Aside from the peak years when the spring shad run was plentiful, I have never felt crowded by other fisherman on the Delaware. Many times I fished and caught plenty in solitude. One of my most memorable days was near the mouth of the Bushkill River. I caught and released over thirty trout from 12 to 22 inches, with many between 14 and 18 inches, in not more than a couple hours of fishing! It was the day after Thanksgiving with not another person in sight! They were all beautifully colored, fat browns with a few spectacular brookies and rainbows in the mix. I caught them on 3 lb test and a 6 ft ultra light rod. I was using baby night crawlers and still caught them on Rooster tails when the bait was gone! I also remember the day when a fishing buddy of mine and I caught dozens of chunky small mouths. Towards the end of that morning, he was reeling in a foot long smallie when a monster of a musky came out of nowhere. It violently took that bass close to our small johnboat getting both of us wet! That was definitely one of those “we need a bigger boat” moments!

Last fall, my son and I took our “Fatboy” canoe (mentioned in a previous article) just north of the Delaware Water Gap. Using our little electric motor, we made several two to three mile drifts fishing only with shiners and night crawlers on medium action

spinning combos and 6-8 lb test line. We caught plenty of nice smallies, some decent channel cats, and perch. We had several huge carp (I estimated between 25 and 35 lbs.) and channel cats in the 15- 20 lbs. range, cruised under us. It was fun, relaxing and provided plenty of action.

There are many areas and ways to fish the Delaware.  Like anywhere else, check Fish and Game postings, Hot Lines and local tackle shops when planning a trip. State access ramps are spread out along the river. If you are boating, make sure you have a shallow drive motor, a suitable anchor and something better than a canoe paddle to check your depth! Here are some tips to get you started.

Seasonal Highlights

 Spring

Spring adds some excitement to the Delaware and starting in early April, Shad begin to work their way upriver. Depending on water temperature, level and clarity, these fish will usually make their way upriver from the bay and reach the Delaware Water Gap area later in the month. They usually average between 3 and 7 pounds, with the egg-laden females outweighing the smaller “bucks”. These are ocean speedsters with paper mouths! My favorite outfit for shad is a 9-10 ft. “noodle rod”, (suited for light steelhead action) and a light-spinning reel spooled with premium 4 lb test. This combo really lets the Shad do their thing, which is often screaming runs and aerial acrobatics, that will make you think “mini Tarpon”! Fishing from a boat, you want to anchor in or just off the channels. Any narrow chutes or bottlenecks are a good place to start. Try fishing large shad darts and about 18-24” up your mainline tie on a 3-way swivel and run a shad flutter spoon. Adjust the weight/size of the dart to make sure you are just off the bottom and start twitching your rod. If you have downriggers stack two flutter spoons off the cable about 5-10 feet behind the weight. Make sure the release tension is very light!

If you are wading or shore fishing, you want to make long sweeping casts up current and work the darts or flutter spoons downstream slowly. Try to fish the narrow current areas that have long pools below. Always use fluorocarbon leaders 18-24” and barrel swivels.

In May, the shad usually end up in the Pocono region and I have caught them until around Memorial Day. Big Stripers also really start to kick in this month, usually following the herring run upriver. Start in the lower section to about Lambertville using live herring or look a like swim baits. You can also get them on big top water plugs at the back of pools. By the time Stripers get past Lambertville and especially from Easton into the Poconos, they seem to love Trout! Try live lining 6-10 inch trout (they can be bought at local private hatcheries in Pa as bait) at the back of the deeper pools at night or even dead trout just off the main channels in the current. Trout swim baits have also been working well. Dusk to dawn (or maybe later on cloudy, foggy or misty days) is primetime. Stripers in the 20 – 30 pound class are not uncommon when using Trout. Make sure you outfitted like you would be in saltwater. Big top water plugs will work also. Eels are also good bait throughout the Delaware. They are a little hard to use and love to get under rocks. One method to fish them is to run them off a downrigger so that they are a foot off the bottom so they can’t get you snagged.

Summer

The river gets busy in the summer. Rafters and tubers invade the Pocono region and rowing teams and pleasure boaters hit the lower reaches. Early morning, night fishing and rainy days are your best bests. If you get out at dawn, drift the longer runs and pools with minnows and night crawlers or anchor up and try bait on one rod and cast plugs with the other. Any small size shad imitation crank bait works well. If you want to target just small mouths, try hellgrammites, crayfish and sculpins. You can net them (with a seine net or fine mesh) yourself by turning rocks over in one of the shallow riffs above the pools. 

Night fishing at the top of the bigger holes for catfish and walleye can be interesting. I know a few guys who use fresh cut bait or frozen cut shad that do well on big channel cats in the holes above and below the I-80 Bridge. They also will cast medium size (3-5”) crank baits, walleye spinners with night crawlers or small top water baits while they wait for the cats. Bank fisherman should target the deepest holes for big cats and try the tail outs at the back of pools for walleye. They will feed at night in these areas. If you fish with worms at night, be ready to catch a lot of BIG eels! Huge carp are most often caught on cornmeal baits during the summer months in the slower runs and pools just off the channels. If you target them, bring your saltwater spinning gear! They are big and will tear up your bass tackle!

