Fly Fishing Report for the Upper Delaware and Catskill Rivers

Weekend Outlook

The photos in today's report are Luc and Mike toughing it out in some dreary weather. They hung in through a tough morning but got the job done when the fish woke up and took to the surface!

This weekend is shaping up to offer us Fly Fishermen some great opportunity. It has been rainy the last 2 days and all of our local rivers have risen a bit. All of our waters are still low enough to offer us about unlimited fishing access. Water temperatures are in the range for trout and insects to be active.

If you are planning to fish in the coming days make sure you have some colder weather gear. Even though we have sunny weather coming daytime highs are expected to remain cool. I just got in at dark and it really cooled down rapidly tonight. Over the last few days I have started to see the first signs of color in the mountains and some leaves are falling already.

Right now all of our rivers are the right place to fish. Summer is over and the trout are feeding. I am always pretty specific about where to fish but currently there are no poor choices. It is however still best to nymph fish the areas around the riffles. The best concentration of fish are in the proximity of this water type. The olive activity is best in the slow pools and tailouts. One word of advice, if you see bugs and no risers, move. Sometimes a short move reveals action that you would not have expected to find. In the fall I never stop searching. This is not the sit and wait time of year.

I have been out almost every day lately. The fishing has been very good almost every day but how it happens has been different every trip. The sunny days have been offering great nymphing. The rainy days have seen little action with nymphs but surface action has been steady. There have also been a day here and there where both methods have been producing.

It is best to be prepared to fish in the manner that the conditions and fish demand.

There have been some pretty good flurries of Isonychia activity during the mid afternoon. I have had several days this week where the trout have been blowing up riffles while these big duns are on the water. Just before dark there has been some isolated but very heavy flights of giant Isonychia spinners. Big spinners have been my go to from about 6:00pm until after dark.

Other than the Iso's there is a mix of other insects. Mayflies, Caddisflies and Midges are on the water at random times. There have also been some areas that have seen the fall swarms of flying ants. With that said the most important fly to have from this day on are blue wing olives. This is now the staple in the trouts diet and they are looking for them every day. This is also the most abundant insect in most sections of the river system.

At this time we are rigging several rods on all of our float trips. Our standard setup for subsurface is 3 flies under a float. All of the nymphs we are currently fishing are small. I have been running a #16, #18 and a #20. The bottom 2 flies are pheasant tails or pheasant tail variations designed to imitate the abundant Olives.

I am also rigging a second nymph rod with a 14' to 16' leader tapered to 6X tippet. This has 2 tiny nymphs. This rig gets a tiny stick on indicator (midgeacator) about 6" from the first nymph. This rig is for the fussy trout in crystal clear pools that cruise and feed from a suspended position.

For the surface activity I have 2 rods rigged. First is a 12' leader to 4X with my Isonychia Cripple. This is pretty much our searching pattern for the next month or so. The second rod is set with about 16' to 18' of leader to 6X. This is the olive rod. I mix it up between CDC knock Down Duns, Cripples and Traditional Catskill Style flies.

These setups will be standard on my boat for the next 2 months.

From now until the weather shuts us down is a special time in the Upper Delaware. This is a time where the fish do not waste time. If there are insect on the water trout will be eating. If you have not yet fished these great waters at olive time check out the show we did last year right around this time.

you can view it at the web address below.

http://www.onthewater.com/video/weeks-water-adventures-online-episode-trout-town-usa/

We are now taking booking for now through November. This is a great time to float the Upper Delaware River System.

We are also booking Salmon River and Lake Ontarion Tributary fishing.

If you are looking to get away this winter we are also booking flats and back country fishing in Tampa Bay. This season I will be fishing Florida from Nov.5 through April 15

Call us today to book your next fly fishing adventure 607-290-4022