55 on the fly

I hit the West Branch of the Delaware River again today, same spot as Thursday, but different game plan and different results. Water was still very cold at 46 degrees this morning so nymphing was the order of the day. Fished till noon. Hooked three and of course lost the "big one" a good brown of 20 inch range. He made three runs and I had him on for 10 minutes or so. I could't do anything with him in the current. I had him to the leader once and then he just bolted and ran way down river with me trying to follow in cold deep water up to my boys….. Needless to say I couldn't stay with him and he broke off with the point fly…. Bummer, but what fun…. that fish got me going for sure…. a couple of photos below….. Doug.

Great fly for the Delaware River... tied and photographed by Doug Korn Materials list: Hook: MFC Dry #7000 in size 16 Thread: Danville 6/0 in olive/brown Tails: Micro dun color fibers from paint brush Wings: Needloft Yarn in gray dun Body: DK#11 gun metal blue-gray dubbing Hackle: med. dun note: cut "v" in bottom of hackle

My son Scott and I fished the Delaware River this weekend.  We fished the Main Stem on Saturday and the West Branch on Sunday.  This trip had a little bit of everything.  Saturday it was cold and windy with rain on and off making for some difficult fishing with only a few bugs hatching.  BWO's, Sulphers and some dark brown caddis were all that I saw in very small numbers and zero Isonychia's on this trip.  Later in the evening, just before dark we were able to catch a few and lose a few on Wiese's Coachman Clacka Caddis and some dark brown Korn's Spent Wing Caddis flies.  But the highlight of the day for me was seeing a bald eagle flying low, down the river towards us with a fish in it's talons.  It landed on the bank right behind us and started tearing and eating it... very cool. A Bald Eagle and his fish...  Later in the day we watched a Heron as it hunted not 10 yards from Scott.  It caught a mouse, killed it and the...

More trip prep ~ tying of some Vinnie's Iso-nymphs.  I tied some with and without wire heads pictured below.  I'm starting to get excited about this trip in a couple of weeks even though it will be a short one, just two days.  But hey, two days with your son fly fishing, what could be better.  Scott is coming to the house this weekend and we will get all of our final plans made...  Should be fun and we've got to have better weather than last time, right?  So stay tuned... Vinnie's Isonychia Nymph... top view Wire Head Vinnie's Isonychia Nymph Hook:  2x long nymph hook size 12 Thread:  Danville 6/0 black Tail:  3 peacock herls Abdomen: Iso DK#25 dubbing Ribbing (and Wire Head): Copper wire  Thorax:  Iso DK#25 dubbing Wing Case: 3/8 inch section of turkey tail feather, folded so you have two layers. Legs: olive-brown hen back feather “V” cut

Tying a few flies for next time on the Delaware.  Easy CDC emergers tied on some nice vintage Mustad Viking 9548A hooks. Ephemerella  subvaria –  Hendricksons – #12 to #14  tied and photographed by Doug Korn Hendrickson Emerger,  size #12 Thread: MFC light olive 6/0 Body Color - pink/olive dubbing Wing Color - CDC medium Dun, length of hook Legs - CDC butts Shuck - needloft yarn amber  Paraleptophlebia  adoptiva  (Blue Quill) – #16 to #18 Paralep is the scientific " nickname " for the genus Paraleptophlebia.  ...  The most popular common names for Paraleps are " blue quill " and "mahogany dun."  ...  tied and photographed by Doug Korn Blue Quill Emerger, size #16 Thread - Danville dark brown 6/0 Body Color - thread over shuck material,  dark brown, sparse thread wraps. Wing Color - CDC medium-dark Dun, length of hook Legs - CDC butts  Shuck - needloft yarn gray ...

Scott  My son Scott and I took a little road trip to the Delaware River for a few days of fly fishing.  The Delaware is about 3.5 hours from my house and about an hour from Scott's.  We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and fished all day Wednesday and then headed back home on Thursday afternoon.  The first thing we did was check in at  Border Water Outfitters  in Hancock, NY to get the latest on the hatches and pick up a few of the local hot flies.  We talked to Jim "Coz" Costolnick the owner.  He said the two main hatches going on were the Apple Caddis and the Hendrickson... Wow, was he right, the river was blanketed at times with bugs!  Good for the fish but bad for us as our flies got lost in the crowd.  I did manage to take one nice brown on a Korn's Spent-wing Parachute Caddis even though the wind was howling.   Scott had a take on a Hendrickson but the fish broke him off.  With rising fish all ar...