Below are the reports by Steve Meserve of the Lewis Fishery in Lambertville, NJ. The fishery is always looking for more volunteers, so if you are interested, Steve can be contacted at lewisfishery@comcast.net
 

6/3/11

Well, the week started stinking hot. We decided to give a haul a try on Tuesday. Fishing in shorts is just not right but we went out. the river was at 2.71 and rising. We had 100 yards of net on. All we got were two carp and one catfish. Looks like the end of the season. So Thursday looks a lot cooler and we decide to give it one more try with 200 yards. the water temp was 74F (Same as Tuesday). Water was at 2.71 again and steady this time. We come in with 6 American shad (4 roe 1 buck and 1 returned) and one sunfish. We'll be out there again tonight. Who knows, we may be fishing into the middle of June at this rate.

5/31/11

We were finally able to get a haul in on Thursday. The water was 66F and just under 4'. All we could manage were rocks. The next night was a bit better water was 70F and about the same height. We got 4 American shad. Two roe and two bucks. We will be out again tonight to see what we can get. With the water staying so high so long we might be able to fish into next week (if we don't melt from the heat in the meantime).

5/16/11

So, Monday night was another gray one with muddy water. We were still able to get 5 shad (4 roe and one returned). There were also a carp, 2 catfish and 10 smallmouth bass. Water was 64F and running at 2.41'. Tuesday there were predictions forheavy rain and thunderstorms starting around 8 and a rise in the river that would have made it about 10' in Lambertville. With that information we moved nets, brought some things up from under the cabin and took some other things off the island all together. Rain didn't come until later and now the predictions have the river getting to about 6'+/- in Lambertville. Oh, well. Weather looks to keep us off the water tonight. We'll see if the river comes up as much as they say it will. If it doesn't we may get a haul in tomorrow, but it's not looking good.

5/13/11

Friday was a good day to be on the river (what days aren't). However, the shad had other plans. We got one roe and one herring. We also got 2 small mouth bass, 4 catfish, 5 suckers and two quillback. The river was at 2.3' and still 64F. We'll have to see if the weather will give us a break to get out tonight.
 

5/12/11

A better night.  A lot of boat traffic, a bit windy but still a good night to be on the river.  We got 9 American shad (6 roe and 3 bucks), 4 small mouth bass and 1 catfish.  Water temp was still 64F and the river was at 2.48'.  A couple of the roes were spilling eggs.  Another one had one of the smallest egg sacks I have ever seen.  Quite the range of fish.  I still think we will see fish for most of the rest of the month.  Let's hope we don't get too much rain this weekend.

5/11/11

Interesting night last night. Dragon boats, jet skis, broken roes and a warning sign in the net. We did manage to get two buck shad. There was also a gizzard shad, a REALLY BIG catfish and a bass. Water temp was up to 64F and the river was at 2.65'. The sign we caught was one of the ones that were put up when the Delaware Joint Toll Bridge Commission was doing repairs on bridges up and down the river. There was a high water and they were gone. Well, not really. The one we got might have come from Stockton. Our landsman said he picked it up above where the one for the Lambertville bridge was placed. Who knows. All I know is it messed up getting the net in and we most likely lost a few fish because of it. It could have been worse. A rope on the land end broke and we almost had the net take off down stream. We should have gotten it in but would have lost the whole haul. Oh well, tonight is another night.

5/10/11

Things are looking up.  We got 7 American shad last night (kept 4 roe and returned 3) and 1 gizzard shad.  The water was 60F and was at 2.97'.  We are at 200 yards of net.  Looks like the river will continue to fall the rest of the week.

5/9/11

Better news today.  We made two hauls tonight.  The first one netted us one buck and one roe.  The second one got us two roe.  We also got a total of 6 small mouth bass, 1 quilback and one trout.  The water was 59F and at 3.17.  We already have an extra 100 yards on for tomorrow night.  Here's hoping that things keep getting better.  And with a little luck we can build a bridge this weekend.

4/11/11

Another zero night for us. I think we are short on net. If the river does not go up today and the weather lets us out we will add 100 yards on. The river was at 2.98' and 52F. We did get can get one carp and one gizzard shad.
 

4/5/11

Shad-O! We got 8 shad last night. We kept 3 bucks and 1 roe. We returned 4. The water temp was 44F. The river was at 2.86. There was good size to all the fish. We also got 2bass, 1 catfish and 1 sucker. Now we have to wait and see what this rain will do to us.

3/26/11

Due to high water and our bridge going out at the beginning of the month we are a bit late in getting started this year. If the weather/water cooperate we will go out next Saturday (4/2) for our first haul.

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