Spring 2020 will always be remembered for the Covid-19 pandemic. My memories of springs past always included either trips to the Upper Delaware alone or with friends or nights spent sleeping in my truck or bumming a couch when I guided up there. Each return trip has me visiting those good times, either nights of too hard a hang, great clients, great or no hatches, and the best fish brought to net or the one that got away.
This spring I didn't make it up there, missed my favorite hatches, the Hendricksons, Quills, and the March Browns. After selling my drift boat last year, which was a mistake but had to happen to raise cash to start the practice, my desire was a little bit off, not to mention I took a gig at the Covid hospital in Edison.
So when Leif and I were talking we thought about running up and back, but decided on a two nighter at the West Branch Angler. We'd go mid-week to lessen seeing other anglers, as we knew the only game in town was the West Branch, where the temps were holding at 50-60 degrees. There weren't many fish to see or catch, mostly small ones that showed splashy sulphur emerger rises. Most of the fish came on small streamer and Wooly Bugger type flies. We wanted to just head hunt, but no fish got into a rhythm.
While the Upper West had the lowest temps and busiest fish, we did venture down in the early morning to the Lower Gamelands. Leif found a run that held a lot of small fish while I trekked upstream looking for a steady riser.
Few highlights were just being away, being up there, finding a new cool access (which isn't good for thatspot or the fish), and good times with a friend and a great meal. It was filet mignon and lobster tails followed by a few Guinness Blondes
After the last supper we gave the evening a try. Thinking we'd find some garbage pickers or streamer eaters into the night never materialized. I even had a large mouse fly to chuck to big browns but after an hour or so without a take and following a quick little squall we called it a night. I always leave there reconnected on how much I love that place, and surprisingly, how much I can love it with big gaps between visits or not on the oars taking clients down one of the rivers.
