West Branch Delaware river float trip 10/15/17:

[AndyS]

Wilson and I floated the West branch of the Delaware river on October 15th. Nice to have a guide that launches the drift boat in the dark so you can be the first ones on the river that day. Releases from Cannonsville res. made it possible to float BUT it also made the water cloudy from the half full reservoir.
Seemingly slow start in the heavy overcast at grey light quickly turned into a good bite. I was still looking at the Rt. 17 bridge in Deposit and had caught 3 nice brown trout already. Morning bite was good, no shortage of hard fighting brown trout. After and early lunch the cloudless sky and bright sun made the fish very apprehensive, hits were few and far between.
The wind by late in the day was a little unrelenting so we were ready to call it a day by the time we hit Balls Eddy. If I said the leaves weren't a PIA I would be a liar. Had thought of floating the main stem on 10/16 (since the WB will now be closed till April) but with sustained winds of 10 to 20 mph and gusts to 25 in the forecast we opted out.
I think in the end Wilson and I caught at least 12 browns each, some up to 18", just couldn't crack the 20" mark. I have some pics, Wilson has more.