Fall

A very wise and experienced musky fisherman once told me that his favorite place to fish for muskies was the Delaware from when the leaves start to turn color until the snow flies! He had fished for them for years and had a thick photo album full of pictures. Most were of him with him holding muskies in his boat with backgrounds that were familiar to me! He would look for cover (such as logs, big boulders or weed beds), cuts in the river (such as springs or tributary mouths) and canopies (any shaded or over grown bank area). He called them the “3 Cs”. Muskies would always be lurking nearby. He would use one rod rigged with a big bait, usually a large, wild, golden shiner or sucker that was 8-10” long. He used 2 other rods with a floating minnow type crank bait 8-12” on one and a large musky spinner on the other. He would put out the bait and cast each lure several times at every likely looking spot.

Walleye fisherman will find that October and November are very good months for walleye as well. Fish the backwaters of the smaller pools or the headwaters of the larger, deeper pools. I know a diehard walleye fisherman that favors drifting the longer pools with small to medium size crayfish in late September and early October. He catches many big fish this way. If the big ones aren’t biting, he then switches to trolling upriver with “square lipped, long bodied crank baits that are 3 – 5 inches (they need to have some bright flashy orange or chartreuse on the belly) to locate fish and then he will start jigging leeches or live bait just off the main channels.  He doesn’t catch many “short walleyes” and has caught plenty of big smallies in the process as well. He fishes from Easton to just north of the Smithfield access ramp in Pike County.

Winter

When weather conditions permit, you can fish the river successfully for walleye and muskies through the winter. However even muskies will slow down and be selective. Slow down both your bait and lure presentations and try the edges of the bigger pools near gravel or sandbars adjacent to deep runs. The bigger fish will haunt these shallows for the warmer water as long as they can dart off to deeper water or close by cover as a security blanket. Late winter walleye will be on the move and a good place to look is near tributary mouths. Dark buck tails tipped with a night crawler are a good bet and you can cover water quickly.

Try to call ahead about river conditions before heading out. Ice jams, quick snowmelts in the upper regions can drastically increase the danger overnight. Don’t be in a hurry to get there because middle of the day fishing is most productive.

Tributaries and High Water

Some of the best BIG trout fishing is at the tributary mouths and lower end of the tributaries in early winter. You will need to hunt these big fish and a good place to start is upriver from I 78. I have mostly fished the area from the Pequest River north and had some great days. You will need a stealthy approach since most of these tributaries run gin clear, especially in early winter. The mouth of the Big Bushkill and Brodhead creeks running out of PA really turn on after Thanksgiving. Try the mouth and upstream about ½ to ¾ of a mile. Work the creeks slow and make long casts. These big trout are spooking when they get into the shallower water. They will take nymphs/wooly buggers/muddlers in addition to baby night crawlers and large butter or mealworms. Unless there has been a quick heat wave, they seem to not be interested in chasing any time of plug or spinner.

Depending on the year’s rainfall, BIG stripers will wander into the tributaries as well. If we get at or close to flood stage in May, it may be worth a try. As soon as the waters are safely fishable and there is some clarity, you may want to take a peek at the lower end of rivers such as the Pequest, Brodhead and Lehigh (below the dam). I saw 2 20+ lb stripers that were caught 2 miles upstream from the Delaware in the Brodhead one flood year. Another year there were several 15+ lb. stripers taken out of a large pool ¼ mile upstream. While fishing the lower Pequest one year, we spooked 2 big stripers about a mile upstream and saw a guy catch one about 100 yards from the mouth that was a 20+ lb. fish. Muskies, walleye and small mouths will also run up these tributaries as well. We’ve caught walleyes in a small creek that you can almost jump across in parts over a mile from the Delaware and I have caught small muskies up to 4 miles upstream. You just never know what goes up that doesn’t come down after high water.

Some of the biggest channel catfish are caught by bank fisherman during high muddy water conditions. Big cats love to hug the steeper bank areas that offer cut backs or backwaters where they can get out of the torrent. A good place to start is around where you would normally catch them during normal conditions and move off to the sides!

The Delaware can be the most relaxing, exciting or dangerous place you could ever think of fishing! “ Yahoo” can become “Oh No!” in an instant. Be especially careful wading or bank fishing. PFD’s are not a bad idea even though you are not in a watercraft. When boating, make sure you WEAR your lifejackets, have a suitable anchor, enough horsepower and a reliable engine. You must check the local regulations because they do vary depending on what state (NY, PA, NJ) you are fishing from.

If you are looking for a place to catch everything from native trout to big stripers and many other species in between, give the “Big D” a try. There are plenty of Guides along the river and access information is abundant through most state websites.

Fish safe, stay dry and always wear your PFDs on the water.  Remember that family fishing is fun too.

Maybe I’ll see you Floating on the Delawre   !!