Delaware River - West Branch, NY Fishing Report

The very mild winter has led us to some excellent early season fishing. Right now all of our local river are a bit low and water temperatures are in the mid 50s. The Upper Delaware Trout are already active due to the warm weather and we have seen rising fish in every local river over the last few weeks.

A lot of anglers have been calling asking if the hatches are going to be early this year due to the quickly spreading word of rising Trout. The best answer is maybe but not by more than a week or so. What is very different about this year is that our local waters are in the correct temperature range for Trout to be aggressive in March. Normally the Trout are very lethargic and lying in deep pools because of the ice cold water.

Most every year we see Mayflies right around April 1 and we normally take our first dry fly Trout right around this date. This year there are people here fishing far earlier than ever before so their perception is that things are accelerated.

Friday I got out and floated the Main Stem for a few hours. I had Joe Fox and Jeff Portz on the boat and we had several hours of quality match the hatch dry fly fishing. The best action was from mid afternoon and there were still rising fish when we pulled out just before dark.

We had tons of stoneflies and caddisflies on the water and there were some mayflies in the mix as well. There were both large and small dark stoneflies on the water and in the air throughout the day. The Mayflies we identified were Blue Quills, Quill Gordons and a few Red Quills. The Trout were not really selective but the rainbows were really cruising for food in the slower pools.

We had no problem fooling the Trout with CDC styled Caddis and Parachute Mayfly imitations. For our first float of the season we put about a half dozen Rainbows and Browns in the net and lost a few more. All of the Trout we took were big quality fish. Our smallest was about 15" and we Measured one really thick Bow at a little more than 18".

Over the last few days some heavy rainfall has moved through the Upper Delaware region. At the current time all of our rivers are high and off color. There is no wadable water at this time. It will take a few dry days to drop our rivers back to wadeable levels again.

The only game in town at this time is drift boat fishing. The current water conditions are too high for any surface activity so streamer fishing is the best bet at this time.

Over the last few days our guests have been having decent fishing in the high water. We are not moving large numbers of fish on streamers but the Trout we have been taking have been big! Yesterday we had 5 fish, four of which measured over 20 inches. I will post a few pictures tomorrow.

All Upper Delaware rivers are back in good fishable flow ranges at this time. Over the last week the fishing has been very good in most places. Over this time period fishing pressure has been nonexistent. At this time most of the Upper Delaware is like private water.

Over the last few days our guests have had great fishing over a wide range of areas. On all of our recent trips our guests have been able to take Trout on Streamers, Nymphs and Dry Flies! On yesterdays trip the nymph fishing was awesome and after an hour or two we lost track of how many fish we coming to net.

At this time the hot Surface action has returned in some areas. On our last few trips there have been huge Trout feeding steadily on the Abundant Isonychia, Cahills and Olives. At this time the hatches are not the huge blanket type hatches you sometimes see in the spring but there is just enough insects to keep the Trout looking up for a few hours each day.

All Upper Delaware rivers are back in good fishable flow ranges at this time. Over the last week the fishing has been very good in most places. Over this time period fishing pressure has been nonexistent. Yesterday on my way to the East Branch I drove the length of the Beaverkill and saw only one angler over its entire length. At this time the most of the Upper Delaware is like private water.

The East and West Branches are still a bit high. They are best fished by drift boat but wade angles will find some opportunity especially in the slower pools.

At this time anglers will find success fishing surface flies, nymphs and streamers.

The Branches of the Delaware are in a range that we love for streamer fishing. We have a few openings mid week in the next 2 weeks.

Both the East and West Branches are fishing well with streamer flies. All of our recent trips have produced many Trout in the 20" range. There is some surface activity at times but the Trout I have seen rising have been mostly smaller fish.

The Branches of the Delaware are in a range that we love for streamer fishing. We have a few openings mid week in the coming days.

Blown out from heavy rain. Better luck next week.

Good Fishing, good Insect activity, Algae in drift. High Water, Turbidity, Some algae in drift

Flows are coming back down. Should be great in time for the weekend! 

Blown out, but may be fishable as early as tomorrow.

Good Fishing, good Insect activity, Algae in drift. Summer Flow, Clear, Some algae in drift

Good Fishing, good Insect activity Summer Flow, Clear, Some algae in drift

Good Fishing, good Insect activity Summer Flow, Clear, Some algae in drift

Good Fishing, good Insect activity Summer Flow, Clear, Some algae in drift

Good Fishing, good Insect activity Summer Flow, Clear, Some algae in drift

Flow: 1590 cfs.

Temp: 50

Good Fishing, good Insect activity High Water

Flow: 585 cfs

Temp: 50

Good Fishing, good Insect activity Mid to Low Flow, Clear, Cold