Friends and the West Branch Delaware River

Rods Used: Diamondback Flawless 9’5wt 4pc (Chris)
Scott (?) 9’ 5wt (Joe)
Sameo Globetrotter 7’9" 5wt 6pc (myself)

Lines Used: Cortland Precision Platinum Dyna Tip 5wt (Joe,Chris) Line Info
Cortland Western Drifter Dyna Tip 5wt (myself) Line Info
(These lines are PERFECT for fishing nymph rigs and streamers. We turned over indicator rigs all day, up to 55’ away, with minimal effort and no tip sink. I’ll try to get some videos up of this line….)

After calling a few buddies last night and contemplated whether or not we wanted to fish the West Branch of the Delaware or the Salmon River, we opted to terrorize the browns and rainbows on the Delaware. The water had been raised a few days ago, so we weren’t sure how this would affect the fishing. If anything, after 3 days of higher water, the fish should be settled down and feeding heavily….so we thought.

Chad, Chris, and I met Joe in Deposit at about 8:45 a.m. They suited up in their waders while I visited the boy’s room and filled up with some gas. Unfortunately, all of my wading gear is in Pennsylvania with my other belongings (except my 6pc travel rod and flies, both necessities), so wet wading was my only option.

If you don’t know anything about the West Branch Delaware, let me fill you in on some very valuable information. The river is a tailwater coming out of a bottom release dam; therefore the water flowing through the dam is ALWAYS cold. Cold, as in 40-45 degrees during the middle of summer. Now you can see how I was unfortunate.

We headed South from Deposit hoping to find some warmer water. Upon arriving at Hale Eddy, the river looked perfect. Joe and Chris swapped a few flies, cracked a Red Bull, and then we headed for the river. When I took that first dreadful step into the water, I quickly realized that the higher water had kept the river MUCH colder than what it usually is. After 5 minutes of pain from my muscles tightening in my legs, the water warmed, as my legs became numb. Joe took a quick temperature check and informed me that the water was a toasty 48 degrees.

After a few hours of fishing with very slow results, moving only a couple fish, Chris and I headed upstream to a hole that is usually very low but with the higher water should fish well. This hole is a failsafe, but after 30 minutes and no fish, it wasn’t looking very promising. Apparently the go-to nymphs for the Delaware weren’t working, so I switched to an articulated streamer. Not the best move for 48 degree water, but I was hoping to entice a big brown into striking by slowly moving the streamer through the water column. On the second cast I placed the fly at a 45-degree angle upstream from me. I slowly swam the fly over the shallow ledge until it swung below me and I left it hang there, which is uncommon for me to do. After a few seconds my line jolted and a 30" brown broke the surface with massive headshakes. The fish was all of 10lbs. OK, he was more like 18" and 2lbs, but he jumped several times and made a blistering run which felt much bigger. Props to the fish. The coolest thing about this fish was his cheek. If you look at the picture, you can see the baby blue coloring it has.

The skunk was off and we headed down river even more. After arriving at the next spot, we immediately noticed a warmer water temperature, and were all into fish right away. They were mostly rainbows in the 9"-13" range. Not big, but they brought a huge appetite to the table and lots of energy. Chris tangled with all dumb fish that swam right at him once hooked. Then again, they may have just liked the way he looked in his waders as they all ended up at his crotch in about 2 seconds after feeling the steel. He did end up nailing a brown about 16"-17" that ran him downstream about 40 yards. We all thought it was much bigger, especially Chris ;)

Joe creamed the fish at the head of the hole in very shallow, but fast water, also tightening up with a brown about 17". I’m actually surprised he was able to fish between signing autographs and answering questions with his groupies. Lol. I’m pretty sure the one guy even had Joe sign his rod. Haha. Maybe it’s the long hair…. Either way, I saw his rod bent more often than not and rainbows dancing on the water.

After doing some minor damage on the little guys myself, I tied on a size 4 tungsten bead head, lead body, brown stonefly nymph. A few casts later while probing the depths of the hole, I stuck a good fish that screamed downstream. Thankfully I had Precision 3x leader material on and clamped down on the brakes. This made him upset and he started to thrash on the surface trying to throw the hook. A solid 20" bow.

We all played with a couple more smaller rainbows and called it a day at 5:30. The lesson learned is this. Much like steelhead when there is a spring melt/runoff, the fish shut down when the water becomes cold very fast. They behave more sluggishly until they can become used to the new water temperature. This is why weren’t as successful at Hale Eddy (which is generally around 55 degrees at this time of year), and more successful down further where the water had a chance to warm up slightly. Thankfully, because I was starting to question our fishing abilities.

Tight Lines, Bent Rods, and Frozen Legs,

Michael Foreman