Well, all this spring we have been hearing about how the Delaware has had 2 cool summers w/ high water and the fish are bigger and fatter this year than in recent summers past. I finally had the chance to go see for myself. We pulled up to the river at 9 am and proceeded to gear up with the 1/2 dozen anglers who were doing the same thing. It was Memorial Day weekend so we thought we would have to deal with a little bid of angling pressure. We walked the tracks awhile until we were well away from the crowds and entered the water. It was very low; 242cfs out of the dam but the water was 55 degrees. A perfect temp for wild trout. As we approached the water, we saw nothing really going on except for a few odd caddis and some empty march brown shucks floating in the water. We assumed they were from yesterday’s hatch. I tied on a #12 elk hair caddis and dropped a bead head caddis emerger about 18 inches off of that. Keith and I set up in the moving water at the head of the riffle and on my third cast of watching that elk hair, the bottom seemed to turn gold and the caddis disappeared. I did not see a rise the caddis just disappeared. I lifted the rod, felt resistance and the line zipped out of my hand. Within seconds my backing appeared out of the rod tip and five minutes of give and take later, the fish was in the net. The wild Brown Trout measured 20 inches on the nose but the girth and shoulders of the big male were more impressive than the length. This was a big, wild Delaware River trout, which kicked and splashed when we set it free. After landing and releasing 2 trout in the 13-15 inch range I noticed a tiny rise in some slow water below the riffle. I set up, made a cast and the caddis disappeared. This time, the nymph was taken and the fish bolted again into my backing. “Kieth, this is another big fish,” I yelled, as he had crossed the stream. After another lengthy battle, I had brought the 19 inch brown to net. . A little while later I broke the nymph off on another fish which also had some weight to it, and lost one other big fish after it hit the dry and jumped 2 feet out of the water and cleared 8 feet downstream before spitting the hook. The Delaware River is one of the few places that I know of that big wild browns jump when hooked. After lunch, we returned to the water. There were some light Cahill #14 mayflies around but not enough to constitute a hatch. I found one consistent riser and after about the 7th fly I showed him he took, jumped, ran 15 feet, jumped again and spit the hook. I shuffled up to the top of the riffle and there were several fish rising inconsistently but every one I cast to took the Cahill comparadun. Missed 3, 2 big fish came unbuttoned and then I finally achieved a solid hook-up. This fish came right at me and I stripped line up and sprinted back to shore, finally I got a hold of it and landed the fish. Another fat 17 inch wild Brown Trout. 3 more fish came to net that evening, all around the 15-inch range, all browns. At the end of our “hatch”, I hesitate to call it a hatch by Delaware standards because I think every bug that came up got eaten, and there weren’t many. All activity stopped. The water looked like there wasn’t a trout within 4 miles, but we knew better. The skies opened and it poured from 4 o’clock to dark and that might have kept the hatches off. What a great day. I would have to say, the rumors were true. We had to walk a good mile and a half to find un-crowded water, but it paid off big-time. My feet hurt, my arm hurt and my wrist was sore.