Spent a few days on the Upper Delaware. The first day floating with another guide and the second part of a Joe D Orvis Yonkers group. On Friday most of the guides chose to float the East, figuring, correctly, that the tail wind would make for a more enjoyable day then a head wind blowing up the main stem. Well, we didn't believe the 30 mph gusts that were predicted and when with the upper main float anyway. When we got to Bard Parker there were whitecaps and swells, and that lasted for much of our float. But we had fun and fished, and rowed, hard. We had a 22 minute break in the weather and found hendricksons coming off with a trio of trout rising to the occasion. The above mandible challenged brown was a great way to finish up a long day.
On Friday night a tornado watch with an inch of rain was predicted and we were watching outside closely from the comfort of Lydia's as the rain started to fall. Luckily the tornado never came, and Saturday morning brought blue skies, no rain, but a little wind. Joe Demalderis, Orvis guide and owner of Crosscurrent Guide Service, and Shawn Kelly, manager of Orvis Yonkers, had put this trip together of 11 anglers. After meeting at the shop we broke up and myself and Joe and Emilio hit the West Branch. It was running 1040 cfs and was off color so streamers were on order all the while looking for bugs and heads.
We had a few short strikes before Emilio landed a nice brown on a white streamer before we broke for lunch. As we ate a small parade of BWO's, Blue Quills, and Quill Gordons passed us by. We hoped that the afternoon session might have the fish looking up and wanting to eat, but that never happened. We saw one fish rise twice, and one fish clear the water down on the Home Pool. The boys worked hard throwing a mix of cone, sculpin, and bead head streamers on sink tips lines all day. It was great to meet back up in town and listen to the stories of the fish that were turned, flossed, missed, hooked, fought and landed.
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| Joe D and a tight loop |