Fly Fishing Report for the Upper Delaware and Catskill Rivers

Weekend Outlook

Surprise, More Rain Yesterday. It looks like the autumn of 2018 is going to be remembered as a high water event. Great for anglers who fish from drift boats and challenging for those who wade.

Autumn is in the air here. The mountains are starting to show some beautiful colors and leaves have been falling. Our local trout are active and there are plenty of insects emerging to bring the fish to the surface. This is great news for anyone with a drift boat.

The big question for wade anglers is when will the rain take a long enough break for the river flows to drop to fish-able levels. At the current flow rates there is some opportunity. This weekend the Willoemoc, Beaverkill and Upper East branch have some high water wading opportunity. The best access is in the slower pools and more specifically in the tail outs of these pools. The good news is that this is the exact place that the Trout are feeding the best. Most all of the surface feeding is now in the lower sections of the slowest pools.

If you fish from drift boats the fishing is very good. Every day recently has offered plenty of opportunity with both streamer flies and dry flies. The last few days my guests have been killing it. We have been running the numbers up with juvenile Brown and Rainbow trout. Every day we have also been getting lots of opportunity with fish in the 16" to 18" range. Yesterday and the day before we had over a half dozen of these larger fish each day.

Below are some recent shots of our guests

The water has been covering over with Blue WIng Olives. Sulfurs, Cahills, and Isonychia are also on the water in good numbers. There is also a good amount of caddisfly activity but I have not seen these flies play any important role on the surface. Despite the high water the trout are still feeding well. Our guides are targeting the super slow pools and finding plenty of action. I have had several days recently where every trout in the pool has been gorging themselves on small olives. With the higher water, fooling them has been pretty easy. On all of my recent trips where we have fished dry fly, getting the takes has been pretty guaranteed.

Over the last few days there has been a big increase in the amount of Isonychia emerging. We are now in the big autumn hatch of these big insects. This action will last a solid week or two before waning slowly. The last 2 days we have been fishing the bigger Iso's with great success. The fish are also becoming more responsive to blind fishing these during the non hatch periods.

The streamer bite has now been steady for a month. It goes from good to better as the turbidity increases. It has been good even when the water is clear. Our guests have been taking some real beasts. With the new blast of water the next few days should be great. I still have tomorrow open if anyone wants to get out.

Now is the time to give us a call for a float trip. Our guides have been out daily and will put you right on the action. I personally have a few mid week openings available before I head to Florida. Our guide staff will be available through November.

Give us a call today to plan your next float 607-290-4022