Fishing Report

As of right now the Upper Delaware Rivers with the Beaverkill and Willowemoc are all low. The flow charts show every river below average. The reservoir system is about 5% lower than the yearly average on this date. The total reservoir system for NYC drinking water is 84% full. That’s shy of the 89% average historically speaking.

The Upper Delaware rivers will get about an inch of rain this week which should pump a lot of the rivers bank full. The precipitation will also help fill up the reservoirs some. We need a good big snow before the spring comes. The snow pack is anywhere from 0” to 10” depending where you might be in the hills. Some higher altitude north facing mountains have the volume of the snow pack.

Be careful this weekend if you are headed to the river. There will be big ice chunks floating down the river during this thaw. The more downstream you get in rivers the higher possibility you will see ice.

To see up to date flow charts click here.

We have had some cold times up here in the Catskills this past month. Shelf ice and ice that takes shape across the slow pools will breakup during the warmer spells. This Thursday and Friday it might happen.

The picture above is on the Beaverkill this weekend. Scotty in the picture is 6’0” tall so you can see how tall the ice is in some spots. The ice can be devastating to bug populations if while traveling down river in scores the bottom of the river. The freestone streams such as the Beaverkill or the Willowemoc tend to get more ice than the tailwaters. The West and East Branches of the Delaware generally will be pretty ice free until you get far enough away from the dam. In some years the state has had to explode ice pileups near public bridges.

Later this week I’ll add in what I think about the Upper Delaware Watershed water levels. From the reservoirs to the rivers. Don’t forget if you want to see all the flow charts at once just visit our FLOWS PAGE.