With a growing family my time is increasingly not my own so if I want to fish a decent river, I need to clear the day well in advance. This fall it's going to be Columbus Day, it's October 13th this year, it right before the end of the general trout season. I can't wait.

For several years I've tried to squeeze an end of season guided float somewhere on the West Branch or main stem of the Delaware without luck. Too often the water's skinny or after a summer of yo-yo releases the river isn't fishing well for whatever reasons. The general rule of a bad day’s fishing beats anything else applies but expecting to float, then not being able to, does usually lead to some disappointment, I can't lie.

So here's the question. Assuming flow / temps / etc of these streams look ok, where would you fish if a float ended up not being an option?

Pretend these are the only choices (because they are the ones I know well enough to fish alone). They are in no particular order...

East Branch Delaware
Beaverkill
Willowemoc
Neversink
Esopus