Delaware River Experience: Wild, Selective And Large Trout

by | Fresh Water

Delaware River Video

The Delaware River, and its tributaries, is one of those special places that pulls me back year after year. It has a lot of wild, selective, large trout and they get the bulk of our best fly tyer’s flies to look at. The Delaware River, more than any other river I have fished, has shaped my tying and fly presentation skills. I like to say, “The D is the game.” All my other trout fly fishing is practice. Caddis, olives and a smattering of march browns were present and the olive x2 caddis had taken some fish earlier. The way to effectively fish the Big D is to target individual rising fish and work them. “Flock shooting” is not the best approach and though it will take a sporadic riser, it isn’t a productive way to do it. The trap of this system is that there are fish you get hung up on and fish that tease you into spending an hour working them. Fish that may have nothing special about them except the fact that they ignore your flies. It’s like trying to get the most popular girl in high school to notice you. Except you play second trumpet in the marching band so she ignores you, and it drives you wild until the 5 year reunion, where she still ignores you. There are better looking girls that talk to you, just like there may be bigger fish rising within site but this one drives you mad. You must have this fish. The approach, the cast, the drift and the fly has to be perfect or you won’t get a look. Today, the water was low and clear, and the trout had taken residence in 8-12 inches of water between two rocks which created a tricky drift. This was the fish we had to have. So, that is how it goes, you miss one, you find another, and there’s almost always another. Maybe he’ll take the fly with more confidence, maybe he’ll take the first drift by, maybe you’ll snap the 6x tippet on the hook-set, maybe you’ll land one.

10 Comments

  1. jeremy on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    sweet .. i don’t know what i like more catching big trout or getting totally turned upside down by them and left to a somewhat sad state of existance .. tying on every fly in my box .. until every fly is wet and i am still fishless, scratching my head like a monkey as the trout still takes bugs off the water and does nothing but laugh at my stuff …. that is pretty much what happened to me on The Big D .. I thought it was all hype .. and thought “come on, how hard can it be? can’t be any different than other trout.” .. but they are … i would say that dry fly fishing on the delaware river was one of the most exciting, action packed dry fly trips i have ever been on .. i left, fishless, having casted to thousands of rising trout .. rising right at my feet .. i drove home with my tail between my legs and loving fly fishing that much more … the big D, in my opinion, will humble the greatest of fly fishermen … infact it has … i don’t know all the history .. but, wasn’t the delaware kinda where it all began in the united states? the adams fly and all those flies were developed to try to trick those addictive trout by the original trout bums and fly fishing addicts of many many moons ago??? loved the video too shaq .. great to see ya back out on the water ..

  2. wrh on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Shaq,

    Tell it like it is, on that magnificent water. I can’t wait to hit it again. Evrything else does pale as this river is the test of your trout fishing skills. Everyone will be humbled at times but if you have the game they can be had. What gets all of us totally messed up it what the psychologists call intermitten re-enforcement. That is some success sandwiched between failure. It hooks us humans big time; think flyfishing, golf, gambling. I personally am hooked big time and look forward to having another go at those fishies. soon very soon.

  3. Shaq on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Sounds like my first 7 trips to the D.

    That is the Cradle of American Fly Fishing and it is The Experience you must do if your ego is getting too big. haha

    It feels good to be out on the water again and I am as frustrated as ever!

  4. Shaq on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Everything is looking great for our trip!

  5. waterwhippa on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Nice work Shaq, It is hard to put the Delaware experience into words, you did a fine job. ” The trap of this system is that there are fish you get hung up on and fish that tease you into spending an hour working them”…..Only an hour? you are quite disciplined, I have been known to get hung up on a bank sipper for half a day before realizing there are 700 other trout feeding within a fly line of me. Great job guys. See you down there!

  6. waterwhippa on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Well done wrh. Glad you guys had some “intermitten re-enforcement” of your own. We still have yet to cross paths on the water. Maybe this weekend, I am heading down in a couple hours through Sunday. I’ll keep you guys posted. They made a nice release last night. Levels are up, temps are down and E. guttalatta has just made its emergence….should be off the wall!

  7. jinxed247 on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Great video!! That really sums up flyfishing…my wife came and watched me one time and she said that it looked like it required alot of patience…that was the understatement of the year!! Great job…by the looks of it you guys landed some fish!

  8. AvidDavid on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    A taste of REALITY!

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  9. AlexisMT555 on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Nice read and video Shaq
    Those trouts seems very clever!
    The video is cool, fly fishing sometimes turn in a humility lesson.

  10. gshave on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Great video! Been there, done that. I have a cabin up that way about 15 minutes from the West Branch. It’s great fishing. I live 9 mos of the year in Northern CA and fish some great waters including an annual trek to Silver Creek ID. These Delaware fish are as smart and as wild as anything I have fished on the west.