West branch and Main Stem of the Delaware 4/19-4/20

[Jimbot]

4/19 Fished the west branch into the main stem...took out at Buckingham. Fished from 7.30 am to 6pm. Small tan caddis coming off all day. But no rising fish. Then bam! 2.30pm Blue quill hatch. Size 18 to 20. Many rising fish. We took two on a bwo parachute and a bwo cdc comparadun. As the hatch went on and began to diminish some Hendricks showed up, but very few. Great day on the water!

4/20 . Went to bed pumped to fish the blue quill spinner fall, but heavy rain over night + huge releases = High and muddy. Should have fished the east branch. Fished streamers all day...a few bumps but no luck. At the end of the float we saw some alewives. Dead drifted a white wooly bugger to no avail.

 

[Jimbot]

I have to make a correction...they were not hendricks....they must have been quill gordons....big ones.

 

[tym063]

Question: Do you have your own boat or do you rent? If rent, from whom? Also, who assists with car/pick up?

Have been considering a float trip there, but would need to rent a drift boat. Any advice as to who provides quality/boats service, and where to put in/take out would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[afishinado]

tym063 wrote:
Question: Do you have your own boat or do you rent? If rent, from whom? Also, who assists with car/pick up?

Have been considering a float trip there, but would need to rent a drift boat. Any advice as to who provides quality/boats service, and where to put in/take out would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Tyler

The West Branch Angler rents drift boats with a drop-in and pick-up service.

http://www.westbranchresort.com/drift-boat-rentals/

 

[foxtrapper1972]

One more tip for the new boaters out there...The best time to rent a drift boat for the first time is when the river is full of wading anglers and other drift boats and other watercraft....Sometime around mid May on a weekend.

 

[afishinado]

foxtrapper1972 wrote:
One more tip for the new boaters out there...The best time to rent a drift boat for the first time is when the river is full of wading anglers and other drift boats and other watercraft....Sometime around mid May on a weekend.

They hate kings, they hate priests, they hate soldiers, they hate sailors. They distrust men of science, they denounce the middle classes, they despair of working men, but they adore humanity. Only they always speak of humanity as if it were a curious foreign nation…They are ceasing to be human in the effort to be humane.

G. K. Chesterton

 

[foxtrapper1972]

afishinado-The guys at west branch anglers like everybody....whatchu talkinbout?

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
? G.K. Chesterton,

 

[Jimbot]

Tym

I pmed you.

 

[MarkC]

If you do rent / drift / fish the river in late May early June:

Launch in the morning – some of my best fishing this time of year is from first 7 AM till noon. Most guides don’t launch before 12 PM as they tend to stay until dark. You may have relaxed rising fish and water to yourself. Some of the best drake hatches and spinner falls I’ve fished happen in the morning not to mention the clockwork caddis hatches.

Fish down river If the temps allow – The fish upriver can get very stale from the constant harassment, especially if the water is low, below Long Eddy there are less fish and less fisherman, below Callicoon (temp permitting) the pools may only hold a handful of trout but no fisherman.

Don’t float the West Below 800 CFS at this time of the year – you can run the river at 500 but you’re going to be getting up close and personal to lots of wading folks especially towards dusk during prime time.

Mark C