Upper Delaware Fly Fishing Report
Over the Weekend we had pretty good action on all of our guided trips. Late Friday a much heavier release started from Cannonsville Reservoir which is still ongoing.
The West Branch and Main Stem are now Bank full and running with varying degrees of turbidity. The turbidity is heavy up in the West and it lessens the further you go downstream. Overall the turbidity has made the Dry Fly fishing a bit easier and it has the streamer bite back on in the areas of heavy turbidity. Below is a nice streamer Brown from yesterday
On yesterday's float we had a half dozen Browns in the 18" range come to net and we had about double that take the streamer that were lost in the heavy current.
Anglers planning to fish the West should remember that the Uppermost section of the river is now closed for the year. Anglers can fish from the Border Waters are downstream at this time.
All of our recent trips have had very good Nymph and Dry Fly activity. Recently we had our first few trips in a long while where the better part of the day was spent on setting up on steadily rising Trout. I love the initial days of this amazing hatch because most of the trout we have been fishing have been quickly fooled with our tiny BWO Knock Down Duns. Yesterday we had some amazing fishing taking three 18"+ Wild Rainbows on # 18 Olives. Two of these fish had us into the backing in seconds.
This action should be steady now right up to the point where the river freezes or it becomes too unpleasant to be outside.
The action is pretty wide spread as far as the insect hatching. The fishing however is best in a few locations.
The East Branch has it's typical highly challenging dry fly activity daily. At this time you should be able to find great match the hatch action from shortly after noon until around 6:00 pm. On these waters we normally use 15 foot+ leaders to 6X tippet and fish #18 and #20 CDC knock down duns and cripples.
The Main Stem is also fishing well despite the really low water. This is where our guides have been on most days. All of the deeper pools are holding lots of trout at this time. Over the last few days the trout have been getting on the Olives as soon as they appear and making the most of the hatch.
There is no problem finding steady risers at this time if you keep moving and look carefully for the gentle rise forms. Anglers should also note that quite often Main Stem Trout will move into water that is super shallow and barely moving to feed. . You should not discount any surface rise at this time. Anglers should also keep a close eye on the riseforms to see if any fins or tails can be seen breaking the waters surface. This is normal Rainbow Trout behavior and it will keep you from casting to fallfish and other non target species.
On the Main Stem we most often stick with our CDC knock down duns and Cripple patterns. With the heavier water here we will also choose some hackled duns as well. At this time a traditionl Catskill style Dry Fly in #18 is hard to beat.
If you are heading out stop by our fly shop. We have all of the patters for success in stock.
We are pretty booked up through the next week but there are a few openings available is you want to get out. We start to get more available dates towards teh end of teh month and into early November. Give us a call today to plan your next Upper Delaware Fly Fishing Trip. 607-290-4022
We are also now taking advance bookings for flats and back country fishing in Florida. If you are heading south this winter give us a call to plan a great day on the water. Snook, Tarpon, Redfish and Trout
