The end of spring fishing

This week PPL has eliminated weekend fishing from the schedule. They will be generating power from 6 to 9 everyday. If you're close by you can get down and fish Til about 8 am. But be careful. This is a great time of year for small yellow stones, a light grey caddis and tan caddis.
Time to hit the west branch of the Delaware.for wild brown and the main stem for smallies, wallies and the odd carp. Smallmouth are about the most fun you can have besides a rainbow. They can get pretty big but 10" is about average.

Much needed rain does little to raise the rivers

We are in the midst of an extended low water event. It started last summer and has continued until now. Some communities in NEPA are having rainfall defects of up to 6" for the year. The Lackawaxen is down to August levels. The tubes have been running during the daytimes keeping the stream cool. The benefit of a tailwater fishery. Even the past few days of extreme heat having affected to water temps drastically.

As of today 5/28 PPL has not posted next weeks generation schedule. I'm hoping it will be similar to the past couple of weeks. Ending the power run at 5pm give you plenty of time to fish this time of year all the way down to Millers maybe but certainly to the pool at Blooming Grove Creek.

My last several trips to the Lackawaxen have shown little evidence of the popularity the the river has had in years past. At the most only a handful of cars at the usual spots all the way from Molly's down to Zane Grey. In the mid 90's there would have been a car or two at every pool. I makes for easy fishing opportunities but few fellow fisherman to share lies with.

PPL is being very generous. Thank you PPL.

This past week and next there are good fishing opportunities for the Lackawaxen Throught he weekend we have no power and during the week we can fish til 9 on the lower river and 7:30 on the upper. In the evening we can get in the stream by 6:30. Pray for hatches which have been sparse this year at least while I've been around. That goes for the Beaverkill and the main stem. Winter was harsh and ice was thick.

On Friday May 22 we did a drift down the Delaware with SweetWater Guide service. Make Padua. The wind was bad the fishing was ok not great but good and a lot of fun. The fast water produced trout and the medium water produced smallies. At the last riffle we caught a nice shad. I looked fresh bright and shinny.

Sweetwater is a local guiding service father and son. Click here for more info: http://www.sweetwaterguide.com

PPL playing games on their web site?

On Thursday noon ppl has schedule up to Sunday. Then listings for the four upcoming Friday's noting boating releases. I think it's still illegal to start an finish a boat trip in Lackawaxen but I may be wrong. And the listing may change. The weird thing is that we are scheduled for a stocking on Tuesday the 12th. The worm guys are generally gone by then and we can fish this batch while there are great hatches.. At least we hope.

I haven't been a ble to find the time to fish much with the winter holding on so long I have to get a lot done in a short time. Hopefully this evening. I have fished for shad with some luck but the Delaware is really low and the shad are running a bit slow now.

On Monday I scheduled to float the Delaware. Bad weather is predicted. I don't mind rain but wind and lightning are no fun. We will see.

No power generation scheduled this week.

Wow no pawer generation all week. could be good or bad. With not rain scheduled the water can get very warm and stress the fish. But it does give us all day opportunity to fish. Yeah.

I fished last week, Wednesday and Thursday, at odd hours with no luck. A couple of misses on marabou bead heads. There were more than million of caddis Thursday. Amazing.  After I got broken down and packed up the caddis disappeared and wind died just like that. In some of the small eddies that haven't held fish in the past all of a sudden there was a lot of splashy surface feeding. The riffs and pool heads had not activity. Odd. Blooming Grove pool had the only other fisherman that I saw. Again lots of still water rises. Other at the head of the pool. Down at Brights pool the were a few working out in the very middle. This weekend things should get real strong the dark mayflies should be big. I'll be heading over this evening.

The shad are in at Narrowsburg and Zane Gray. If you've never fished for shad do it. They are a blast.

I'm adding to this post. Last weekendd the PPL page showed not scheduled generation. it seems there was!

IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO CALL 1800 807 2474 BEFORE YOU START YOUR CAR.

It's cold. But fishable for a few hardy souls.

if you look at the USGS Gage's foe Rowland Bridge this morning you see some cold numbers. The water is high but manageable for those with good pins. I haven't been to the river today but I can guess there's some of the usual suspects. Caddies, yellow stone, black stone, blue quill. The Binghamton weather service says continued cold with some sun more sun tomorrow.
The tubes will probably be running this week giving you the opportunity to fish in town. There are some good spots. I usually do better nymph ing the bottom this time of year there. Look for the riffles.
I'm going be over by the Dyberry today. If I get a chance I may try to toss a fly or two. I may even run up to Roscoe to see if the NY fashion set has arrived yet.
Remember some great streams are only 45 minutes to an hour away. The main stem at Kellams Bridge, the West Branch at 191 bridge, the Beverkill and Willowemoc in Livingston Manor up to Roscoe. There's even more great wild trout fishing on the upper braches of the Delaware. Check out Catskill Flies link for conditions and info.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv/?site_no=01432110&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,00010

http://www.catskillflies.com/pages/stream-conditions

Maybe this weekend🙏

Let's hope that the weather holds off and things dry out over the next few days. The trend on the usgs graphs are for highish water levels by Saturday or Sunday. I looks like water and air temps will be cold. Maybe we'll see some hatches. But chances are it will be blind wet, or bugger patterns.

