Fishing Log

I'm bringing my boys to Barryville, NY this weekend to try our luck at the shad run. It's been almost 30 years since I fished there with my grandfather. Hoping to have some luck. Anyone have any spots they can recommend? We will be fishing Friday - Sunday. Picking up our licenses at The Barryville Sportsman!

I tried the Schuylkill yesterday and was happy I did, mostly. I caught 3 different Alosa family fish in abut 10 casts, and ended up with 4 for 6 on non-herring bites. The last hooked fish beat me up pretty well: it hit close in and proceeded to rip drag, screaming straight down stream, hugging the bank. As I maneuvered to get an angle around some shoreline debris I fell on the rocks, broke my rod tip off, banged up my reel's bail, and somehow snapped my line.************* I went up to the fish ladder where a maintenance crew was working and was able to look down into the flow. There were dozens of shad making their way up, and at one quieter bend I could see 3 massive catfish, maybe 15 to 20 lbs each, swimming like defensive linemen. Clearly they could eat anything they wanted.

Fished Zane Grey launch from shore 5 - 8 pm hooked 15 landed 10 water temp. 50 deg. water still high but coming down good if it doesn't rain to heavy again.

I tried below Lambertville at noontime for an hour yesterday. Nada. A couple other guys there caught even less, almost. If things pan out, I will try the Schuylkill by the Fairmount Dam around midday, for the top of the tide today.

Fished Zane Grey boat launch from shore 3 - 5:30 pm hooked 5 landed 3 then rod broke . That ended my fishing for the night. Water temp. 49 deg.

Randy, there is a couple hundred miles of the Susquehanna that anglers are denied access to because of the railroad in MD. and PA. You enter at your risk. If they see you they will prosecute.

I had meant to say Smelt. It was def a Smelt, not an Alewife or Herring. I would have taken a pic but I felt bad for the little fella

Stopped by the boat launch around 7 ish PM. No good reports. One guy fished for 12 hours, I think he told me he got 1 near the end of that. Wow! Also, noone on the Pequest for trout on Saturday morning between 519 and the Delaware. River too high and the wind was awful. Newbie here? But I want to try that stretch in the chasm below Rt 46 down whatever that road is..... nice stretch of water.... too fast right now. Hey, not sure about posting conditions other than shad on here. SORRY.... should I be doing this somewhere else? Just moved here, loving it.... just want to do things right and not tick anyone off..... let me know...

Hi Dennis, maybe we can meet up some day. Its been too long. My number is listed.

I recently drove to the Portland area to shore fish and found that the area is posted by the railroad company. My question is do they allow fishermen to walk in or do they enforce the trespass signs? Thanks in advance!

I think I'll be fishing in the parking lot. Larger offerings and darker colors. Thanks for the good advice, RW.

Nice job, Lawrence! Hoping to get out soon and catch my first one.

John: I think your best bet would be to find someone who is familiar with shad fishing and you and your honey bun can go with that person and get jump-started that way. If you haven't fished shad before, it could be a tall order because kids get bored in a hurry. Make sure she understands the concept of the spinning reel drag mechanism and the anti-reverse lever. Look for somewhere where the current runs hard alongside the river bank and fish the opposite side of the river from it. I could go on and on, but good luck.

Here's what I can do from my phone: - Take 2 darts. I usually go with a 3/8 oz or larger and a 1/16th. - Tie on a leader to the larger dart of about 15" and tie a loop on its end. I use 6# mono. - To the eye of that dart tie a separate length of leader of 24" or so. - Tie the smaller dart to that. It's pretty simple. You can use different size darts, but I think having a larger dart in front gets me fewer tangles. I keep them wrapped around a piece of cardboard that fits easily in my pockets.

Not familiar with a double dart rig. Could someone link a picture or provide a description so I could make a few? Much appreciated.

RE: HERRING Yes I caught a Herring and an Anchovy (not kidding...an anchovy) in New Hope a few weeks ago. The majority of the shad I landed were very small bucks.

River is good to fish. Clarity is good!

"Anybody seeing herring?" Not yet but in may we start seeing them N of gap area. However - the extremely small size of some of the shad this season aren't much bigger than herring.

After working my ass off for my partner and me to get 33 from the boat all day yesterday way up north, I decide to fish closer to the gap today in waders. I fished 6:15 am to 6pm, landing 29 of 37 hookups. Very slow day because that is only about 3 hookups per hour! I would have lulls of 90 minutes or more than hammer fish 3 or 4 casts in a row only to go back to dull drums. This tells me the pods are scattered - not a strong run this year at all compared to previous year like 16, 17, and 18 (saw 18 as a slight decline trend with 17 being peak). Could not get a shad over like 4.4 lbs so far for tournment. Just one 5.5 or 6lb fish which once seemed so common - could be quite the payday! Can't believe the heavy rain this afternoon - thought we dodged a bullet but don't think so!

Is it worth Shad fishing tomorrow with this rain

Fished all over from shore today and had to work hard to get a few.nothing nice and the wading was dangerous be careful out there.will probably be unfishable tommorow?

While the page I referenced below gives some idea of what water to expect coming down the Delaware from NY as well as locally, it is no more reliable than the weather forecasts and needs to be monitored for changes.

ShadHarris—where do you see the predictions for future water levels??? I can see current and past streamflows etc on the usgs site but can’t find the forecasts??? Thanks in advance

Launched Eshaback and that was an adventure in of itself as the water was really too high to launch there and thank god for the locking rear on my new F-150! Fished south of launch at my favorite spots but was just a pick here and there moved around a lot. Late morning made executive decision to run way north 3 miles north of launch and found one of my old favorite high water shore spots. We did pretty well up there, would get somethign going with double headers but then many lulls . Left there around 3pm with about 23 netted, back to where I originally started 1.5 miles south of launch and picked up another 10 and ended at 33. Biggest weighed 4.2 lbs. A slow day but a nice day none the less. Should have went with plan be which was to launch closer to the gap or just fished from shore down there. Big goose egg for the bi-state for me and Todd... Gonna put my time in with the WADERS all day in the rain tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday look like a mess with the Gap gage going from 8 foot tomorrow morning to 11.5 by Saturday afternoon.... That's a lot of mud and debris and very high water!