Fly Fishing Report for the Upper Delaware and Catskill Rivers

WEEKEND OUTLOOK

This weekend looks like it will be our first weekend where the sun will be shining on our rivers. Visiting anglers should have some very pleasant weather to fish in for a change. The action is good and the hatches are heavy and reliable.

Right now river conditions are about perfect. There is good access for both wade fishermen and drift boat anglers. The water temperatures are in the perfect range for our wild trout to be active and aggressive.

This weekend your should have plenty of March Browns and Green Drake patterns. These are the big hatches right now and the fish have been feeding on them heavily. There are also huge hatches of Sulfurs and Blue Sedge right at dark. These insects have been covering the water at times. Over the last few nights there has been heavy spinner activity associated with the smaller sulfur species. These are best imitated by a #16 spinner. There are also patches of activity with the giant Coffinflies and March Brown Spinners but this activity has not yet become widespread. The flight of the giant spinners is due any day now.

The forecast for the next 2 days includes bright sun. This is not the best for daytime hatches so anglers should stay late. Yesterday in the last 2 hours before dark there was a slow drip of insects emerging. When dark came the water covered over with emerging green drakes and the fish went nuts. The aggressive rise forms and slurping are pretty easy to target in the fading light. I expect today to follow a similar script

With the big bugs you should remember to have a 2x or 3x leader for the evening. The big patterns quickly spin and destroy the light leaders that many use for daytime fishing. I have been using 2X on my rods with March Brown and Drake patterns. Stop in the shop we have a great selection of these big dry flies and spinner.

The Beaverkill, Lower East Branch and Main Stem are still having the most divers hatches. The Beaverkill is my top choice. This river has the bugs and over the last few days the action has been world class. Our guides have been splitting the days, walking our guests for a while before floating a smaller specific high activity area for the end of the day. This approach has been keeping our guests rods bent.

Below are some photos from Guide Chris's trip yesterday. Chris was out with some new fly fishermen and they had great action on the Beaverkill

If you are heading out for a full day make sure you cover a lot of water during the non hatch periods. Hitting several riffles will keep you in the action. Late day find a pool below a good section of riffle or pocket water and you will find some fish.

If you like nymphing the non-hatch periods the action is good. One tip for the present is to set your indicators shallow. Suspend your nymphs in the mid to upper water column. At this time all of the trout are looking up.

We are looking forward to some great fishing throughout June this season. The Drakes have not even started on the Upper East and West branches. Give us a call today to get in on the hot action 607-290-4022