Upper Delaware River Fly Fishing Report

Weekend Outlook

As is always the case in April the question of the day is will the rain change fishing conditions and keep us off the rivers?

For the Baxter House Guide Staff the answer is no. We thrive in high water and normally have our best days during the crappy weather. Our guides have some openings if you want to get in on the action. Call today for the available openings 607-290-4022

For everyone who wades lets say that April is a challenging month. Today's forecast looks like more rain throughout the day. There is also a chance of showers through the weekend but it is low percentage. With the current forecast the flow rate below are sure to rise a bit. I will keep you posted to the extent of the change. As of this moment the river have not changed at all. They have actually continued to slowly drop flow rate.

Despite the poor forecast the fish are feeding and the early season, high water offers the seasons best crack at truly easy dry fly fish.

Thursday afternoons flows

Friday morning flow

Now on to the fishing.

The fish are active and there are Mayflies and Caddisflies emerging daily! The big brown in the header photo was taken yesterday during a nice Hendrickson emergence on the Delaware. The Streamer bite continues to be good in all of our local rivers. Some big fish are on the hunt at this time. The fat Brown below was taken by guide Luc on a streamer.

The dry fly action is improving daily. Success depends on several factors. The first is finding suitable water for efficient rising activity. This means slow and protected. The second is finding the bugs. Early season Mayflies, Blue Quills, Quill Gordons, and Hendricksons emerge from slow runs with small river cobble. The third is fishing the correct time. These are afternoon insects. Blue quills may be active anytime after 1:00pm or so. Hendrickson's and Gordon's will come a few hours later. This week the peak of activity is between 3:00 and 6:00pm. As the hatches establish further spinners will become a factor each day and eventually extend the active period until near dark.

Yesterday was the lowest flows that we have had in a while. As many expected we can call yesterday a break out day. Big hatches led to widespread surface activity. All of our guides were on the water covering a large area of the Delaware system. Everyone had steady action. Some ran the numbers up. Lots of 16" to 20" Brown Trout. All of the photos below are from yesterday.

Our entire guide staff is booked out today and tomorrow. We do have a few openings on Sunday and next week if you want to get in on the Hendrickson action!

With the high water fly choice is pretty easy since the trout rarely show any selectivity. Hackled traditional dry flies, hackled cripples and hackles spinners are good choices for the current flows. For the snotty browns that sip in back water eddies and in the near still tailouts, Baxter House CDC knock down duns, CDC slow water cripples and CDC emergers are the best choice along with our hackle spinners.

Below a selection of our CDC Knock Down Duns.

A CDC Slow Water Cripple

CDC Mayfly Emergers

Our Hackle WIng Spinners. (#18 shown)

Our CDC Flies are produced in limited numbers each season. Make sure you stop by or shop online before they are gone!

With our guides streamer fishing is an any time of year passion. Right now however the bite is on. The bigger fish are now active and a big meal is what they crave. The fish are on the bigger flies now and they should continue to lash out at big streamers for as long as the water stays high. This week hot patterns have been our Baxter House Peanuts, 5" to 7" Articulated Baitfish, EP Style Baitfish, and Cone-head Zonkers / Zuddlers. Water temps are still in the 40's so quick strips with long pauses seems to work best.

Some of our go to's for early season.

Now that the Insect hatches have started the fishing should remain very good until summer. With each passing week weather and rainfall will have less effect on the overall fishing quality.

Now is the time to plan a trip with our one of our guides. The next 2 weeks will offer great dry fly action and the trout will be pretty easy in the high water. Call today to talk fishing. 607-290-4022