Delaware Trip 9/1

[C&R]

Waded the WB with sstasiak yesterday 11am-730pm. First time for both of us.

Short version of this report:
We didn't catch anything. I had a few nice strikes in the Gamelands riff using a hare's ear with a pseudo emerger on a dropper (both of which I tied, so it felt kinda good). Not sure if Steve had any strikes b/c we weren't always within sight of each other.

Longer version:
After a 2h15min drive, and a stop in Al's shop for some info, we started out at the upper access area of the PA gamelands. Quite a hike to get to the river but we managed. Only one guy was fishing Oil Derrick pool (why is it called that?). Saw a few risers but were too far away to get a good cast to. Wind was a major factor. It was pretty gusty and it came and went periodically. I had to resort to nymphs because my presentation was just lousy with the wind and the current in the pool. No lookers on dries. We walked upstream to the Gamelands riff (nice area, especially the far bank at this flow). This was where I had my hits. Couldn't tell which fly the strikes were on (my nymph or emerger). After a while (1pm or so) we started to walk back to the pool where we started at and noticed about 10 or so fishermen. At this point fish were really rising, but it was too crowded for us to get in there. Pseudos (20-22) were sparsely in the air and I saw an Iso (12-14) here and there.

We decided to go to the lower gamelands access area at this point. We fished this area until about 3pm with no risers seen and no luck in the riffs. So we decided to go downstream to Ball's Eddy access. No one there. Water was still as a pond. We looked up and downstream and decided it was too far to hike in either direction. So we headed to our next stop, Shehawken. Worked upstream in the riffs a few hundred yards. Again no action. Started seeing more and more Isos. Decided to try the Stockport access. We had heard about the guy that owns that surrounding property, and to be quite honest, felt very uneasy walking down river road to the access area. Private property signs every two feet. We saw that the water looked just like it did at Shehawken, so we decided that our best bet was to hit a big pool for the late evening activity. As we were leaving a pickup truck pulled in. It must have been the owner b/c he pulled into the driveway of the house. Didn't even look at us as he passed us by. After leaving there, we tried to find Junction Pool on the PA side, but then realized that there probably was no public access. Now that I think about it, we had already passed it up at that point.

So...we headed over to the NY side. We passed up Bard Parker Rd (we recognized the name though) and a few miles up the road realized that that was probably the access to Junction Pool. Turned around and found it. Got there a little after 5pm. Saw that the junction of the WB/EB was taken by pontoon boats, a drift boat, and a wader, so we decided to walk downstream. The glare on the water from the sun setting was unbearable. Just as I was about to call it quits at 7pm, Steve found a riffle that had fish rising like crazy. There was even a big one making huge splashes. We tied on everything we had. No takers. Called it quits at 7:30 and headed home. Back in my driveway before 10pm in my bug splattered SUV.

All in all, it was a good day (except for the wind) to be out. We had fun. Would have been nice to at least hookup with at least one fish. We weren't discouraged and will definitely go back soon. Hopefully drift w/ someone. In fact I'd probably only want to drift b/c so much of the river is publicly unaccessable by wading. The only consolation that we had was that not one person hooked a fish the whole day either. I guess this is what they mean when they say "the WB is fishing good."

 

[RedTag2000]

Dont get discuraged (I dont think You are), WB is not the easiest water to fish, and this time of the season where small insect dominate the hatches is probably the toughest time to start fishing WB. You will do MUCH better in the spring (May-June), believe me. Actually one of the most enjoyable thing for me on WB is actually the challange of catching wild fish, this challange makes You want to come back. I am no expert either, fairly new to WB fishing (4th season), and each year I notice more and more patterns of what works and when, I think You will as well. I'll let the more experienced guys here chime in and maybe give You some pointers. Look at it this way, You will really appreciate the first trout You catch there, just like Your first fish on the fly rod, remember that feeling? And when You are able to catch at least two trout on the same pattern on the same day, You then can pat You own back, that is a sign You are doing something right
Good Luck.

P.S Glad to here You guys took the extra care to respect other fisherman's space and private properties. Always glad to hear anglers like that are joining WB crowd.

 

[Fly Tier]

C&R,
Sounds like you covered a lot of areas and had a learning trip. Don't get turned off by the lack of Catching! Definetely hit those rivers earlier on in the year, before the fish get pounded! Its tough this time of year, especially for a first timer.

 

[NJFred]

Well it is very tough up there now. But I think you learned alot and got a chance to see why so many do love the system.

 

[sstasiak]

Well I must say it was a very humbling experience fishing the WB. Usually when I find rising fish, I always have some action(whether it be a strike or refusal). Not this time. There were a decent amount of fish rising all around us and nothing worked. I couldn't figure out what the fish were rising to. There were a lot of little flies all round with some iso's, pseudo's, and a large(size 12) white mayfly that I didn't recognize. Does anyone know what this white mayfly is? I figured the fish were either rising to the smaller flies or the emergers that were rising to the surface. If the fish were rising to emergers trying to break the surface, would they be making big splashes on the surface? The reason I ask is because I was throwing mostly dries but after we left I was wondering if they were rising to emergers at the surface. What is the iso's lifecycle like? Is there a spinner fall shortly after their hatch? Sorry about all the questions, just trying to get some useful info for next time. Although we got skunked I had a great time getting familiar with the area and fishing a larger river like this for the first time. Looking forward to going back.

