Fishing Log

Hate to tell you Shad Racker park service rangers are trained to be rude thugs. and they enjoy being that way. None of the governors bordering the river have any idea what their doing. So the rules make no sense.

Last time I checked the Worthington Facebook page, they had a notice that the park is closed and right underneath it, the opening post was a picture of a red driftboat and an invitation to come shad fishing. Talk about the right hand not knowing what the left is doing!!

Shad Racker thanks for the Worthington update - could you tell if the entrance to main office and boat ramp was open?

The Governor's EO that the state parks will be open was very misleading. I just returned from Worthington State Park and although the entrance into the park is open the road leading to all of the campsites where anglers could normally fish is closed and locked. My wife politely asked a park ranger who was there and asked why it was not open and he had nothing but nasty responses to us. He said only 50% of the sites are open and would not give a reason why they are not all open. The river is high, muddy and loaded with debris.

Thanks, guys. This is great information that benefits everyone.

As of 4:45pm today Narrowsburg, NY is 7 feet above its normal summertime flow and still rapidly rising. Pepacton and Canonsville are over the spillways and Neversink is at capacity. Time to work on your equipment. What type of lube do you guys use in your spinning reels?

it rained hard and long north and west of here. The upper delaware, above port jarvis, is rising fast and is already significantly higher than it's peak earlier this week. It will be a while till it drops.

Here's the latest at Easton.

Anyone have any rain totals for their areas? The storm seemed to miss the eastern Lehigh Valley. Never saw it rain hard.

I anticipated the rivers all becoming unfishable soon and took an early evening drive to the Schuylkill around 6 pm yesterday. 32 minutes! I'd heard that the American shad were thick there in the morning. There were none to be found when I got there. However, the place was thick with Hickories. Go figure. Several were the size of buck Americans almost! Several of those had what appeared to be predator damage. I guess that any good sized fish would consider them dinner. I fished until the street lights came on. Where there's been hundreds of people out exercising and strolling there weren't any at all. Ghost town! I got worried that I would be in trouble for curfew breaking, or that my car would be locked into the parking lot. No problems, though.

I Support dam removal to help increase fish populations and the future of fishing! The sediment build up is terrible for aquatic life.

While my Easton buddies were crushing it I went N of the gap from shore and got 5 in 2 hours in 48 degree water. Toss the first 90 minutes out Had no hits was about to leave but said what the hell just stop reeling And try to get stuck. River was 2 feet high and stained. Using 3/8 ounce weight and a small yellow orange gold spoon made by Shadfather. So started banging them. Even on consecutive casts. First one a really nice buck - then a few 4# row and slightly smaller bucks.

Depending on their geographical location, American shad may spawn once and die, or they may survive to make several spawning runs per lifetime. This "repeat" spawning in American shad differs according to latitude. Shad that spawn in more northerly rivers may survive to spawn several times; however, most American shad native to rivers south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, die after spawning. In Maryland, repeat spawning adult American shad account for 22-45% of the migrating adults. Spawning American shad females (ages 5 and 6) broadcast a large quantity of eggs (30,000 - 600,000) into the water column over several days; these eggs are fertilized by males (ages 4 and 5). Spawning usually occurs over gently sloping areas with fine gravel or sandy bottoms. After spawning, adult American shad return to the sea and migrate northward to their summer feeding grounds near the Gulf of Maine. Fertilized eggs are carried by river currents and hatch within 7-10 days. Larvae drift with the current until they mature into juveniles which remain in nursery areas, feeding on zooplankton and terrestrial insects. By late fall, most juvenile shad migrate to near-shore coastal wintering areas. Some juvenile American shad will remain in rivers and estuaries up to a year before entering the ocean. Immature American shad will remain in the ocean for three to six years before returning to spawn. Adult and immature American shad overwinter along the mid-Atlantic coast, particularly from Maryland to North Carolina.

Randy the easton dam channelizes the Delaware river when it is high. there r pictures of the delaware pushing up against it. This channelization forces the d river to rise which creates flooding in the upper part of the city. removing the easton dam would be like pulling the plug on any high water event. The flood relief for the Delaware river in easton is the lehigh valley and the flood relief for the lehigh is the Delaware valley. Probably no study needed for something this obvious. Forcing either river up and over the dam brings water closer to the city anyway you look at it. additionally the channelization accelerates the speed n height of the D river which further damages downstream structures like the canal just south of the city by the sewer plant. The easton dam and the canal is a financial and environmental disaster that is left to perpetuate yr after yr. and should be managed as a remnant. The areas of the canal prone to flood damage should be filled in and the dames removed except of a couple of feet on either side with maybe a plaque describing what was once there. Most of the issues concerning fish populations, studies etc can fixed by adding more fish to the equation and to do that you need more habitat. Otherwise the fish are gonna go the way of fishing lic sales..straight down sorry for the typo,s

