the WB.
For some crazy reason the fish usuaLLY key in on them,especially when there Are multiple hatches going on
 
Fishing over all this last weekend was disappointing. Fish were very non commital when there were Bugz. And the bugs despite it being prime time never materialized. Fished the main via boat from buck to long eddy on Friday. Slow. On foot on the main Saturday and again slow. Best fly - lafontaine sparkle emerger. On the swing. Frustrating river.

The west imo is still too cold.
 
We floated balls eddy to Buckingham on Sunday 4/29. Had same experience. Then floated Buckingham to Long Eddy on Monday 5/1, what a difference a day makes, we had low winds few boats and caddis hatch for the ages, was a great day on the river (rowed out of long eddy in pitch dark driving rain as the storm rolled in. Fished WB Tuesday - Thursday, lots of wind. Mostly streamer fishing but was able to locate a few risers each day and land a couple nice fish on BWO emerger and blue quill.
 
Nice report. The One bug Tourny had boats all over and then add in a busy time of year. Buckingham according to the shuttle guy had 28 trailers on Thursday - last week. I imagine more over the weekend. That long eddy row is a long one. Bad storms I heard. Lost power up ther.e
 
Floated 4/30 - 5/4. First day was perfect conditions...good levels, good temps and little wind. We saw more March Browns than Hendricksons. By more, I mean a half dozen. Few caddis and virtually no risers. We got on one feeding fish just before the takeout and spent 90 minutes without hooking him. Usually reliable nymphing came up empty.

As Stimey mentioned, Monday was completely different. Lots of Paraleps, some olives and shad caddis bonanza. Hatch for the ages? Nah but a solid one. DaveS fished the no kill on the BK Saturday and estimated the hatch was 10xheavier up there. We had 6 guys fishing and everyone got into fish. Broke off some good fish as well. Monday night was biblical rains...2-3" it seemed. The BK got near 5k, 10k at Lordville, etc.

Tuesday we found cleaner water that was quite high so we gave it a shot. Overcast, drizzle and moderate breeze. Couple of hits on streamers. Lots of Paraleps again, few caddis and we didn't find fish rising right until dark.

Wednesday and Thursday, floated the same section again. Fishing was slow Wednesday with a 35 mph downriver wind to complicate matters. Again, virtually no rises.
Thursday was hatches right after launching. 30-35 mph upriver wind made getting a decent drift over fish all but impossible. Sat on a pod of 7-8 fish for 2 hours hoping to get a few shots but the wind never eased. We had a 16' drift boat anchored in good current but the strong winds tossed it around like a toy. We saw a very good Hendrickson hatch, loads of feeding fish but caught few because of winds. DaveS and Mkerr fished a different section and cleaned house. They saw much, much fewer insects but truckloads of risers. I think they got 11 out of the first pool alone.

My trip was spelled out pretty clearly as a deer ran full speed into my driver's side door 20 minutes before I reached town Sunday morning.

Mother nature dealt us a bad hand but we managed to find fish. As someone stated earlier, the fish were shy. Some stopped rising simply by anchoring or making a false cast near them. Others appeared to take the fly but nothing was on the end of the line when you pulled it tight. Now to get the damage fixed in time to make it back up on the 18th. I'm sure my rental Prius won't have a hitch. Lol
 
Jeez Andy, seems like every time you fish up there you get the shaft.
 
fisherboy3 wrote:
Jeez Andy, seems like every time you fish up there you get the shaft.
Click to expand...

As we well know, this is the nature of fishing. Like any sport, we can get into a slump.

However, reports such as krayfish and Surfcowboy wrote above are highly valuable. We certainly like to hear about great hatches and enjoy the pics of big fish, but when it comes to useful information, detailed reports covering tough or skunk days can be just as instructive, if not more so, than reports detailing great fishing. Oftentimes what doesn't work or the conditions that make fishing tough are more valuable than glory pics and reports of lots of fish caught.

The conditions and problems described above are instructive.
 
I think the only day a goose egg was posted by everyone was Sunday. Even guides said that Sunday was extremely slow in spite of near perfect conditions. We caught fish after that and some were 18"-20".

Dave W is right about hero shots vs typical results. Flows, temps, access, wind, boat traffic, hatches, etc. There are a lot of variables involved and to be realistic, it's rare to have all things fall into place.
 
High winds make for excellent whiskey weather. I spent the weekend tying flies and doing the things that needed doing around the house. I may play hookie on Friday and head back up if the weather and other circumstances permit.
 
I wasnt referring to the fishing, seems like the last few trips Andy has made up there things other than fishing have been wrong. For instance this time the deer into the car....past times he has had car trouble as well. But the weather always seems to be a problem for ya andy. I fish up there enough to know how she treats us. And if the fishing isnt good the other problems on top of it is what i was referring to as "the shaft".
 
I floated all of last week, my reports mirror everyone elses. We got fish each day, including some nice ones, but conditions weren't ideal. We even got some rainbows on streamers (which isn't supposed to happen according to the book).

On a side note I got checked for licenses on the big east by two NYSDEC wardens on kayaks. They rowed right up to my drift boat and asked to see licenses. NY also has a law that you must wear pfds before May 1. I didn't know the law but the guys just asked me to put one on after they checked everyone's licenses and didn't write a ticket. I think they wrote some tix to other guys in boats who didn't have licenses. The lesson here is if you are going to fish non border waters, make sure you have the correct license.

I hear of guys who never get checked for licenses but thinking about it I average probably about once a year. In PA alone, I've been checked on Valley, Ridley, Big Spring, Spring Creek. In NY I've been checked on the Niagara River, the Salmon River, the upper Catt, a trib to the upper Catt, and on Wiscoy Creek. I've also been checked in the middle of nowhere in Utah. I must look guilty....
 
I must look guilty....
Click to expand...

Before I got to the end of your post I was thinking the exact same thing! This guy must look pretty shady to be checked so often.

I have not been checked on the Delaware system in over fifteen years. Most of my fishing is done during the week so maybe the warden presence is less during the week.
 
29th year and never checked on BK, EB (upper and lower), WB. Got yanked over last spring by NP Service on Main and asked to see the license for the guide. We all laughed and claimed "we wouldn't fish with a**holes like these guys even if we got paid to do it". They checked licenses, all safety gear and posed for a pic with us before heading down river.

Back when the study was being done, I had been asked catch rates and creel survey type of stuff.

One night, PFBC waived at me from Buck ramp. " Hey ramp is here!". I yelled back "Not my ramp". They yelled about seeing a PFD so I held it up between oar strokes. As i went out of sight, they yelled " hope you get done in time for breakfast ". Lol.
 
Ive been checked once in the last 6 years I've fished up there. It was by NYDEC at Junction pool.
 
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