Hey all-
I wanted to give a report after spending the last 4 days up on the Upper Delaware. I haven't really spent a ton of time on the Upper D, and this was the first time we DIY'd it with floating. I've fished with guides twice and waded a bit on it, but aside from that one could say we were rookies. My buddy has an NRS raft, so we used that to float 3 of the 4 days.
Flows: WB on the drop, 1000ish CFS
Water Temp: Upper 40s, low 50s.
5/15:
We met up in Hancock at the Bat Factory and decided we would float the WB from Balls Eddy down to Shehawken. It was pretty cloudy and pretty cold still that morning in the 40s. We launched at 11AM and made our way down starting with some streamers in the riffles and nymphing until the bugs picked up. We moved some fish on streamers but nothing to net. Continuing downstream the caddis started coming off pretty good and we switched over to dries. We had some pretty solid eats, but still nothing to net. We sat at a pool for an hour so during the caddis hatch but there were so many bugs it made it difficult get fish to eat the fly vs the real thing. Once we got down to Shehawken we popped into Cross Current for the goods. We figured it would be tough with the cold weather, not having the right flies for the caddis that were coming off didn't help either.
After resetting we decided to do a quick evening float on the upper reaches of the WB near where we were staying, and finally had some success. Pretty quickly we got a 15" brownie to eat a hendrickson emerger. Continuing downstream we saw some sporadic rises, that seemed to be smaller fish. I saw a sip in a riffle and made a cast, and hooked into what ended up being the biggest trout of the trip. Not sure on size, as we didn't measure it, but I guessed over 22"+? Hard to tell.
As it got darker we found some more risers and missed a few more. Overall it was a good day. Tough at first, but the second float made up for it.
5/16:
We decided to float from Balls Eddy down to Buckingham. It was longer float but we figured eliminating the second float would be a good idea. We put in at 10AM, a little early but we figured we'd be in a good spot for the afternoon hatch. Pretty directly we found rising fish in a riffle. We anchored and waded for them. I had one on but it ran straight for the anchor rope and broke off as I tried to horse him away. Solid fish from the look/feel, maybe 18". My buddy had a big rainbow break him off and I also moved another brown. Continuing downstream we scoped out spots where we saw actively rising fish from the day prior, but nothing. Super intermittent rises but nothing consistent, nor was there a consistent hatch. Once we hit the main stem that's when it got really windy, we were getting blown all over the place in the raft and the fishing blew as well. We did find some actively rising fish but it was short lived. The wind really put the hatch down. We caught the skunk aside from a fall fish. Instead of doing round 2 of the night float, we waded instead from 730PM to 9PM. There was a crazy caddis hatch coming off once we got to the spot. I managed to hook/land a solid 17-18" brown on a caddis emerger. A pasting rain shower killed the hatch off, and we decided to call it.
5/17:
After two days of meh fishing off the boat, we really wanted to have a good day. We put in at Barking Dog and floated down to Balls Eddy on this last float. Fishing started out slow, again. Nymphing was yielding much. We had some shots at rising fish on the bank in the shade but the sun/wind combo was not great. Around 1PM we found rising fish, which yielded two more brownies.
Next pool we found more of the same. Broke one off cause the net was in the boat. But shortly after landed another one. My sunglasses came off the retainers and fell into the water mid fight, but we found them tumbling down the side of the pool luckily. Action waned a bit and we finished out the float. My buddy had to head home for work the next morning, but I stuck around for the evening hatch. The pool I was at seemingly had more fisherman than rising fish, but I found a spot that had some risers right in front of me. I stuck one on a hendrickson emerger that ended up being a solid 18" brown. Ended the night by whiffing on much bigger brownie. Thunderstorm rolled in and I got off the water pretty quick. I decided rather than drive 3.5 hours home at 9PM that I would crash at a motel. Smith's in Hancock saved me, luckily they had a room left.
5/18:
Honestly I wasn't sure how it would go. It was sunny and hot with a high of 86F. Quickly I found a solid 18" riser in the next riffle upstream:
I worked the riffle for a bit, had some little guys swipe at my fly but then worked the tailout of the adjacent pool. Found another 16" brownie on the caddis that worked well yesterday. I continued to work up the pool and picked the side that would have the wind at my back, which made casting easier. Rising fish really dropped off by 1.
Kept moving upstream and hit a riffle for the rest of the time I was there. Caught a 15" bow and another 12" brown.
Had a couple of negative experiences with other fisherman. When I got there I waded into a riffle and didn't see someone on the other side of an island, he seemed irked and was staring/pointing at me to his buddy that I was 100-ft up stream. I didn't even make a cast, I was just watching the hatch progress.
