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West Branch Delaware River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Cannonsville's tailwater: 18 miles of wild brown and rainbow trout water from the dam to Hancock.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
271 cfs
Air / High
58 / 59 F
Wind
NNE 6 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 01426500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

West Branch Delaware River fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 271 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 6 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 59. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:35 AM-11:35 AM and 10:04 PM-12:04 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Similar at 59 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

New York requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents. What a New York licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with DEC before you keep anything. The season dates for New York, read off the agency, are on the New York seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from West Branch Delaware River at Hale Eddy.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 01426500.

373564754271 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 113 years of October 23

At 271 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 01426500 (West Branch Delaware River at Hale Eddy) is at the 35th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 113 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 415 cfs; the highest was 4,660 cfs and the lowest 32 cfs.

p10 89median 415p90 1,322

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 01426500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F
High / Low59 / 35 F
WindNNE 6-8 mph
Pressure1027.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:23 / 18:07
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)55 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish West Branch Delaware River this week

The best day on West Branch Delaware River this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:35 AM-11:35 AM and 10:04 PM-12:04 AM
Minor period
3:57 AM-4:57 AM
Sun
07:23 to 18:07
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on West Branch Delaware River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the West Branch Delaware River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks West Branch Delaware River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 62 F, wind to 12 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 63 F, wind to 7 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

New York requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

New York fishing license; on the border water, check both NYSDEC and PFBC boundary-water rules. The river has a no-kill reach: read DEC's special regulations before keeping any trout.

Access

PFBC Balls Eddy and Shehawken access areas on the border water; public fishing on the New York reaches upstream.

About this water

An 18-mile cold tailwater from Cannonsville Dam to Hancock, Delaware County, New York, joining the East Branch to form the Delaware River; USGS gauge 01426500 is at Hale Eddy.

Fishing West Branch Delaware River: the full guide

A wild-trout tailwater

The West Branch runs 18 miles from Cannonsville Dam to its confluence with the East Branch at Hancock, part of the New York City reservoir tailwaters that NYSDEC calls an increasingly popular destination for wild trout. In DEC's 2018 creel survey of the tailwaters, anglers released 97.5 percent of the brown trout and 99 percent of the rainbows they caught, and most angler hours were logged on the West Branch.

Releases set the river

Reservoir releases follow the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decree and the Flexible Flow Management Plan; under normal operations the top summer target flow is 525 cfs, and unmanaged spills after heavy rain can push flows past 1,000 cfs. DEC notes that high water favors boat anglers and low water favors waders.

Reaches and access

DEC's survey divides the river into the Stilesville, No Kill, Hale Eddy and Border Water reaches, and the lowest miles form the New York-Pennsylvania line. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Balls Eddy and Shehawken access areas, in Wayne County, sit on that border water.

Common questions

Do anglers keep fish here?

Rarely: in DEC's 2018 creel survey nearly all trout caught on the tailwaters were released.

What flow is normal in summer?

Under the Flexible Flow Management Plan, managed releases generally peak around 525 cfs in summer, though spills after heavy rain run much higher.

Do I need a boat?

No. Wading works at lower flows, while high flows favor boats launched at PFBC's Balls Eddy or Shehawken.

Is fishing good at West Branch Delaware River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Beaverkill21 miDelaware River23 miWillowemoc Creek29 miLake Wallenpaupack41 miEsopus Creek55 miOtsego Lake60 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 01426500 β€” West Branch Delaware River at Hale Eddy
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 42.0000, -75.3800 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.