Delaware River Hendricksons, April 2009

Date / Time: 4/26/09

Location: Delaware River Mainstem & West Branch Delaware River

The Characters: Kory Kapaloski, Tamara Stevenson, Michael Johnson

Weather: Sunny, breezy, warm 80s

Water Temp: Mainstem low 50s, West Branch mid to high 40s

Water Level / Tide: Mainstem fairly low around 1200 cfs. West Branch extremely low about 200 cfs with a release of only 110 cfs or so.

Water Clarity/Quality: Crystal clear

Moon Phase: New Moon

Fishing: Woke up early, but had intense foot pain and couldn’t get on the water at first light as i wanted. Had a leisurely morning trying to get foot to feel better. Eventually just went for it but didn’t get on the water until about 11:30. Decided to just stay on west branch after looking at the big hole below the cabins and seeing fish up. Fished below Hale Eddy with Tammy and MJ. Walked in and found fish rising sporadically to every Hendrickson that would drift by. Very few bugs around, but every one that floated over was eaten. At first glance, it looked dead btu there just weren’t a lot of bugs. Tam and I walked down, MJ up. There were a few big fish in front of us about 15 feet off the bank in shallow water but as we got closer they seemed to stop. Then as we sat there, a very large head engulfed a hendrickson directly in front of us “oh there you are” i thought. I told tammy to go for it, but she insisted that i go. I waded up above and saw him come up again. He went out of his way to take the single dun floating by. I made one cast with my sparkle dun and he instantly engulfed it. Tammy saw the whole thing and remarked how cool it was. The fish fought decent but not great for a large fish. Landed it and snapped a few photos. It had a ripped mandible on one side and was a little skinny but still a pretty big fish with a huge hook jaw. Pretty cool eat with a giant head coming clear out of the water. Walked down looking for more risers, saw a few on far bank got one small fish. MJ hooked a big one and broke it off on log. He then hooked another and broke that one off. Found one big fish cruising through shallows picking off duns, made a cast and he refused and then spooked. Later went down to mainstem and found a few in lenore including a pig on the other side but some kids in kayaks put them down before we went over. Checked out the lower end of water below border bridge tailout and got one to eat but they were spooky and sporadic. By then foot was killing me so we packed up and headed out.