WB Delaware river,. 8/11 - 8/12, Wayne Co PA

[krayfish2]

Overcast with air temps in 63-75 range. Water clear, flow 550 - 590 at Hale gauge. Water temps ranged from upper 40's near the dam to 66-67 at Buckingham.

Friday floated around 11 am til dark was the plan. Around 7 pm, heavy rain moved through blowing me off the river. Saw very few bugs, saw fewer rises and virtually no fishermen. From reports and talking to others, everyone was on top 5 Mike's of the river. I had no interest in crowds or fishing to fish that have been pummeled for the last 6 weeks. I looked for a little more solitude and would take less fish. Did manage one brown just under 19 on a nymph. Anchored on riser, waited 45 minutes but he was done. Threw a cast or two anyhow and then moved on.

Saturday, started early. The rain from the night before ever so slightly bumped the flows and put the very slightest stain in the water Chucked meat for an hour or two. Lost one about 3 casts in. Did manage another 19" fish on a c-peanut. Kept moving, nymphing and looking. Nothing for hours except for a 20 minute blitz of stenos around 10 am. Fish did respond but by the time I changed the leader over, it was done. Picked up one more on a nymph around the 17 3/4" mark. Basically kept moving and rowed out. Kinda disappointing couple of days.

 

[moon1284]

I was there. Fished top of WB Fri and Sat, then bottom of WB on Sun. Fri and Sat I had risers from as soon as it got light until dark. Fri had decent numbers of cahills and potamanthus. The trout were eating the potamanthus (which was the first time I saw that) as well as cahills. We did pretty good - it seemed like almost any fly would work, we got fish on size 22 tricos up to size 12 comparaduns and also some on nymphs and streamers. Sat wasn't as good as friday but was still good, similar to above. Both days we got good fish on streamers right away, but switched to dries when we saw risers.

Sunday was tougher. Not as many risers down low and missed a few on streamers. We hit a couple pods of fish right before Shehawken and got a couple on dries. The nympher in the boat also picked up a couple that way throughout the float.

I see your point about avoiding the top of the river... it is a circus and the fish get pounded.

 

[wbranch]

I saw Andy float by me twice while I sat in front of my cabin chatting with a couple of friends. Very slow, very few bugs or rising fish. Did see quite a few Cahill type bugs on Saturday and Sunday but no eaters. Didn't really fish very much at all, maybe four hours out of three days. Caught one 17" on a streamer and one anemic 13" on a Trico. Saw only 2 or 3 drift boats in three days. I'd rather catch nothing than catch fish surrounded by a dozen other guys.