WG - I can't disagree with you about the efficiency of the ladders. It was early 1990's technology and the PFBC felt they were of the best design for the conditions. But . . . they are there and their potential may as well be maximized by annual or semi-annual maintenance. It's a shame no one pays attention. Anyway, you apparently have one hell of a lot of experience catching shad, and your report from this morning about your tidal catch enthuses me to keep fishing at Riegelsville, which is a hop, skip and a jump from Hellertown. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like anyone is going to be fishing for a week or so after the Thursday/Friday deluge. Bummer. These fish you're catching in tidal waters: I assume they have committed to coming up the Delaware, or are these fish that may head left into the Schuylkill? As for repeat spawners, that's a questions (among others) I intend to bring up with my neighbor, the PFBC regional fisheries manager. He's a good, straightforward guy and I know I'll get honest answers from him. In the meantime, I hope you catch 1,000 more before the season is out.

@Dennis Scholl, I’ve been a member of DRSFA since the 80s and participated in those surveys. I think the job that was done by you and all the members was admirable! My problem is with the DESIGN of the ladders! I know the fans are never going away unfortunately, however they can be modified to work better!! The numbers speak for them selves , and honestly the best that the ladder can do (in its present form ) is not good enough and that’s a shame..... I want nothing more than the shad to return to all rivers where they are blocked! I agree with you that the size of the run this year is fantastic up and down the entire east coast! I passed the 1000 shad labdexmark 2 weeks ago (lots were hickory shad because I fish a lot in Maryland and North Carolina), and I fish every day in March April and May (with a few exceptions) for shad.... so we have the same goals in mind trust me! I landed 27 Americans and 2 hickories this morning on shore casting in the tidal Delaware.... on 2.5 hours, and that’s been the norm at some locations this season......I also think the agencies should be researching WHY there are no big repeat spawning shad in the Delaware (and it appears the Connecticut) River.... more later

To WG - Your remarks regarding the fish ladders on the Lehigh, particularly the ladder at Easton, are not accurate. I've attached a 2012 report from the Fish Commission (in the form of a URL link) that provides the exact information. I don't think anyone believes the two ladders are nearly as successful as planned when they were built. But the Easton dam does pass shad, and whether you approve or disapprove of the ladder(s), they aren't going anywhere. As I posted previously, the City of Easton and at least two high-profile non-profit organizations are not interested in seeing the dame come down, for recreation and tourism purposes. Would more shad enter the Lehigh if the dams were destroyed? Of course; that's a no-brainer. But what I'm trying to tell you is it isn't going to happen, at least not in our lifetimes. What's more troubling to me is the overall demise by the fishery agencies of all the Delaware's bordering states regarding the biological reasons behind the size of the fish, not the number entering the river. There are plenty of fish in that river, and if you can't ascertain that by reading some of the angling reports on this website, then I'd have to say you're not considering what is, at this point, the best source of information on the size of the river's population. Some of the catches I've read about on this site are phenomenal, especially considering when the majority of these catches have been made when river temps are between 45 and 52F. I fished at Riegelsville last Saturday, the 24th of April, and had a great afternoon. The water temp. was 46F. I can't wait to see some of the catch reports when the river subsides after Thursday's oncoming rain and the temps finally begin an upward trend. As you all know, shad are cold-blooded organisms whose metabolism increases as the water warms. That means they become more aggressive and will strike lures with more frequency. What should be happening is for the DRSFA to begin dialogue with the various fishery agencies, not just PA, to institute some type of population study to get a handle on the hralth of the fishery overall. That study should include a best effort to obtain data from commercial fishermen. Frankly, I'm not up-to-date on the regulations for commercial catches of shad. This has been an ongoing source of consternation for decades. Believe me, if the fish had more appeal as table fare, the fishery agencies would be more involved in protecting them, because fish that are great eating (e.g., salmon) sell more licenses, and when you come down to it, that's the bottom line for government groups to get involved. This is not an easy matter to pursue. Those two ladders on the Lehigh are the result of EIGHT years of hard work by many, many DRSFA members, who proved the Lehigh was a viable environment for shad by successfully hatching fry in the river and catching a small number with haul seines. Yes, the DRSFA did that kind of work in the 1980's. So, I'm not just pulling this information from thin air. No fishery agency is suddenly going to become an active proponent of shad in the Delaware River - and by that I mean by investing money in population studies - unless there is an economic reason, and that boils down to selling a lot more licenses to catch fish. History does provide good case studies for future actions. The DRSFA did an extensive population study of the shad in the 1980's as part of its effort to restore fish to the Lehigh. I have copies of the study's results. We put creel census booklets in the hands of hundreds of fishermen (they were of a size that easily fit into a tackle box). We had DRSFA volunteers stationed at public fishing access sites from Trenton to Hancock, throughout the course of the run. There gentlemen and ladies interviewed fishermen coming off the river and acquired information regarding the number of fish caught (kept or released), hours spent fishing, type of lures, and economic data (miles traveled to fish, whether the trip required overnight stays in local motels, gallons of gasoline purchased to go fishing, and money spent on food, fishing tackle, etc.) The DRSFA funded the entire study, which included aerial flights over the Delaware beginning at Trenton and going all the way to Hancock. People in the planes (I was one) counted the number of boats and shore fishermen on the river, to augment the number of fishermen interviewed at launch sites. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New jersey Dept. of Fish, Game and Shellfisheries (its name at the time) provided the fishery biologists who designed the program and compiled and analyzed the data. The purpose of that population study was to put an economic value on the shad run, a major, if not THE major, component of the effort to restore shad to the Lehigh. Remember, money talks. I don't have the study report in front of me, but I recall the number was somewhere in the range of $2.5 million. That was in the mid-'80's, so the figure would be higher now, although I'm pretty sure there were A LOT more fishermen out for shad those days than there are now. Do I believe a population study would help again? Yes, I do, if only to get the agencies off their butts and get involved with a fishery that has been a valuable part of human life in the Delaware Valley since Native Americans caught shad. And from what I gather, the DRSFA has the funds to pull it off. The PFBC's regional fisheries manager lives five houses away from me. The next time I see him, I'll bring up the subject. he's only home on weekends. In the meantime, here's the URL for the shad ladder at Easton. https://pfbc.pa.gov/images/reports/2013bio/lehigh_shad.pdf Just copy and paste in your browser. It's interesting reading. The stats aren't going to knock your socks off, but the numbers are not in the dozens. By the way, l worked for 14 years in Hugh Moore Park. The Glendon Dam is at the top of the park. There is an island below the dam where I have observed shad spawning in early June. So, please, don't anyone tell me that there aren't any shad in the Lehigh River. Thanks for your time in reading this. Sorry for any typos.

