Fishing Log

Poxono to Port Jervis will have peak numbers of shad this weekend, but I don't see waters being fishable until maybe Monday, they are still rising and forecasted to go up another foot. Any good catches I predict would be further north from shore anglers. Me personally, would not take boat, but would consider wading but I am hanging it up for the season.

Anyone think fishing at Dingmans might yield some action this memorial day weekend or best to get up river several miles? Appreciate any advice. Thanks

Thanks Nate for the update on Easton conditions.

Last time I fished before the flooding was 5/2, from shore. Went wading tonight with my buddy N of Gap, and we finally got the action we have been hoping for. 18 days no shad fishing in May, we were rewarded with with 59 shad between us... 2 rods. Not sure we could have beat that with 6 rods from the boat in the 3 hours we fished.... 60% roe, all fish very fresh. Now the rains are coming to tie the knot on end of season for me.... Most of the afternoon, we were getting a hit every cast and left them biting at 8PM..... Take it for what it's worth, but we basically lost 18 days of a very good shad run....

I was in Easton Saturday. Brown chocolate milk, zero boats, zero fisherman, water rushing out of the Lehigh was dirty and the banks were flooded

Been too busy to get out. Would I be wasting a day if I went to my spot in Easton for shore fishing? 1.5 hours each way. Thanks!

You’ll never see water moccasins north of southern NC, despite endless old tales them being in our region. It was never true, they can’t survive winters here.

Just northern watersnakes Linedog. They can be a bit of a pain in the butt, and a bit aggressive. You were probably standing on some nice location for them to sun themselves, and they were annoyed that any human would be so brazen as to be on their river.

Fished 2.5 hours yesterday (Thursday) wading way above Port Jervis. Fished 4pm to 5pm and saw the rain coming from the south, and made it back to my truck for half an hour for shelter. Picked up 4 shad in that previous hour. Resumed fishing at 5:30pm with much fog on the river now. Visibility was no more than 1/4 mile. Didn't seem to bother the fish, though, as I landed 5 more in the next hour. Action seemed to slow then, so I put on a plug hoping to get a striper, but only managed a walleye and a couple smallmouth. The largest smallmouth (13") had some sort of parasite on the rear part of his gill cover and the adjoining part of his body. A grey growth of some kind. Didn't have my knife or I would have tried to scrape it off him. Total catch: 9 shad, 3 walleyes (2 on darts, 1 on plug) and several smallies. Water temp 59, 3.5 feet over normal low flow. Wish I had not lost that prime-time half hour to the rain, though.

High river: There was and spring and summer many yrs ago (1988?) the Delaware was high most of the summer. Caught smallmouth in mid-late Aug. that still had spawn in them, apparently their nest sites were too deep for them to use.

I fished the Port Jervis area yesterday from 1:30 to 3, I had 7 shad. My reel wore out after years of use and I had to replace it. I returned around 4:30 and had 14 more shad by 7PM. Then the bite shut down. Two others stopped by and fished for shorter periods, but both had shad at around 4 fish an hour average. I had one flurry of shad with one every cast. That lasted around 30 minutes before that group of fish moved on or something. Anyway, lots of fish in the area and higher water seems to be help my bank angling.

Does anyone have experience fishing shad in the rain? I'm talking about a light rain, of course.

If we are lucky, by June.

Joe Lastowka you will find all kinds of information links on the left side of this page near the top.

fished Sunday the 4'th at Narrowsburg. Fished from 2 - 4:30 and not a hit. I did hit one with the dart after I felt something and came up with a scale. But skunked again........

PHIL M. Roes stay at sea a year longer than bucks so the makeup of the run comes from 2 different spawns. The spawning is most successful when there are 2 bucks for each roe and when nature is in balance the run is 2/3 rds male and 1/3 rd female.

SHADHARRIS; Early in the season when anglers were fretting about the low water, I did mention on one of the shad sites that it is rare not to have at least one high water event during shad season.

1st time out in 3 years and I needed that trip like that. 25 fish mix of roe and bucks. darts and flutter spoons of course in a variety of colors. Pink/black and orange/black seemed to be the color but we caught on just about every color. With good numbers of fish north to south I'd have to say this it's a good run this year. Be safe out there, tight lines and screaming drags.

Good afternoon in the Milford area. Fished in the boat from 5 to 8. Put 20+ in the net all on small darts, pearl white/pink and chartreuse/white. 5' to 6'

22 today. Good day. Left them hitting when a heavy storm rolled thru.

Addendum: Sorry folks, forgot to add that using a net with rubber/silicone is best; no need to even handle the fish and helps keep the fish from losing it's scales. The hook mod is viewed from the side, upside down J with mono piece coming off the side to form a Y. Hope this helps!

New Boater, Are you getting deep diver crankbaits confused with PMD's which are used in fly fishing? (perhaps I've missed the newest acronyms for them). You can certainly use round or square bill deep divers but whether they stay down depends on the current flow and whether you're using a floating or sinking deep diver. There is good info online if you google "Deep diving plugs to catch shad!" I've been intrigued by some of this site's back and forth about this wondrous fish. It travels thousands of miles to breed and die. If we're not keeping our 2 limit creel, let's be kind to them by A) crushing barbs on your lures for an easier release B) carrying along some metal snips in case a lure is deep in the gullet. Some of you may know one of our elders who goes by Chip; he showed me a fix for keeping shad from swallowing both spoons and darts by tying a piece of monofilament to the outside shank of the lure which then is cut level at the bend of the hook to form a Y, looking at the hook bend side up. Yes, I do miss some fish. But it seems to work. Since tying these onto my lures, I've had 0 shad caught in the throat. It does take a little extra time to prepare, I know. On another note, I want to give a shout out to ShadHarris for keeping it informative and respectful. Thank you!!

RPS: Good to hear you're back in the game.

17 today. Lots of misses. 2 Eagles and a Bear sighting.