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Your fishing logs at Ecolure
Friends of the
Upper
Delaware
1250 Winterdale Road
Starlight, PA, 18461
Phone : 1 ( 570 ) 635 - 5897
email : alcaucci@hancock.net
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| Stream Reports and Hatch Information Last Update posted - September 2, 2010 Click here for our latest newsletter
Big wild trout like this are in imminent danger from the low FFMP releases River Report - September 2
Current Flows and Temps - (scroll down for links to the gages
and
reservoir levels) Daily Report September 2, 2010 -Mid day temps still climbing
West Branch at Walton - 133 cfs (Reservoir Inflow)
Hatches: Click here for my 2010 Delaware River Trout photos. . The current level is perfect for wading and floating the lower West Branch. Keep an eye out Pseudos and rising fish in the afternoons, and there still are some Tricos in the morning if you're willing to hunt for them. Flying ants have been hitting the water offering great shots at large fish- mostly on humid afternoons.
Fish with your thermometer to find the best hatching temperature. Check the water levels at the Stilesville and Hale Eddy gages.
Summer 2010 Crisis Alert No. 3: Mismanagement of Upper Delaware RiverAgain Imperils Trout As Heat Wave Arrives
The summer season is ending the way it began, with the Upper Delaware River s wild trout at peril from rising water temperatures. Government mismanagement of this precious natural resource is largely to blame.Friends of the Upper Delaware River , a nonprofit environmental group, is again calling on elected and appointed officials to respond to this emergency by ordering additional releases of cold water from the New York City reservoirs that feed the river system."We are going to relentlessly keep the pressure on the water bureaucracy until they use some common sense to deal with this recurring crisis," says Al Caucci, FUDR vice president and a legendary flyfisherman, guide and author. "All they need to do is open the spigot to allow more life-sustaining cold water to flow from the reservoirs. There is plenty of water to go around." On Monday, as water temperatures on the river soared to 70 degrees in places, the New York City reservoirs were 75 percent full overall, with Roundout at 94 percent of capacity and the Croton system at 86 percent. Water temperatures were expected to go even higher as air temperatures in the Hancock, N.Y., area were forecast to hold steady in the 90s this week. The stretch between Hancock and Lordville , N.Y. , is regarded as the heart of the rivers wild trout fishery.Trout are subjected to potentially lethal stress when water temperatures rise above 68 degrees. The aquatic insects essential to keeping the trout healthy are at risk, as well. FUDR is issuing its third water temperature "Crisis Alert" of the summer. Temperature spikes in late May and a sustained heat wave after July 4th have already taken a toll on the brown and rainbow trout that thrived on the Delaware s main stem for more than 100 years.Caucci says it has become abundantly clear that this federally designated National Wild and Scenic River has been subjected to mismanagement by the Delaware River Basin Commission, the multi-state entity charged with overseeing the system.Water temperatures are based largely on the volume of cold-water releases from the bottom of reservoirs, and protocols for the rates of release are spelled out in the so-called Flexible Flow Management Program, approved in 2007 by the commission. FUDR has been a longtime critic of yo-yo water releases from the New York City reservoirs, which often flow heavy when trout need it least and are throttled down to a trickle when the fish need it most. FUDR advocates a common-sense release plan that would benefit the wildlife as well as those who live on and visit the river for recreation.The common sense solution, supported by environmental groups and fishery experts, is a steady release of water that will keep the water temperature below 68 degrees at Lordville.FUDR and other interested parties have suggested a minimum flow rate of about 600 cubic feet per second out of Cannonsville Reservoir into the West Branch of the Delaware from April through September. The flow rate now often is throttled back to about half that.Even those who devised the flow plan now admit its shortcomings, but the water bureaucracy has refused to make the adjustments it knows are needed. At the very least, the water bureaucracy must devise a new water-release agreement that includes a rational emergency response mechanism to deal with these inevitable heat crises. "It's time, once and for all, to revamp and modernize the management plan to take into account the health of the river corridor, its fish life and the millions of folks who live here," said Joe Demalderis, an upper Delaware River flyfishing guide and FUDR board member. FUDR is urging the rivers residents, fishing enthusiasts, those who use the river system for recreation, and those in the region who earn a living from outdoors tourism to contact their elected officials or the DRBC to let them know you value a healthy river and oppose the flawed current flow plan.
Your voice is very important and necessary to help get releases. If you are angry about this situation or if you just want to do the right thing, Please, Please, email the "watercrats" below and demand releases of 600 cfs out of Cannonsville now, and dont forget to contact all your fellow anglers!. Be sure to include Carol Collier, Paul Rush, and Pete Grannis, John Hanger, and the governors of PA and NY on your email cc LIST. If every angler would take 10 minutes to do this it would have an impact - tell your friends and fellow angers to do the same. Politicians to contact for Delaware River Issues (Please copy and paste):
Current Hatches Sulphurs(E. dorothea, size 16-20), Lt. Blue Winged Olives (E. attenuate, E.cornutella, size 16-20), Dark Blue Winged Olives (E. deficiens, E. lata, E. depressa, size 16-22) Tiny Blue Winged Olives (pseudocloeon, size 22-26) Summer Steno's (Stenonema & Stenacrons, size 12-16), Iso's (Isonychia, size 12 2XL-14). Tricos (Tricorythodes, size 22-26), Olive Sulphurs (Heptagenia hebe, size18-20) Yellow/Golden Drakes (Potamanthus distinctus, size 12 2XL) Yellow Sally stoneflies size 16 Various Caddis flies For more information please refer to: Al Caucci's Online Match the Hatch ChartClick here for my 2009 Delaware River Trout photos. Please Support Friends of the Upper Delaware to help the sustain the wild trout that we all love. Click here to find out more or e-mail info@fudr.org to receive the latest alerts and updates. Check out our 2009 River Update Photo Gallery here.Check out our 2008 River Update Photo Gallery here The size of these fish make the West Branch one of the top wild trout rivers in the world for dry fly fishing. Click Here for Al Caucci Fly Fishing photos from around the world. HOW TO FISH THE WEST
BRANCH AT VARIOUS FLOW RATES |
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- Click Below for up to the minute flows and
water temps.