Thank you April!!! Nice going away present you are leaving us!

Re: shad ladder in Easton....the ladder may work better when it’s cleaned, BUTit always has been a failure and always WILL be! The pa fish and boat Commision would NOT listen to reason when they were designing that ladder, they used the exact same design that’s on all of the shad ladders on the East Coast. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result... well they are insane and the ladder did not work .... sure it passed a few dozen shad here and there, but if you looked carefully at the early results, most shad passed in late May and early June when they were done or almost done spawning! Who cares at that point?? And the reality is that the of few that passed Easton almost none passed the next dam... total futility and a waste of millions of dollars of taxpayers money! The only time fish find the entrance is when water is dead low and that’s the only flow.... the design is wrong and the opening needs to be much much larger and more flow! I suggested to the fish Commision that they use the same ladders they have on the Columbia River which passes 3-5 MILLION shad a year(and they try to stop shad from clogging the ladders with bubbles and strobe lights!!) but they said “those ladders were designed for salmon”.... my answer “if they were designed to pass pink elephants and shad utilize them, them make a pink elephant ladder!!” They didn’t appreciate my humor.....and now we are stuck with a ladder that will never make a difference.... the good part is that the co fluency of the Lehigh and Delaware will always be a magnet for shad and a good place to catch them, however the Lehigh will never get a good run of shad unless the current ladder is greatly altered

Snagging Sturgeon is not uncommon when fishing Shad in the big D around Trenton

I just got home from work with a couple hours fishing in the Schuylkill thrown in on the way. What a glorious afternoon! And the fish were happy to come play, too! I landed 12 or 15 Americans, on double darts. The fish all seemed to have extra energy today for some reason, and fought amazingly hard. I was on my last cast and hooked into something odd. The bottom? Then it started to come in as I pulled for about 20 feet. A soggy snag? Then I felt some motion. Whatever it was than decided that it had had enough and took off like a speed boat. I broke it off after maybe 50 yards, not wanting to loose my new braid line. It took my 1/16 ounce trailer dart with it. I dunno what I snagged…big striper? Monster carp or cat? Cormorant? Sturgeon?

As far as Conowingo, Fishermans Park is closed until further notice. All other areas are open to fishing. Warm weather is needed and less rain.

Just a question for those of you who spend more time on the river than I do. What is your best guess for conditions tomorrow? I would love to get out before the monsoon rain comes on Thursday. I would be fishing Martin's Creek area. Thanks Bob

Keith - I'm somewhat familiar with that spot. It looks good now because the river is running high. But I think it is pretty shallow behind that point due to the outflow of the creek above. The channel swings to the other side at that spot. Unfortunately the NJ side access is closed and the PA side is mostly private property.