Upper Delaware, Wayne County, 9/25 and 9/26/09

MidasMulligan

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Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
50
Hello everyone,

Had a great time, but not a lot of fish.

Two of us fished out of a canoe, fly-fish only, catch and release only. Water temps were consistently around 54. Windy on both days, more so on second.

First day:

Floated from Balls Eddy to Buckingham (10 miles). We worked really hard, and landed 1 bow between us. Trico, ants, streamers, dry/droppers, iso, caddis, you name it. Finally landed one on a pheasant tail. Paddled hard through slow water, fished the riffles. Tons of insect activity, but nothing on the water, and didn't see a single rise until about 5 at night. Brutal day, and both exhausted.

Second day:

Floated from Balls Eddy to Stockport (6.5 miles). I nymphed the entire day, my brother fished dry/droppers and then caddis. Both had much better luck, but I think we finished with 4 between us, largest was 15". Used prince nymphs, pheasant tails, hares ears, some midges, etc. Pretty standard stuff. Didn't have to work as hard the second day, but with flows so low, there were still significant amounts of paddling.

Overall, really enjoyed ourselves, and glad we went back the second day. BTW, the guys at the Delaware River Fly Club were very helpful.

Hope that helps!
 
Sounds about right. Wind is pretty much always a factor on that system. Flows have been low, so the fishy trout water is really condensed down right now. So what were the fish you got into the second day? Bows?

I was up late Aug/early Sept, and had some decent fishing (main stem) - - but appears it petered out pretty quick. That said, by far the best fishing this year was during all the high water back in July and early Aug. The fish were feeding like schooling sharks - - west branch. After that high water event, they vanished.
 
Ahh, yes, we heard about that period...sounded great. We were into bows on both days, and I think we lost a couple of browns on the second.

Any idea how it fishes during the late-fall / early winter? Was thinking about making another trip up there in mid-November.
 
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