With both girls graduating this year, one from high school and the other college, my highly anticipated trip to Martha's Vineyard didn't materialize. We're having a big shindig in a couple of weeks with a tent and a band and about 60 guests so....that's where my money is going. So Leif invited me up for his annual late spring trip to the Upper Delaware. The last time I went was in 2019 and I had the drift boat and we floated one day we hit a squall that was the worst I ever saw on the river. I was bailing the boat and couldn't keep up with the water. It was that torrential.
While it wasn't the Vineyard and striped bass I jumped on the opportunity to get away and fish. Well, we fished, in very tough conditions. If were up there then you had your eyes pinned to the flows and water temps. They have a planned release of
1,500 cfs scheduled out of the Cannonsville reservoir and as I write this the flows are up to 525 at Hale Eddy on the West Branch which is up from 485. That, for us, meant we were either fishing the West Branch or upper East Branch above The Jaws, along with everyone else. I have to think by mid-May every fish has either been pricked, hooked, snapped off, or landed. There's just that much pressure these days on every inch of the rivers.
I got up on Memorial Day and met Leif in Roscoe but we bailed out of there because the town was abuzz honoring those soldiers on Memorial Day. We came up with a plan after settling in. Get our stuff together and hit the East Branch. I strung up my new Orvis
Pro 5w floating line but after throwing it for three days I think it would have been better on a 4 weight rod, like maybe a 10 footer. I'm used to 10 and 12 wts and it took a long while to figure out how to cast such a light setup. The first night we each had a fish and we were content with that, but by trips end we were lucky to put up a fish per outing, one in the morning to afternoon and then one in the evening.
One thing we failed miserably at this trip was getting any good trout pics. We wanted to keep them in the water even though we only fished where the water was cool. In fact one night I was shivering standing in chest water waiting for the opposite bank to light up. During the day early on we hit
the mid-East and the West. We didn't fish up top on the West because when we went to Deposit there were guys in every spot. There just wasn't enough water and where there was there was an angler or two or a drift boat or three. The fish have to be so smart by now and most likjley each has been fished over or caught, pricked or landed. By now they are experts at being targeted just about every single day.
One thing, for me, is I will always bring a stripping basket when fishing the Upper Delaware. I just feel naked without it and my line management, if you can call it that, is markedly better when I have a place to put my line when stripping in. Longer casts across three
different currents while not trying to spook the fish wasn't easy at all.
Leif has stayed at the Buck Horn Lodge on the East Branch up from the Sunoco station for decades. He has a long history there andf I wrote about HERE in 2019. He started going with his Dad and
now goes solo or is joined by me or his son Leif. Well, things do change, and they aren't what they were and, sorry Leif, it's time to let that tradition pass. The Buck Horn runs $150 a night and let's just say the accommodations, well, are shit. The cabins aren't level, the sink doesn't drain, sediment pours from the tap, there's no linens, and worst is you have to put your feet in the shower to squat on the toilet. It's like
trying to deliver a baby with your legs not spread. You get the picture. But the shade down by trhe water makes a nice place to take a nap between afternoon and evening sessions. It was also nice place to set up shop and get your stuff ready for the highly anticipated evening session. I don't know if it was because we thought the fish might be up or was it just an escape for us from the nuclear high bright sun.
At one point Leif broke out the vice and tied up some Sulfurs which I landed a fish on thast evening. I can't even imagine trying to tie size 16 and 18 flies, I have a hard enough time with 2/0 and 4/0 flies.
There were fish up but the hatches were inconsistent with a mixed bag and trying to find the right imitation wasn't easy. The fish didn't set up in lanes to chew either, a rise here, and then there, kind of like Lake Lenore but in small sections where there was water, but then you had three currents. Where
spots that will remain nameless. I was surprised to see so many drift boats on the lower West but a guy or girl has gotta make a living. I am sure they were long and tough days out there especially with beginner or annoying clients. High bright sun, low water with
hardly any current, gin clear water, with sporadic and light hatches. I must tip my hat to all the guides because they were all polite, accommodating, and courteous. I am sure they weren't happy when they came around the corner and saw my fat ass standing in the middle of the river with my basket on.
