Fly Fishing Report for the Upper Delaware and Catskill Rivers

A Brown and A Rainbow from this weekend. Lots of action on Nymphs!

As we head into summer the Trout fishing in the Upper Delaware normally falls into a steady reliable routine. Most days there is some surface activity during the early morning hours. The majority of the activity occurs in late afternoon and evening. Sulfurs and Blue WIng Olives will be the main food items now. Isonychia and Cahills will be the larger insects that will be available at times. Overall however changes to conditions will be far less important than during the spring period which brings change on an almost daily basis.

With that said I will shift my reporting to 3 to 4 times per week rather than daily. For now I wil be posting new information Monday, Wednesday and Friday. IN the event of major changes to river conditions look for updates both here and on Facebook.

THE REPORT.

This weekend we continued with great fishing in some places while other areas have crapped out a bit. First the bad, The Upper East has gone from hot to not. The help from mother nature expired this week as dry weather stopped the reservoir from spilling over and we witnessed the reality of the DRBC's paltry release plan. The water is low and the big fish have scattered to the areas with depth. Hatches are decent near dark. There is also a brief afternoon sulfur emergence in some areas. At this time most of the Trout rising here are juvenile as the big boys are full from the Drake activity. This is normal for this river and we see this happen every summer.

Just about everywhere else is fishing well. I was on the Main Stem most days last week and can report incredible nymph fishing. My guests have been easily averaging about a dozen fishe per person on our nymph rigs. Some of fish have been pretty impressive mature wild rainbows that are out of control once you come tight on them.

The dry fly activity has been a pick during the day. If you look hard you can find some action. You need to look hard along the banks and anywhere that food funnels into a smaller lane. There are a lot of these areas on the Big "D" and most hold a fish that slowly eats all day long.

As is normal here the river starts to show signs of feeding activity in the last hour before dark. The peak of activity always center around the time where most of us find it difficult to see.

Isonychias are on the water and some Cahills are about near dark. I have been getting some action blind fishing the Iso during the day but the action pales next to the instant results on the nymph rigs. It is however a productive method for those who don;t care to nymph.

Anglers should also be aware that any trip to the Delaware at this time is going to include Shad. The run this year was heavy and there are thousands of the ocean run fish about. Most every pool is full of them at this time. IN their current post spawn condition they are eating everything. small Dry Flies and Nymphs are being taken and in most cases before the trout can get near your fly. At this time the shad are dominating most of the huge slow pools and eddies.

We have been targeting them each day especially when we have guests who have never taken them on the fly. These shad are hard fighters and are great sport on 5 weight rods.

On the surface small Spinners work best. Sub surface we remove our strike indicators and strip our nymph rigs quickly just below the surface. Most bead head nymphs will work as long as they are small. A #16 is about right. It is easy to sight fish them as they are swimming around with their fins out of the water.

The Beaverkill and Lower East are also fishing well with both Nymphs and Dry Flies at the appropriate times. The action is around the fast water for both and some great fish have been feeding.. There have been good amounts of Isonychia here and the fish love these flies.

As we start to hit the warmer weather we should all be aware of the water temperatures on the freestone rivers. At this time the conditions are good but super hot days can change a section of river quickly.

Last night and this morning some pretty heavy thunder storms have come through the region. More are forecast for later today and some quick rising water is possible if the forecast is correct. We can expect turbidity wherever storms hit. The Beaverkill has light turbidity at this time. I expect localized turbidity to be present in most area with lots of tributaries.

Our guide schedule is starting to open up a bit if you would like to get out for a trip. We are continuing with offering full day trips for Trout and starting July 1 we will add Smallmouth Bass as an option for full days as well. At this time we are offering our popular evening floats for Dry Fly fishing for Trout and Late night mouse and streamer trips. Callus today to book your next adventure.