Sulphurs in southeast PA

The sulphurs are out in force on the Delaware. Not that I got to take
advantage of that information.

Saturday, on the first night without the baby at home (praised be the
inlaws), my wife and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. We rode
around the county in the Jeep with the top down. enjoying the
especially balmy weather. At lunch in New Hope, after a particularly
tasty reuben and a Helles lager at Truimph, Emily noticed the mayflies
stuck in spider webs. One had the excellent timing to land on the table
while I had the camera out. I took a few shots with a matchstick as a
size reference. I think a size 14 or so. I'll post in APBF as soon as
my home connection comes back online.

The real hatch pops at night. We were driving through the main street
after dinner (again, in New Hope - there are many eateries there and
every gustatory desire from plastic cup beer and wings to Dom Perignon
and creme-brulee can be satsified, sometimes at the same place) and the
swarm at a streetlight was gigantic. The pedestrians, some in their
night-on-the-town finery were ducking and running and in general making
unhappy noises about the swarm of bugs. I was perfectly enthralled
while watching, so much so that I missed the green light.

Since we were due to pick up the small boy from the inlaws the next
morning, I was unable to even wet a line.

Steve Cain

"Steve Cain" wrote in message
oups.com...
snip
Since we were due to pick up the small boy from the inlaws the next
morning, I was unable to even wet a line.

Steve Cain


Steve,
Is there decent trout fishing in the New Hope area? I was raised
there(actually in Center Bridge), but left almost 50 years ago. In those
days, although we would catch an occaisional trout in the Deleware, it was
essentially a warm water fishery. The nearest flyfishing for trout was on
the Raritan about an hours drive away.

Bob Weinberger - La Grande, OR

Bob Weinberger wrote:


Steve,
Is there decent trout fishing in the New Hope area? I was raised
there(actually in Center Bridge), but left almost 50 years ago. In those
days, although we would catch an occaisional trout in the Deleware, it was
essentially a warm water fishery. The nearest flyfishing for trout was on
the Raritan about an hours drive away.

Bob Weinberger - La Grande, OR

I hear that some of the local creek mouths have spots where big brown
trout and large walleye lurk in the spring, both of which are said to
take a streamer. I have no first-hand knowledge of it, just some rumors
from a local fly shop. On the main, though, you're correct. Parts of it
count as a "coolwater," but from the confluence with the Lehigh to the
salt line is warm water.

The main attractions are the shad and stripers during their runs, with
smallies making a more constant companion (several outfitters offer
packages combining float trips for smallies with nights in the many
bed-and-breakfast joints along the river) and a few souls chasing
catfish. The Tohickon at Point Pleasant, were it managed as a tailwater
fishery, would be a fine trout stream. As it stands, it has several
high-water releases that make some fearsome rapids and tend to ruin the
fishing.

There are a couple of Bucks County tributaries to the Delaware with
wild trout populations, but it doesn't start to get really useful until
you get to Easton and the tributaries to the Lehigh, like the Monocacy,
Saucon and Bushkill. Those are all Class A (Pennsylvania's most
fecund, trout-wise) trout streams.

Steve

"Steve Cain" wrote

The sulphurs are out in force on the Delaware........ I think a size 14 or
so. I'll post in APBF as soon as
my home connection comes back online.

I'd love to see those, as I suspect White Flies(Eporus
Leukon, or some such). They are just about due to
peak on the larger streams. Anyone out there seen the
Yellow Breeches of late??
Tom

Tom Littleton wrote:
"Steve Cain" wrote

The sulphurs are out in force on the Delaware........ I think a size 14 or
so. I'll post in APBF as soon as
my home connection comes back online.

I'd love to see those, as I suspect White Flies(Eporus
Leukon, or some such). They are just about due to
peak on the larger streams. Anyone out there seen the
Yellow Breeches of late??
Tom

The pics should be up soon.

Steve

Tom Littleton wrote:


I'd love to see those, as I suspect White Flies(Eporus
Leukon, or some such). They are just about due to
peak on the larger streams. Anyone out there seen the
Yellow Breeches of late??
Tom

In the Upper West Branch the cold water releases can keep sulphurs going
all summer. Artificial environments aside, they are done in June, so
I'd concur.

"GM" wrote ...
In the Upper West Branch the cold water releases can keep sulphurs going
all summer. Artificial environments aside, they are done in June, so
I'd concur.

We've definately had a big sulfur hatch down here in SE Penna. Lighted
outside wall night before last was covered with sulfurs. Got real close and
took a good hard look at em, and they were sulfurs.

Same night, had a pair of male mayflies I'd never seen before come in and
sit on the computer screen. Transparent legs and abdomen, eyes on stalks
like dumbells. Looked at one under the microscope and could shine light
right through it, and could see fluids moving through the abdomen.

Been a weird bug year - no fireflies, no box elder bugs, bagworms are
everywhere. Looked for the sulphurs last night, but only found a luna moth.


--
Timothy Juvenal
www.tjwoodworking.com

Steve Cain wrote:
The sulphurs are out in force on the Delaware. Not that I got to take
advantage of that information.


No local information here, but I do have an observation that might be
relevant:

The Sulfur hatches we have in the west usually start
late in afternoon or evening. Are these the same mayflies?
Or is it just a name collision?

Our Sulfurs are tiny #18 - #22 mayflies that are a little
browner (but not much) than the slightly larger and yellower
Pale Morning Duns. The pmds hatch at midday, and those
duns tend to ride the surface for long distances before flying
off. So trout often take the floating pmd adults. IE pmd hatches
mean good dry fly fishing.

But western Sulfur duns fly the moment they pop up out of the
surface tension. Not surprisingly, the dry fly fishing is tough.
If you want to catch fish during the Sulfur hatch, in Montana,
you're better off fishing nymphs or half-sunken emergers.

Does that fit the Delaware pattern too?

wrote in message
oups.com...

Steve Cain wrote:
The sulphurs are out in force on the Delaware. Not that I got to take
advantage of that information.


No local information here, but I do have an observation that might be
relevant:

The Sulfur hatches we have in the west usually start
late in afternoon or evening. Are these the same mayflies?
Or is it just a name collision?

Our Sulfurs are tiny #18 - #22 mayflies that are a little
browner (but not much) than the slightly larger and yellower
Pale Morning Duns. The pmds hatch at midday, and those
duns tend to ride the surface for long distances before flying
off. So trout often take the floating pmd adults. IE pmd hatches
mean good dry fly fishing.

But western Sulfur duns fly the moment they pop up out of the
surface tension. Not surprisingly, the dry fly fishing is tough.
If you want to catch fish during the Sulfur hatch, in Montana,
you're better off fishing nymphs or half-sunken emergers.

Does that fit the Delaware pattern too?


well, our standard sulfur hatches are pretty similar. More than a couple
phases, I find PA fish key on different things for near-unfathomable
reasons, tricky fishing as it usually
is getting dark when the heavy feeding happens. Making
PA(and, the Delaware specifically) tough at times is that
there are at least 3, maybe a few more, species that go
by the name Sulfur, and hatches overlap. So, you may see a lot of #14 orange
sulfurs, but the fish notice those #16
pale sulfur or tan spinners in the surface. Yellow mayfly species are
possible the height of technical angling down this way.
Tom