Planning Your Trip: What to Bring & What to Expect
You can find all the gear you need for a successful day on the Delaware at the Delaware River Club's fully stocked fly shop. Or, you can bring your own gear and fill in at our fly shop as needed. Because the Upper Delaware and its tributaries are fairly wide streams, often requiring long casts, medium-to fast-action rods in the 9-foot five-weight range are suggested.
A quality disk-drag fly reel will help hold one of the Delaware's largest fish, if you are one of the lucky anglers to hook one. Weight-forward lines assist in long casts. Whether fly fishing from a boat or wading, a quality pair of lightweight, breathable waders and felt-soled wading boots should keep you comfortable all day.
If fishing the colder seasons in late spring and late fall – make sure to layer your clothing. Polarized sunglasses are a must, not only for safety, but to help read the water and locate feeding trout.
Rods – When fishing the Delaware, we suggest that you use a 9 foot fly rod with 5 or 6 weight for dry flies and 6 to 8 weight for streamers.
Leaders – Generally, you need a 5x or 6x, but depending on the clarity of the water, you may need a 7x, in the 9' to 12' range.
Lines – You will need to use a floating line for dry flies and a sink tip for streamers.
Wet Flies – Nymph or Soft Tackle
Dry Flies – Please refer to our Hatch Chart for specific seasonal flies, but regardless of the date of your trip to the Delaware River, plan on using some sort of olive on any overcast day. Furthermore, a variety of sizes and colors of caddis will hatch throughout the season. If you don't see fish rising on the top, a good option is to go sub-surface and try nymphing them up. But if the water is high and off color, you can try pounding the banks with streamers.
Fishing License – Since the Delaware is a border river between New York and Pennsylvania, the states have a reciprocal fishing license agreement for the Main Stem. Therefore, you can fish with either a New York or Pennsylvania license on the Main Stem. Click here to purchase your Pennsylvania fishing license online - http://www.takemefishing.org/. The East Branch and Upper West Branch require a New York fishing license. You can pick this up at your local New York Sportsman's Shop (or locally at Marino's Outdoor World).
Catch & Release - At the DRC, we practice strictly catch and release. We feel that this allows everyone the opportunity to catch fish and enjoy them year after year. The river system also benefits since fish of all ages are swimming in these waters. Photos last a lifetime – we encourage you to bring your camera in order to capture your memories.
