Delaware (West Branch and Mainstem)

[Caddis]

This past weekend I fished the West Branch, the Main Stem, and the Beaverkill.

My experience on the west branch was rather boring. Fish rising in spots you could not possibly get to without a boat. Saturday night during a Sulpher hatch, I hooked into this monster that bent my rod so quick, I didn't know what hit it. Then the fish raced directly toward me. I was using a barbless hook at the time, so guess what happened next.

The Mainstem was running at about 2400cfs so wading was pretty difficult. I was able to make it a little under 1/2 way to the middle of the stream (extremely nervous). I was up to my chest and the current was pretty dangerous. I had no business wading this water with these conditions. Anyway, there were rather large trout to be caught. I saw quite a few 16" rising and a few MUCH LARGER trout too. I mean in the 22" class. It poored from the heavens much of the day but I fished anyway. I hooked into a few nice browns but managed to not land either of them. I spent the rest of the day trying to catch these beasts, but couldn't figure out what they were taking. The other two took a size 18 Olive (Ephemerella Atenuata).

Fished the Beaverkill on Sunday. Fish were rising sporadically. Honestly, I was too exhausted to fish and just couldn't get into it. I had a long drive home ahead of me and packed it up after just 1hr.

Overall, this weekend was pretty good. Fished from 11:30PM Friday night to 12:30 - 1:00am on Saturday morning, then woke up at 5:30am and fished until 9:00 pm Saturday evening. Sunday I was too exhausted.

I did manage to pick up a nice casting lesson from Al Caucci. That was very nice of him. He humbled me but at the same time let me know that I am at an advanced level (nice to hear from a real pro). I'm going to be signing up for one of his fall classes, I'm sure there is much more to be learned.

If you're in the Area, check out the Delaware River Club. For more info see, DRC. It's right on the West branch and a great place to stay. Jeff and Bart are great guys willing to assist.