Fishing opportunities will be limited to weekends this year as they were last year. Pay close attention to the PPL generation schedule link to see if and when the 'tubes' are scheduled.

I'm working on a table that show the time differentials of pool filling and draining relative to power run starts and stops. Stay tuned.

Opening weekend has come and gone

Typical foe the first days of the season even though etiolate tis year. High water, cold real cold water and very few hatches. I did see a few big yellow stone and some small black caddis though not in great numbers.

As for the fisherman. There were a few very few posting tossing live bait on spinning gear. I did see one guy below the Rowland bridge netting a fish using a fly rod.

The water was beautiful. The weather was lovely if a bit too warm. Rain is forecast for the next few days with steady rain on Monday and showers through Thursday. I'll try to get out Tuesday or Wednesday if the water doesn't get too high.

5 day countdown

Only 5 days until opening day. The water levels are coming down and looks like they'll be close to normal by Saturday. Weather.com products light rain and showers for Friday and Saturday with temps in the 60s. Not so bad water temps will still be sub optimum. Better worn fishing than dry flies. Should be good for wooly buggers and such. The following Saturday is the start of spring turkey which shuts down at noon. This month will be a full plate of outdoor activity. Last couple of weeks for preserve pheasants, trout turkeys and maybe even shad. Oh and I have a new dog to train. This is Duncan from Decoverly Kennels. A big boy very soft and a bit shy of the gun. So what I getting a little long in the tooth to be chasing birds around.

The shad are coming the shad are coming...

They are on their way. We don't know how long or how many. But they'll be here within a few weeks.  I have to say catching shad is a blast. They can jump and fight like hell. They take streamers designed for the task and of course darts on spinning gear. I like using a dart with a flutter spoon dropper. There's lot of spots to fish for them. Just below the Roeblings bridge is good. More to come as they travel up to Wayne county.


http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2015/04/lewis_fishery_back_on_the_delaware_seining_for_sha.html

A bright sunny day

This is a picture of me fishing in the Dollar Hole about 10 years ago. When there was easy access. Back when neighbors were neighbors not selfish neighbors. The selfish neighbors who own(ed) the rental house on the pool were using this shot of me on the online ad. 

Anyway I stumbled over this and it cheered me up because there was no snow in the picture and... well and.

News story from the Wayne Independent.

http://m.wayneindependent.com/article/20150403/NEWS/150409908

We've heard this before.

Pool by pool

As soon as the river settles down I'm going to start a project of photographing the Lackawaxen pool by pool and posting them attached to a google map for all to see. Maybe some of you might like to help. You could post the pictures on our companion Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Lackawxenriver

New Lackawaxen Facebook page...

Just started a new Facebook page for the Lackawaxen

https://www.facebook.com/Lackawxenriver

PPL Lake elevation and power generation schedule

800.807.2474

The train is back!

Yes that's a train on the track along the Lackawaxen River. This photo by E. Doughty was snapped last week. There's a new owner of the Stourbridge Line. They are planning to bring back the excursions and even freight. 

First bug sightings

I took a ride today along the Delaware and Lackawaxen. The Lackawaxen was running along with ice only on the edges of the shore. Still too high to wade. Power generation is not scheduled this week so we'll get to see how the levels trend.
The Delaware above Zane Grey is stll iced but I could see large blocks breaking up. I checked out a couple of ponds that I fish and there were still guys ice fishing on them!
At Ten Mile River access I found black stone flies in numbers about a size 14 or 16.. The ice there too was breaking and groaning.
I went to two sport shops looking for darts for when the shad run starts. Neither had anything in stock!  The pool at Narrowsburg is so locked with ice that it may be a while before the shad can even make it up here. I'm looking forward to shad. It will be my first wading test on the new knee. And shad are great fun to catch.

I'll be heading up to Roscoe, Hancock,  Deposit and the Lacawanna this week to see what the local conditions are and what the local fly shops have to say.

Back Again

The Tow Path blog is back. It's 2015. The end of March. There is still a foot of snow on the ground in my field. The Delaware is frozen solid above the Lackawaxen. But I'm still looking forward to fishing on the river next month. It has been 2 years since I've been able to wade. Hopefully with my new right knee that will be resolved.

What hasn't been resolved is the parking along the Lackawaxen. Places where I've parked for the last 25 odd years are blocked by large rocks placed I assume by land owners who want the fish but not the fisherman. Nasty fisherman. It's the Broadheadisation of the Lackawaxen. The state still stocks yet there is dwindling access. What was once a modest economic boost for the businesses in the township, is now negligible. A few rental property owners want to benefit from free state stocking by not legally posting their land. Just illegally blocking parking easements that have existed for decades. The TU chapter hasn't fought hard enough to force the the town of Lackawaxen to remove the obstructions. As a taxpayer in Lackawaxen, I own property there, I'm a bit pissed off at this development of the past couple of years. I may have to bring my tractor over in the dark of the night.

But let's focus on the good things, warm weather is coming, eventually. Mayflies and caddis will flitter about the streams and the trout will rise to our flies... I hope.