Mid-Atlantic
Fly fishing in Delaware
Short answer
Delaware has no wild trout and no cold water that holds them through summer. It stocks a handful of streams in the north of the state each spring and autumn, and a trout stamp is required to fish them in season. The rest of the year the fly rod is for smallmouth, snakeheads and striped bass. A licence is required from age 16.
What makes Delaware different
Delaware is the second-smallest state and the flattest in the country, and its trout fishing is correspondingly brief and specific: a short list of streams in the rolling northern tip above the fall line — White Clay Creek, the Christina, Wilson Run — stocked in spring and again in autumn, with the trout stamp requirement switched on for those windows and off the rest of the year. Nobody should plan a trip around it. What is worth knowing is that Delaware sells the cheapest fishing licence in the United States at eight dollars and fifty cents for a resident, and that behind the modest trout programme sits genuinely interesting fly water — smallmouth in the upper Brandywine, northern snakehead in the tidal ditches, and striped bass in Delaware Bay that run to a size no trout in the state ever will.
What trout and other fish are in Delaware?
- Rainbow trout
- Stocked into the northern streams each spring and autumn, and the bulk of the programme.
- Brown trout
- Stocked in smaller numbers, with occasional holdovers in the coldest water.
- Smallmouth bass
- The upper Brandywine and White Clay. The best river fly fishing in the state.
- Striped bass
- Delaware Bay and the Delaware River, and a serious fly target in spring.
- Northern snakehead
- Invasive, abundant in the tidal ditches, and an unexpectedly good fly-rod fish.
Where to fly fish in Delaware
- White Clay Creek
- The best-known trout stream in Delaware, stocked and running through a state park.
- Christina Creek
- On the stocking list, close to Newark and easy to reach.
- Wilson Run
- A small stocked stream through Brandywine Creek State Park.
- Brandywine Creek
- Not trout below the stocked reaches, but good smallmouth water all summer.
- Nanticoke River
- Tidal, and full of snakeheads and largemouth.
- Delaware Bay
- Striped bass in spring and autumn, which is the state's real fly fishing.
When to fly fish in Delaware
| When | What is happening |
|---|---|
| March – May | The spring trout stocking and the opening of the season on the designated streams. |
| May – June | Trout thin out as the water warms. Smallmouth and stripers take over. |
| July – August | No trout fishing worth the name. Snakeheads in the ditches and bass at dawn. |
| September – October | Autumn stocking brings trout back to the northern streams, and the bay fishes well. |
| November – February | Quiet. A few holdover trout, and striped bass offshore for the determined. |
Do you need a license to fly fish in Delaware?
Yes. Licenses are issued by Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife.
| License | Price |
|---|---|
| Resident, annual | $12.70 |
| Non-resident, annual | $26.20 |
The totals are the annual fishing licence plus the trout stamp — $8.50 and $4.20 for residents aged 16 to 64, $20 and $6.20 for non-residents. The $8.50 resident licence is the cheapest in the United States. Agent and online service fees of around $2.50 are extra. Prices change — check with the agency before you buy.
Rules worth knowing before you go
- A fishing licence is required from age 16, and a trout stamp is required in addition to fish designated trout streams during the stocking seasons.
- Residents aged 65 and over are exempt from the trout stamp.
- Licences run the calendar year rather than a year from purchase.
- A boat fishing licence covers everyone aboard, which is unusual and can be cheaper for a group.
- Tidal water, including the bay, is covered by the Fisherman Information Network registration rather than the freshwater licence — check which you need.
Regulations change every year and vary water by water. The Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife rule book is the only authority — this page is a starting point, not a legal reference.
Flies that matter in Delaware
Each of these is a card in the deck, and each has a full page in Our Fly-brary.
Keep reading
- Do I need a fishing license? — how licensing works across states
- How to read water — where trout hold, anywhere
- Best time of day to fly fish — the seasonal logic behind the table above
- Our Fly-brary — every fly in the deck, explained
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The deck
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