Took my youngest nephew up to the Catskills to do a little trout fishing. He's a bass guy, limited fly fishing experience so the expectations were low.
Thursday 5/18 - East Branch Delaware. Straight sun and very warm with temps 88-90. Water was gin clear, a tad higher than "normal" and the water temps were 54-62. If you think the fish on Penns are allergic to the sun....probably worse on this river. We started around 10am and saw a rise in the first 30 minutes which was also the only rise we saw during the 14 mile float. I set up 2 rods with nymph rigs and turned the little guy loose. My expectations were 0 fish on the EB. During the highest sun and windiest conditions, the nephew got hooked up on several fish which shocked me. Hatches seen: NONE. Can't call a caddis blowing by every 30 minutes a "hatch".
Friday 5/19 - Floated Shehawken to Long Eddy....no, that's not a typo. Good thing it was another day with upriver wind. Started out around 9:30, gentle breeze, mix of sun and clouds. WB was it's typical greenish color and the Main was clearer after the EB joined. Water levels are dropping quickly but cool evenings kept the temps 52-62 degrees. We almost immediately found a few sippers in the Junction. The nephew kept running his nymph rig in fast and slow water. Skipped a mile due to 15 boat pile up. We hooked up and lost several fish between Lake Lenoir and Buck. My nephew did hook a mid 20's class fish but the hook tore out as we failed to net it. From Buck to Long Eddy, we had more sun and the breeze picked up. We did have caddis, Stenos, midges and some olives around. Few risers were seen until the sun dipped behind the hilltops. We watched shad chasing each other around and pods of rising fish but the 30 mph wind prevented any casting. We sat until dark waiting for the wind to lay down but it continued to get stronger until 11pm or so. I believe the young man hooked 13-14 fish nymphing this day.
Saturday 5/20 - Decided on Ballls Eddy to Buck float. Launched right after I fished my cell phone off the bottom of the river. Water flows continue to drop, color greenish, water temps 50's. Weather was a mix of clouds and sun, lighter breezes and temps 68-70. Saw on rise as we shoved off....and not another rise until the Junction. We did see several variety of caddis and got into some risers with success. I did manage to hook up and loose a very large brown at the net. Sporatic MB duns would float by, the breeze would carry a cloud of Hendrickson spinners past the boat but nothing really on the water. The nephew nymphed his heart out this day and had little success. We did run into SurfCowboy near the Stockport ramp and floated behind him for a mile. The nephew did get into a good bow but lost it when it darted and snapped his 4x.
We made the most out of some pretty tough conditions and hope the nephew caught the FF-ing bug. He did agree that the fight of a 19" smallmouth can't hold a candle to 14" wild trout. 🙂
Thursday 5/18 - East Branch Delaware. Straight sun and very warm with temps 88-90. Water was gin clear, a tad higher than "normal" and the water temps were 54-62. If you think the fish on Penns are allergic to the sun....probably worse on this river. We started around 10am and saw a rise in the first 30 minutes which was also the only rise we saw during the 14 mile float. I set up 2 rods with nymph rigs and turned the little guy loose. My expectations were 0 fish on the EB. During the highest sun and windiest conditions, the nephew got hooked up on several fish which shocked me. Hatches seen: NONE. Can't call a caddis blowing by every 30 minutes a "hatch".
Friday 5/19 - Floated Shehawken to Long Eddy....no, that's not a typo. Good thing it was another day with upriver wind. Started out around 9:30, gentle breeze, mix of sun and clouds. WB was it's typical greenish color and the Main was clearer after the EB joined. Water levels are dropping quickly but cool evenings kept the temps 52-62 degrees. We almost immediately found a few sippers in the Junction. The nephew kept running his nymph rig in fast and slow water. Skipped a mile due to 15 boat pile up. We hooked up and lost several fish between Lake Lenoir and Buck. My nephew did hook a mid 20's class fish but the hook tore out as we failed to net it. From Buck to Long Eddy, we had more sun and the breeze picked up. We did have caddis, Stenos, midges and some olives around. Few risers were seen until the sun dipped behind the hilltops. We watched shad chasing each other around and pods of rising fish but the 30 mph wind prevented any casting. We sat until dark waiting for the wind to lay down but it continued to get stronger until 11pm or so. I believe the young man hooked 13-14 fish nymphing this day.
Saturday 5/20 - Decided on Ballls Eddy to Buck float. Launched right after I fished my cell phone off the bottom of the river. Water flows continue to drop, color greenish, water temps 50's. Weather was a mix of clouds and sun, lighter breezes and temps 68-70. Saw on rise as we shoved off....and not another rise until the Junction. We did see several variety of caddis and got into some risers with success. I did manage to hook up and loose a very large brown at the net. Sporatic MB duns would float by, the breeze would carry a cloud of Hendrickson spinners past the boat but nothing really on the water. The nephew nymphed his heart out this day and had little success. We did run into SurfCowboy near the Stockport ramp and floated behind him for a mile. The nephew did get into a good bow but lost it when it darted and snapped his 4x.
We made the most out of some pretty tough conditions and hope the nephew caught the FF-ing bug. He did agree that the fight of a 19" smallmouth can't hold a candle to 14" wild trout. 🙂
