The West Branch is a tailwater river that begins as a release from the Cannonsville Reservoir near Deposit, NY. It is considered a blue ribbon trout stream with abundant insect life and one of the largest percentage of fish per mile of all the Catskill rivers. At Deposit from where Rte 17 crosses the stream, there begins the Special Regulation section of Catch & Release only. The river eventually joins the East Branch to form the main stem of the Delaware River. Fisherman can find easily marked pullout areas to access the stream to wade the banks or can enlist the use of a drift boats to float down to Hale Eddy or further to Hancock accessing miles of hard to reach sections of the river. The river does rise and fall more regularly through controlled releases at the dam which can affect the turbidity and disrupt dependable insect hatches.

The West Branch is essentially the Madison of the east coast and allows the angler an opportunity to catch trophy brown trout. The fish are known to be very selective as they have an ample and steady food source so matching the hatch can be very frustrating at times when fish are feeding all around you. Fishing from a drift boat can be very productive to target and induce lower pressure opportunistic fish to take surface flies.