 

[Fly Tier]

Steve,
The White mayflies where probably White flys if you saw them lower on the river.
If fish were taking surface flies, they could just be sippint them, making small dimples. Emergers, you would see dorsal, tail, dorsal, tail. My guess if there were psuedo's on the water and you couldn't see what they were taking, it was probably psuedos. Than again, I wasn't there so thats just a guess.

Iso is Nymph (swimming), emerger, dun, spinner. Spinner fall can be a few days later.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Rising Fish Forms [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Many fly fishermen leave the stream frustrated thinking "what was that trout taking?". Learning how to "read" rising fish forms is important for distinguishing what trout are feeding on. It will help the dry fly angler to understand whether a trout is feeding on an emerger, dun, or spinner. Here are a few ways to tell what stage of a mayfly trout are feeding upon. [/font]

1. [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Emerger...[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When a trout is feeding on an emerger, the first thing to remember is that most emergers are drifting by just subsurface. Trout usually do not show their head when feeding upon them. A trout showing its dorsal fin then tail followed by the fish pushing down creating a bulge, boil, or splashy take is a good indication it is feeding on an emerger. These takes can be both subtle or aggressive. Some emergers come down in large numbers drifting close to the surface . These emergers are usually fed upon in a rhythmic fashion. Emergers such as March Browns which come down in fewer numbers and quickly rise to the surface are often taken in an aggressive manor. [/font]
2. [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Duns...Larger duns, when taken, are characterized by an obvious head- dorsal-tail rise. The word obvious is used because trout need to poke their head out farther to get their mouth over the larger size fly. Sometimes with smaller duns, it is difficult to tell whether a trout is taking a dun or spinner. A fish showing its head, dorsal, then tail is usually taking a dun, but not always. They do also take spinners with a head, dorsal, and tail rise, but it is very often more subtle. Paying attention to the water and seeing what insects are coming down in the largest numbers will often distinguish what a trout is taking. [/font]
3. [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Spinners...Spinners are one of the most productive flies on large rivers with good hatches. Because spinners are dead and lay flat on the water they present an easy meal for trout, which in most cases, they can not resist. A trout feeding on spinners will take head, dorsal, then tail, but at other times will just dimple taking the vulnerable meal. The rise is incredibly subtle, and the size of the fish beneath the rise is often surprisingly big. Large wild trout love spinners, as they can expend the least amount of energy. A trout taking spinners will feed similar to a fish taking duns. Trial and era is best when your still not quite sure. Just remember to look for the more subtle rise usually found in the tail of a pool or flat water. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Learning how to distinguish rising fish forms will increase your dry fly fishing success. Most anglers who have put their time in have an understanding of rising fish forms and can identify what the fish is taking 90% of the time. Watch the fish carefully, and select flies accordingly. Being able to cut a lot of the trial and era out will increase the time you fish with the correct fly.
[/font]

 

[wizi]

C&R,
Its tough this time of year, especially for a first timer.

Oh well, I will be visiting the WB in a couple of weeks for a few days as well... Hope I will hook into at least one...

 

[NJFred]

The only thing I can add is from my experience last week. Fish were eating Psuedo duns (I saw a lot of fish clearly eating them) at least from about 5:30 til dark. Many, Many bugs. Even if the trout was completely fooled I figure it was a 1 out of 7 chance they'd eat my bug! Many duns on the water size 24 or so some large pushing a small 20 perhaps. I managed 2 fish each evening but it was a fish every 100 casts or so. They were also very, very persnickady. I did try emergers but got exactly zero interest.

How small did you go? Size can be very important in this sort of a situation.

 

[sstasiak]

I must admit I was a little underprepared as far as my fly selection went. I didn't have many pseudo patterns/sizes to choose from. I definitely learned my lesson though. The smallest size I had was I think 18 and 20, but not many patterns. For iso emergers, I used a size 12 zug bug(that's what the guy at the fly shop recommended for iso emergers) and also had zero results. Next time I fish waters like this where I was well informed that the fish can be picky I will make sure to have what i need to catch fish.

 

[oasis man]

...plus watch your drag!!

Another important point: an absolutely drag free presentation is a must if you are to fool a WB wild trout. I have fished the WB for 15 years now, and just last week I had another lesson in how important this point is. I needed a combination reach/pile cast to get the drag free float that was necessary for a take.
I many times wonder is the fishermen who are casting over 40" feet of line to reach a remote fish are really capable of presenting the fly with zero drag at that distance. Of course, if I see them catch a fish, the answer is...yes!
OM

 

[Big_Spinner]

Properly presented, a #14 CDC Sulphur or a #14 Skarka emerger took fish all week. Even in the midst of the pseudos.

I really believe presentation is more important than the fly.

Jim