05.10.10 Floated the West Branch, Stilesville to Hale Eddy

Paul Fleming photo

Floated the upper West Branch of the Delaware River today in the pontoon boat. River was @ 471 cfs at the Hale Eddy bridge. My "client" Paul and I left Red Bank, NJ around 6 am and had a quick 3 hour ride to Roscoe, and then stopping in Hancock to try and find a taxi service to shuttle us around. We stopped by Border Water Outfitters and learned of their 30 dollar shuttle service, that we passed on. We got some lunch to bring with us and headed north up 17. We were going to the West Branch Anglers to see what tthey could do for us but when we got to Hale Eddy we saw the HE Tackle Shop so we gave that a shot. We met Tony, originally from Nutley, and his wife who works at the shop also. We told him what we needed and after dropping Paul and the boat off at Stilesville and parking the trailer at the Hale Eddy bridge Tony was giving me my 20 dollar ride back to Deposit. We were gearing up and getting the boat ready when I realized the anchor part of the boat was missing, it had fallen off on the way up

here. Paul tied the anchor to the front of the boat and soon we were off. We fished the riffs below the launch site and continued down to the Deposit bridge, only stopping once to get out and fish. It was windy and there were a few caddis in the air and the swallows made a quick snack out of them. We settled in below the train bridge and waited a little while before the fish

Paul Fleming photo

started to rise. A lot of fish, and a few big fish. This was going to be easy. Just like that though the wind kicked up. I soon broke a nice fish off, I saw the take, he went left, I set right, 6x, good by. No problem, this was going to be easy. Over the next 3 hours I threw everything at them. Hendrickson emergers, light and dark, comparaduns, dries, caddis emergers, dries, March Browns, emergers, dries, Blue Winged Olives. This is why I love the humbling-no you ain't that good-in fact you suck-Delaware River system. I had two other sets that I missed and Paul had a ton of lookers and one taker that didn't take. I saw three fish caught and released in the large Deposit Sewage Plant pool while we were there. Around 530 we loaded up and headed down river. Paul made casts right and left while I rowed. It was a pretty ride but not easy in the hard

Paul Fleming photo

wind and in the skinny water and in the pontoon boat. We anchored up in the large pool above the Hale Eddy riffs and waited for a spinner fall that never came. We moved down to the bridge pool to give it a shot till dark, but only a few small fish were seen. The only eventful thing that happened was we nearly got the pick up stuck on the boat ramp at the Hale Eddy bridge. The ramp angles down at 45 degrees and after I backed down to the boat the tires just spun on the smooth rocks. So, we had to disconnect the boat and trailer and get the pick up up, and then push the boat and trailer up the hill. We made the trip back, each of us fighting to stay awake, and I was in bed at 2am.