West Branch Delaware River, PA, 9/4/21

[dennisl]

750 CFS @ Hale Eddy
Water temp in the mid 50s
Air temp in the upper 60s
Fished from 8:30 to 5pm

Sunny, no wind, very few clouds
The water was a little dirty

Midges (guessing sz 24) hatched in the morning but saw no rises. Occasionally a bigger mayfly would float by but couldn't see what they were.

It wasn't a productive day at all for me. Maybe my worst ever on the West Branch. I fished the Upper Game Lands, Hale Eddy (lots of algae and debris here), 191 bridge in Hancock, and Shehawken.

Caught one smaller rainbow on a sz 18 Pheasant Tail and had another fish go for my fly on the swing below the 191 bridge.

Tried pheasant tails, rainbow warriors, frenchies, various caddis, stoneflies, glo bugs, mop flies, isonychias. No luck. I had one fish come up and look at my indicator so I decided to throw an iso dry in the riffles for a while but nothing.

The water was so fast and deep in the usual spots so I fished really deep. Maybe that was my mistake?

 

[Rainier42]

Thanks for the report, am planning on heading up to the West Branch tomorrow.

 

[wbranch]

My wife and I floated on the 4th from Balls Eddy to Shehawken. We put in at noon (not the best time) and took out at 4:45. Just a gorgeous day on the river. Only saw two other drift boats and a few kayaks. We let them all get ahead of us.

I may of seen dennisl nymphing on the NY side of the 191 bridge. I saw one good rise directly opposite the BE ramp but it wouldn't eat. I caught one tiny brown with parr marks on a #22 olive. I never saw another rise.

Later around 6:30 we were sitting out by the river and fish were rising well in my home pool. Going up today (Tuesday) until Friday. If anyone is going up and wants to float PM me and I will check my messages periodically.

 

[dennisl]

wbranch wrote:
My wife and I floated on the 4th from Balls Eddy to Shehawken. We put in at noon (not the best time) and took out at 4:45. Just a gorgeous day on the river. Only saw two other drift boats and a few kayaks. We let them all get ahead of us.

I may of seen dennisl nymphing on the NY side of the 191 bridge. I saw one good rise directly opposite the BE ramp but it wouldn't eat. I caught one tiny brown with parr marks on a #22 olive. I never saw another rise.

Later around 6:30 we were sitting out by the river and fish were rising well in my home pool. Going up today (Tuesday) until Friday. If anyone is going up and wants to float PM me and I will check my messages periodically.

Oh hey! I think I saw you guys take out at Shehawken. I was fishing the riffles right by the ramp around that time.

 

[Rainier42]

Spent the day wading/nymphing on the West Branch yesterday. Parked at Balls Eddy and went upstream to the riffle at the start of the pool. Have caught small Rainbows in this section but had no hits and saw no rises. Then hiked downstream to the large riffle at the end of the pool. Worked this entire section as best I could down to the next pool. Caught one small brown holding by a rock and a much larger brown in a side channel.

Saw numerous drift boats working the NY bank and middle river but did not see anyone catch anything.

 

[wbranch]

Yes, that was us. I was having trouble getting the Hyde onto the trailer.