The Smallmouth Bass of the Delaware River

The sky was just overcast enough to give a feeling of fishing would be unusual, but not enough clouds to cause any immediate concern for rain gear. The July air was heavy. The water was crystal clear and as it tumbled rocks so much colder than it was. A trout fisherman at heart, the colder the better is often our thinking when it comes to summertime trout fishing. It was a good thing we were not trout fishing because the water warm enough to wet wade.

All spring, fly fishermen from throughout the East make the trip to the Upper Delaware River hoping to catch one of the glory of the hatches and maybe a couple of fierce fighting wild rainbows or browns, making the river their home. On their way, many fishermen drive by another stretch of river which has its own challenging wild fishery.

On this day, our good friend and fellow fly fishing guide, Wayne Aldridge, and we decided to show up and take a break from the mediocre trout fishery due to low water flows and warm water. We slipped the boat slides off trailer for a stretch of Delaware that over the last thirty years or so had been one of our favorite smallmouth haunts.

Late in June with roe complete and rising water temperatures increase their metabolism, the smallmouth will return from their honeymoon with a ravenous appetite. If you are a smallmouth fisherman look forward to this as much as trout fishermen anticipate spring Hendrickson and Quill Gordon hatches. For trout addicts, this is a great fishing QUENCHER for the dog days and stagnant warm, shallow water trout streams.

We've pulled a couple of six weights to give a mixture of ammunition, we started out. We chose to try their luck with a sink tip line and one by Dave Skok's mushmouth saltwater flies, while Wayne drives a hell grams mite he tied from Bill Skilton's recipe with Bill's Marabou wooly bugger chenille. It was not long before we were each in the bass, scrapsters but nevertheless smallmouths.

A few fish later and it was time to change flies, and change flies we did. It was now time to play "let's see if they want to eat this"! We do not keep count, but we do not think there was an unused flight of the boat at days end. Nor can we remember not to catch a fish on everything we threw. It is one of the fun parts of this form of fishing. Zonker, EZ Zonker, wooly buggers, Sneaky Pete's, Jim's Trim, Stone Flies, Clousers, crayfish, leaches and others just do not remember, all had their hooks connected to the fish.

This stretch of the Delaware includes over thirty miles of prime smallmouth habitat and is part of the nearly seventy-five kilometers long Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. We caught one eight miles piece of it. The most use this part of the river is looking at recreational canoes and rafters who enjoy its faster flow and relatively far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This more or less slit weekend fishing if you do not mind the traffic is not too bad if you stick to early morning and evening. The greatest fishing pressure this part of the river sees is during May, when most of the spin and some fly fishermen are chasing American shad.

We have to say, as with all fishing, the funniest is when a fish comes to the top to eat your belly. Skipping Sneaky Pete's and Jim's Trim cross grooves gave us almost non-stop action on smaller fish, while the stiffening material the deeper water with streamers and hell grams mite fly gave the bigger fish. All we had to do was to keep our fly fishy looking thing.

Smallmouth bass habitat is easily recognizable. Simply, it looks like trout water, just warmer. Deep lakes, boulder strewn runs, rapids, grooves, cuts and ledge pools is home to what many call the "toughest matches, pound for pound, freshwater game fish." Although native to the Great Lakes and Ohio River drainage, the smallmouth bass have either accidentally or intentionally made the way into the waters throughout North America. Most would agree that he has been welcome transplants of Delaware and has established a safe wild population.

The best time for smallmouth fishing is late June to October. They fly you choose to change with the season, but basically it is a struggle hatch game with hatch, which consists of baitfish, hellgrammites, leeches, baby lampreys, crayfish and the like. Huge selection of patterns is not necessary but you want a good part of each of the patterns you have. A rule of thumb in fisheries is that fly that working the best is the one you only have one of. And then you lose it!

A good mix of wooly buggers in black, brown, white, and olives with white Zonker covers you for baitfish imitations. Not that others do not work. They do, do not hesitate to experiment. We had some really nice fish take impostors, mushmouths, crease flies and other saltwater patterns. But to be successful you really do not need a huge selection of flies, although it does not add to the fun.

Leach patterns in black and olive work well when the baby lampreys are hatched, and standby wooly bugger. Clousers not only covers you in crayfish department, but adds a second act as a baitfish flies too. Stonefly nymphs and hellgrammites fished on a dead service is very efficient. Like trout fishing, discover strikes often require a good deal of concentration, but sometimes they just plain mud as it came to Wayne many times that day. More than once, we could see his hell grams mite fly just sitting, well actually hooked on a rock and a smallmouth would dart behind a boulder and crush his flight. Very cool and very unusual, but we were in the midst of an extraordinary day of fishing.

Add in some Sneaky Pete's, Jim's Trim, Stimulators, deer hair bugs and Wulf style dries, and you're on top, too. White Wulf are good durable imitation to late summer white fly hatch.

The same tackle you use for trout is suitable for smallmouths, but just to be a little specialized nine foot six and seven weights are ideal. Realistically, anything from five to eight weight will do the job. Our choice is a quick effect nine foot six weight. The rigid rod is a great help in driving the hook home.

Lines, leaders and tippets can be so assorted and as complex as you want to do it. A floating line with a seven to nine feet head down to 3X is a good start and one that would see the most use. Sink tip and full sinking lines have their place in the deeper pools and runs. Here, three or four feet in pure mono or fluorocarbon in the eight-pound test range works fine.

The time of day, mostly affects the type of water you choose to fish and what techniques to use. In the early morning and late evening, the fish often move into some very shallow areas where they hunt or wait for the currents feed them. In the slower pools, this may mean weed beds, rock rubble or submerged logs and the like. Underwater humps are another area not to be over looked. Many times you will find bass herding dog bait against the bank or wedging them against some structure. It mostly happens really early or very late and the fish is usually good.

During midday, the fish take cover in the deep ledge pools and fast running grooves and channels. The pools provide a different kind of challenge page here, you should use sinking lines and painfully slow download to prompt a strike. Expects to take to be subtle and when it comes to cracking.

With rivers banks on both Pennsylvania and New York side of the river in private ownership, walk-in access is limited, but there are several boat launches that provide surface access. If you prefer to stay at the foothills just stay below the high water mark, and you can wade where you like from these areas also.

On the New York side of the river is accessible from State Route 97th this scenic route runs from Port Jervis, NY to Hancock, NY. Starts at its downriver section of Port Jervis and travel north, you will find five well marked public access points between Narrowsburg and Port Jervis, NY. Pennsylvania side is slightly more difficult to negotiate because there is a road that follows the river, but rather a network of roads that go to and from the river at various locations. A good map as a Delorme Gazetteer will simplify things a lot. A pair of Pennsylvania accesses, such as Lackawaxen and Darbytown is also easy to find from Route 97 to New page.

A NY or PA fishing license is valid on the river or from either coast. Unless you are a Pennsylvania resident, New York offers the best value for an American citizen angler. We never caught up into a big fish this day, a couple of fifteen to Seventeen inches won the pot, but we had so much fun with a lot of small guys, and through the years we have learned, you never know when that four pound plus fish going to get your flight. So when summer heat is your favorite trout water shut down, or if you just want to have fun and challenging fishing for any other game fish, Delaware River has some feisty smallmouth bass waiting for you.