West Branch Delaware @ Deposit

hooker-of-men

hooker-of-men

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Currently ADK; formerly DWG
I have a house for the weekend in Deposit. I've never fished the West Branch, so I don't entirely know what to expect. Been wondering about two things:

1) Is dodging redds in the main river going to be a major concern, or will browns mostly be moving up tribs to get sexy?

2) Do I need to put much work into researching wadeable access? The house is on the river and I see flows are low, but I don't know what that means in practice. Is the river up there mostly like a long wadeable riffle or are there many deep pools you can't work through? Ideally, I'm hoping I can just drink beers and stumble about wherever, but I'll obviously drive around and put in work if I must.

Thanks!
 
Well first off I hope you don't drink and drive but there is a nice fly shop right in Deposit at the motel and the owner can give you all the current info you will need. There is often good fishing right below Deposit bridge. Also a mile above Deposit at Stilesville is a nice access with good, wadeable water. If levels are low you will find plenty of wadeable water all up and down river. I still like a wading staff at any level. Good luck.
 
The river is a typical riffle, run, pool setup.
At the current flows it is pretty much wadable everywhere. I have fished it recently everywhere from Deposit all the way to the Main Stem below Hancock. At the current flows, the pools are very slow drifts and it’s tough to fool the fish. Deeper water will be your best bet.

Agree with the post above to stop in at Troutfitter and talk to Dave who will give you the current situation. He is a great guy!

Here are a few maps to help you out on the location of access points. Happy to discuss by PM if you like.

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I thought the season closed on the NY portion of the river on Oct 15th? Has that changed?
 
jgish92 said:
I thought the season closed on the NY portion of the river on Oct 15th? Has that changed?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the PFBC has poisoned the minds of the NY DEC and season no longer closes. Good news is that it's so brutal up there in the winter, not a lot of fishing will happen between December and end of March.

Wait until people get caught ripping fish on redds and it will be a shartshow
 
hooker-of-men said:
I have a house for the weekend in Deposit. I've never fished the West Branch, so I don't entirely know what to expect. Been wondering about two things:

1) Is dodging redds in the main river going to be a major concern, or will browns mostly be moving up tribs to get sexy?

2) Do I need to put much work into researching wadeable access? The house is on the river and I see flows are low, but I don't know what that means in practice. Is the river up there mostly like a long wadeable riffle or are there many deep pools you can't work through? Ideally, I'm hoping I can just drink beers and stumble about wherever, but I'll obviously drive around and put in work if I must.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the house that you're renting is right there on main Street and probably about 5-7 doors up for my buddy's house.

If you have access to the river behind the house, just go fish there. It will be filled with fish. There are several other access points as others mentioned. Stilesville, Hale, Gamelands, etc. There's also several access points on the main stem. I saw some pictures yesterday of blanket hatches on the main stem. Tiny olives but it's still a blanket hatch.

If you are not sure about accessing the River from where you park, don't do it. Just about everything up there is private property except for the access points. Once you get to the river you can wade up and down as far as you care to. Just don't trespass getting in or out of the water.
 
Thanks. I'll be what looks to be the other direction, south of town on River Rd. I don't plan to access anywhere other than where I've been told on the property and the access sites people are suggesting. (I also don't plan to drive drunk, beat my wife and children, pay my taxes delinquently, or perform any other transgressions that might be inferred from my initial post.)

Any insight into how alert I should be about the redds question at this point? Having lived in NY for the past few years and spent a handful of of winters fishing only the 2 or 3 rivers with catch and release sections, I am quite fine with the DEC's minds being poisoned. However, I promise to be careful with the precious Delaware River fishes.
 
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There are fish on theyer redds now . But a little drive down to the lower east and main between 1:30-4 pm you should see bows on tiny olives ... If you look
 
No Reds!!! When the water hits 40 degrees then you worry about reds AKA gravel. They don't spawn till sometime December normally. Water is 52 degrees. At most they are doing the pre-spawn dance.
 
There are fish on theyer redds now . But a little drive down to the lower east and main between 1:30-4 pm you should see bows on tiny olives ... If you
mtelesha said:
No Reds!!! When the water hits 40 degrees then you worry about reds AKA gravel. They don't spawn till sometime December normally. Water is 52 degrees. At most they are doing the pre-spawn dance.
Click to expand...
A guy I know floated Hale to Shehawkin saw loads of redd's Sunday 10/30/2022.....lower gamelands just to name one spot .... So maybe he didn't see loads of redd's or the trout haven't calibrated theyer thermometer 🌡️
 
The water was 60 on Saturday. They are not laying eggs.i would even say that they have maybe just started producing the eggs. I had a friend who was a fish biologists in my Trout Unlimited club and he would say that their are never any eggs till the water has reached 40 degrees for several days.
 
One thing you did ask that I forgot to respond to....
Redds where?
While you typically expect the fish to access feeders, a surprisingly high number of fish spawn in the main river...at least the browns do.

Sent a buddy up to lower gamelands a few years back in mid October and fish were already paired up and getting to business. Not too many spawning yet but some should have started.

What's backwards this time of year is that you will find the warmest water closest to the dams. They should be a little more active at 53 degrees vs 43 degrees.

Weather should be warm for this time of year. Wind and leaves are your real enemies.

Upper gamelands to deposit should be 99% browns this time of year. Lower WB and main should be more rainbows. If you have not hooked any of those, you owe it to yourself to get a few. They are amazing fighters. With less pressure this time of year, you probably can walk out 10 ft in front of the Buckingham ramp and have rising fish. I wouldn't bother with the lower East there's not much in there other than walleye and shad 😁. Ramp area at Buckingham, 191 bridge, cemetery on the main or Lordville and walk up a half mile or lower Beaverkill
 
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krayfish2 said:
One thing you did ask that I forgot to respond to....
Redds where?
While you typically expect the fish to access feeders, a surprisingly high number of fish spawn in the main river...at least the browns do.

Sent a buddy up to lower gamelands a few years back in mid October and fish were already paired up and getting to business. Not too many spawning yet but some should have started.

What's backwards this time of year is that you will find the warmest water closest to the dams. They should be a little more active at 53 degrees vs 43 degrees.

Weather should be warm for this time of year. Wind and leaves are your real enemies.

Upper gamelands to deposit should be 99% browns this time of year. Lower WB and main should be more rainbows. If you have not hooked any of those, you owe it to yourself to get a few. They are amazing fighters. With less pressure this time of year, you probably can walk out 10 ft in front of the Buckingham ramp and have rising fish. I wouldn't bother with the lower East there's not much in there other than walleye and shad 😁. The Jaws in the town of east branch might be worth an hour or two.
Click to expand...
Many thanks! I don't care what they say about you around here; you're top notch in my book.
 
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