Had another dude yell at me from the opposite side of the pool telling me he didn't want me fishing right in front of him when I was easily 150-ft away from him, I could barely hear him lol. He had plenty of space to make a poor 20-ft cast into the wind. It seemed like the tough fishing and heat compounded the grumpiness I found.
Overall the trip was good. Definitely a learning experience for finding fish in difficult conditions at times. I think that next time we go to float the Upper D we will have more success based on what we learned. I was pretty happy with the overall size of fish caught too.
Tom
I wanted to give a report after spending the last 4 days up on the Upper Delaware. I haven't really spent a ton of time on the Upper D, and this was the first time we DIY'd it with floating. I've fished with guides twice and waded a bit on it, but aside from that one could say we were rookies. My buddy has an NRS raft, so we used that to float 3 of the 4 days.
Flows: WB on the drop, 1000ish CFS
Water Temp: Upper 40s, low 50s.
5/15:
We met up in Hancock at the Bat Factory and decided we would float the WB from Balls Eddy down to Shehawken. It was pretty cloudy and pretty cold still that morning in the 40s. We launched at 11AM and made our way down starting with some streamers in the riffles and nymphing until the bugs picked up. We moved some fish on streamers but nothing to net. Continuing downstream the caddis started coming off pretty good and we switched over to dries. We had some pretty solid eats, but still nothing to net. We sat at a pool for an hour so during the caddis hatch but there were so many bugs it made it difficult get fish to eat the fly vs the real thing. Once we got down to Shehawken we popped into Cross Current for the goods. We figured it would be tough with the cold weather, not having the right flies for the caddis that were coming off didn't help either.
After resetting we decided to do a quick evening float on the upper reaches of the WB near where we were staying, and finally had some success. Pretty quickly we got a 15" brownie to eat a hendrickson emerger. Continuing downstream we saw some sporadic rises, that seemed to be smaller fish. I saw a sip in a riffle and made a cast, and hooked into what ended up being the biggest trout of the trip. Not sure on size, as we didn't measure it, but I guessed over 22"+? Hard to tell.
5/16:
We decided to float from Balls Eddy down to Buckingham. It was longer float but we figured eliminating the second float would be a good idea. We put in at 10AM, a little early but we figured we'd be in a good spot for the afternoon hatch. Pretty directly we found rising fish in a riffle. We anchored and waded for them. I had one on but it ran straight for the anchor rope and broke off as I tried to horse him away. Solid fish from the look/feel, maybe 18". My buddy had a big rainbow break him off and I also moved another brown. Continuing downstream we scoped out spots where we saw actively rising fish from the day prior, but nothing. Super intermittent rises but nothing consistent, nor was there a consistent hatch. Once we hit the main stem that's when it got really windy, we were getting blown all over the place in the raft and the fishing blew as well. We did find some actively rising fish but it was short lived. The wind really put the hatch down. We caught the skunk aside from a fall fish. Instead of doing round 2 of the night float, we waded instead from 730PM to 9PM. There was a crazy caddis hatch coming off once we got to the spot. I managed to hook/land a solid 17-18" brown on a caddis emerger. A pasting rain shower killed the hatch off, and we decided to call it.
5/17:
After two days of meh fishing off the boat, we really wanted to have a good day. We put in at Barking Dog and floated down to Balls Eddy on this last float. Fishing started out slow, again. Nymphing was yielding much. We had some shots at rising fish on the bank in the shade but the sun/wind combo was not great. Around 1PM we found rising fish, which yielded two more brownies.
Honestly I wasn't sure how it would go. It was sunny and hot with a high of 86F. Quickly I found a solid 18" riser in the next riffle upstream:
I worked the riffle for a bit, had some little guys swipe at my fly but then worked the tailout of the adjacent pool. Found another 16" brownie on the caddis that worked well yesterday. I continued to work up the pool and picked the side that would have the wind at my back, which made casting easier. Rising fish really dropped off by 1.
Kept moving upstream and hit a riffle for the rest of the time I was there. Caught a 15" bow and another 12" brown.
Had a couple of negative experiences with other fisherman. When I got there I waded into a riffle and didn't see someone on the other side of an island, he seemed irked and was staring/pointing at me to his buddy that I was 100-ft up stream. I didn't even make a cast, I was just watching the hatch progress.
Had another dude yell at me from the opposite side of the pool telling me he didn't want me fishing right in front of him when I was easily 150-ft away from him, I could barely hear him lol. He had plenty of space to make a poor 20-ft cast into the wind. It seemed like the tough fishing and heat compounded the grumpiness I found.
Overall the trip was good. Definitely a learning experience for finding fish in difficult conditions at times. I think that next time we go to float the Upper D we will have more success based on what we learned. I was pretty happy with the overall size of fish caught too.
Tom
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