In all of the spots the trails near the water were marked by the heavy foot traffic from the high angling pressure. This place is still great, but it has changed, like everything else, and not for the better. While the guides were great, the kayakers need a lesson in river etiquette. I was also surprised by the noose that has been draped
on all of the rivers, there are more "Private Property" signs than I have ever seen. You can't fish in some of my favorite spots anymore. Anyone remember pulling off of Route 17, crossing the tracks and parking along them to fish the Upper Gamelands? Below is a well known riffle but I couldn't bring
myself to fish thinking that a 1,000 anglers pounded it all weekend. We all know too much these days and that has changed the game up here for the worst. Remember "Larry's Hotline" from the West Branch Angler's back in the 1990's? That was all the "current", meaning next day, information you got. It was there or from the local fly shop or, best yet, was overhearing the guides saddled up to the bar talking about their day out on the water. Now, it's all out there. There's no more secrets. Technology and the intertnet have changed the game. Some blame Paul Weamer's book, Fly Fishing Guide to the Upper Delaware, but I don't. I think he brouight a lot of good to the river with that book, in my opinion.
So above, okay I'll spot burn it, is The Jaws. If you know what it usually looks like then you know the conditions I'm talking about up there this week. Not complaining, it just is what it is. Below are a few pics of the fish we caught, with us agreeing the fallfish made the best of the bunch.
On my last night we stayed on the East and we're all alone, until we weren't. It was more of the same at first with sporadic hatches and risers here and there. At one point I realized I had forgot one of
my fly boxes and headed back to the truck just in case. It was my Drake, Coffin, and big fly box. I grabbed that along with a Gatorade because I'm sure my kidneys by that point looked like raisins. I also grabbed my tripod so I could take the top pic of me and Leif. In 10 years we'll really appreciate
photos like that. We split up and tried to guard ground before the others came. Leif was above me and I focused on a bank that had big boulders lining the water. I stayed up to my basket for two hours and couldn't feel my legs when I backed out of the water just as things heated up. First it was the March
Browns and Sulfurs that got them tuned up but again one here and one there, difficult to time, and that's where Leif did better casting and floating flies over them while I stayed and stared, fly ready. Then the
Green Drakes showed up in good numbers, not a blanket hatch, but enough where they would take them. While they were on them, I was not, I couldn't get one to bite no matter how many fly changes I made along with good drag free drifts. A guy below me hooked and expertly played and landed a 22 inch brown that he and to chase down river a bit. It would have been nice if the guy below him just moved like 10 feet either way to give him some room, but no. Then the sun set and darkness arrived and the moon lit up the water. It was Coffin Fly time, thousands of them and the place exploded. Like I mean went off. It was the best Coffin Fly night I have ever experienced since I first came up here in the early 90's. Did we catch, nope, not one. We stayed until 10 pm and left them chewing. I was cold, I'm old, and for some reason what I thought was a perfect Coffin Fly spinner got no love. I left this morning and when I got service my
phone blew-up with messages. My mother left my sisters in Saranac Lake and drove to her friends outside of Albany. When she got there she realized she didn't have her Fab, and couldn't start her car. So, I was off to Albany. The day before and by chance Lauren and Theresa found a Fab in her room at our house and overnighted it to her just to see if it might be the one. If not, the car would have to be towed to a Toyota dealership and a new Fab created. It all made for a longer day than expected, but hey, it's my Mom. On the way home I think I lost a wheel bearing or my axle was ready to blow up midway down the NY State Thruway. But somehow squeaked my way home. When I did finally arrive at 430 I started wondering what might the stripers be doing now down this way. But I was good, I cut the grass, and came up with a plan to fish the river in the next day or so. But my plans always seem to change on a dime.
It was a good trip with a good bud. But next year, the Vineyard!
