And the water just keeps coming. Again, water is good. I just wish we could have a nice and steady rise and fall which is probably better for the fish, and fishing. It just goes to show what happens when they get big rains upriver, like 200 miles upriver. Today the Cannonsville Reservoir is spilling 3,600 cfs over the top of the dam with a 40 cfs release. That reservoir, one of several that feed the Delaware River, is 103% of capacity. If you know Hale Eddy then 5,580 cfs is cranking pretty good. The Wallenpaukpak, which empties into the Lackawaxen River before the Delaware, is also cranking and adding water to the system. I'm hearing the alewives are being spilled over the dam in Deposit, which makes for good streamer fishing for those that go out. If you do, be careful, it only takes one false step.
At home the river is at 42,000 cfs and big and off color. But the fish are still there, as is the bait, the herring, depending on where you are. Needless to say the banks are no longer where they usually are and you need to find spots that are accessible and might hold fish.
With the waders on and wading stick at hand I went out looking. It was surely a shot in the dark as the current was strong and the debris coming down came in all sizes, from trees to stumps to tons of branches. The other day when I was tying up a new fly I looked up and saw the old mop that I used to catch my biggest bass in the river. So I grabbed it thinking the weighted fly could get down and be seen in the way off colored water. I threw it for awhile without a tap. So I switched back.
I bounced from spot to spot in the tidal and non-tidal sections and worked the edges, which really weren't edges, having confidence I would catch. It took a while but I finally found some and it made being saturated for hours all worth it. I could watch them rehab in that tank all day.
After the soaking there was still school work to be done. Next week is this groups first exam and it takes hours to formulate it to ensure it's spot on. Exams shouldn't be punitive, but a fair assessment and what has been covered and what the students know. In a business where the grades are based solely on exam scores it only takes a slip up on one exam to really put a student in a bind to pass the semester.
It has been a difficult semester. Seeing students fall short in the end leaves them having to repeat next spring, which delays their graduation by a year. Nursing school is a bitch, I remember it well and it's been 30 years since I sat in these seats. But I never remember so much blame put on a professor or a program when students aren't successful. Times have changed and I don't like change.