Fishing Log

After fishing most of the day on Sunday, I never did boat a shad at Trenton. On Tuesday I went to New Hope, I fish from 3:30 to 7, with no hookups. To the port side of me, was a fishing buddy Mark in his vessel, now he was hooking up. He ended the night with 7. I was back at it Thursday afternoon from 4 to 7:15pm with nothing to show for all of patience. But I did get the pleasure of watching a boat that pulled up to my Stern side boat 8 shad. Being a fisherman I guess we all get to have our turn at this misfortune. However I do see brighter days ahead. And as for this fishing report, it is a good report for all of you Shad fisherman, they're on their way north fellows, keep them lines tight !

I spent about an hour yesterday afternoon practicing my casting form at a nice looking spot below Lambertville. There were 3 other guys there when I arrived and 4 when I left and none of us got so much as a bump or a scale. Darts and flutter spoons of all sizes and colors were equally productive. Temperature and timing...

WG fished Weldon tue. wed.and half day thurs, Fished from shore and caught over 200 hickorys,plus 1 American.The hickorys are spanwed out ,American had eggs. Used Two I/8 jigs because of higher flow,hot pink and bright green tied two feet between them. Had a new record for my self 12 straight hook ups and 15 shad .Not much time left for shad down there, Flow was 6000,they are going to increase flow to over 7000.ken.

Fished Zane Grey from 12:30-2:00 today cold wind, water low, no fish. The river gauges say the water is in the high 30's and low 40's in the afternoons.

Think the fish will be in Easton and biting after this warmer weather this week...

I WILL BE AT THE HUNTINGTON FIRE CO MEETING /FLEA MKT TO SELL SHAD FISHING ITEMS...SPOONS/ DARTS/ ANCHORS & OTHER GIZMOS.. THIS THURSDAY FROM 6-9 LOCATED IN PBURG NJ...RUSTY BALLS TACKLE & GUIDE SERVICE...484-239-4723

Cap- keep posting. Many of us enjoy the posts.

Its 12:18 Saturday afternoon fishing at Trenton, not a bump yet. Alex you never cease to amaze me every year buddy. Hey Frank doing well hope to see you out on the river this year at some point I'm doing good thanks for asking.

Warmer temps this week bode well for shad fishing in my neck of the woods. Gear is ready, spoons shined and boat is prepped to hit the water. Hope to report good news of shad caught & released this week. Tight lines and see you on the river.ps...if you need spoons I'll be at the tackle swap mtg on March 28 at the Huntington Fire Hall on Maple Ave in Pohatcong NJ at 630pm this week. Hope to see u there.

While I do not post very often, I have to put this report up as I managed to cross off 1 of the 2 items left on my shad fishing bucket list, the elusive snow shad pic. The last is a 6# plus on the 5 weight with 6# class tippet. Was only going to fish a few hours early this AM & wound up staying much longer. Started around 0630 hours (before dawn) and fished until 1100 hours with zero hits. I decided I was going to give it another 30 minutes & throw in the towel. 3 casts later, I picked up a shad scale. Ah, ha! 3 casts after that I put this 3 # buck on the bank. The action lasted until about 14:10 which is when I caught my last fish. At that point, I was 7 for 15 and wanted to leave batting 500. But no soap, they were there & then they weren't. Gave it up at 1510 hours and headed for the barn. Air temp was 29.8 when I started with a water temp of 38.7. Didn't take a temp when I left but it was well into the 40's. I expect it was around 41 when I caught the first fish. Between the 1st & last fish I'd have some sort of action within 10 casts: fish landed, lost, on/off/scale or missed hit. Weo, Duff, & Bob G: Appreciate kind words. Hope y'all do well this year! PS No shad were harmed during the staging of the pic. ;-) However, I did hook one buck deep in the gills. Bottom line, one of our raccoons will be very happy tonight! Oh yeah, had 3 roe, the rest were bucks (only 1 small one). 2 of the roe would have hit 3#, the third would have not quite made it. No fish of any real size, obviously. As you can see, waded today slinging darts as always. Had to go to two 1/8 oz darts to get them down due to the wind catchin' the line. Usually fish 1/8 on top & 1/16 on bottom. As many will concur, smaller baits are better when possible!

Shadfather, Spots on shad are not always visible in photos or on all shad. I have seen some shad with 2 rows of spots in some instances. There are no specific uses for the spots other than they are believed to be used to identify different sub species of shad. There are over 600 species of shad world wide. Shad caught in southern waters are significantly smaller than the Northern strains. Hope this helps... Kevin

Andy N, I have fished the Yardley area for shad for over 30 years. Lots of changes to depth due to floods and high flows. Typically, you want to fish the channels which are located on the PA & NJ sides of the river for shad. Depths vary depending on flows. I prefer a high Spring flow of 6- 7ft of water for shad fishing. River flow in Spring is usually higher due to snow pack meltoff up North as well as Spring rains. High dirty water is not good for shad. I'll be giving a free seminar at our April 18 club meeting at the Se Wy Co Fire Hall in Bethlehem, PA on Shad Fishing the Delaware. I''l speak on locations, shad ecology and tips and techniques for consistently landing shad. Details on the Annual Shad Night are on the main page of this site. Hope to see you at the seminar. Kevin

Hi all. So I've never fished for shad but excited to this spring.I'm pretty close to the neshaminy creek, but I could put in at the yardley ramp. 18 foot Starcraft. Is the river deep enough to run a prop north of yardley or do you need a jet motor? Is it worth fishing south of yardley for them?

Capt. Alex great to hear a report of fish landed. It looks to be a late start this year but I hope to get back at it after a couple of years of only one or 2 trips.

THE DRSFA MEETING MAY BE RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL MEETING NIGHT...THE BOARD WILL DISCUSS IT

Alex / Mike - Congrats! I drove past you about 2PM. Stopped and watched plus waited to see if you saw me on the bank. You two were hoods up and hunkered down. It was painful just to watch. I mostly just BSed with the hard core fisherman on both sides of the river. They also reported picking some within the past couple of weeks. I tried below Lambertville. Then switched up for walleye and Musky as it got dark. Totally Blanked.

Fished Monday with My Buddy Rick out of Yardley didn't stay there long lots of noise & disturbance on the water from workers. pulled Boat 7 put in at Lambertville fished from 1:00 to 3:30 pm caught zip water temp 42 wind was 8mph .maybe after the Noreaster it will pick up . hey Weo how ya doin ?

10 to 15 inches snow and sleet by Wednesday evening. High winds. Possibly another at the weekend, Anyone for ping pong?

Greetings Gentlemen, After a few solo trips wading and the 3rd in the boat with my buddy Mike Misura, I finally put my first shad of the season on the deck at 1345 hours today (see pic, I actually got the shot while it was floppin'). It was a roe that might have made 3#. Mike put another in the boat maybe 5 minutes later. And I put my 2nd fish in the boat another 5 - 10 minutes after Mike's. The 2nd & 3rd fish were bucks. It wasn't exactly fast fishing. We fished from 1030 hours until 1630 hours and except for one on/off mystery fish Mike had around noon (probably a foul hooked sucker), the 3 fish we caught between 1345 & 1400 hours were the only 3 bites we had. The water temp was 38.6 when we started and 40 degrees even we caught the fish. When we left at 1630 hours it was 42.0. Many of you folks know where I fish early in the season. Suffice it to say it was well south of Easton. They were all caught on the bottom dart of double dart rigs. Oh yeah, the wind was supposed to be blowin' 8 mph max. For most of the 1st 4 hours we fished it blew 10 - 15+ straight down river out of the NW. It would not be an exaggeration to say we withstood some pain to capture those fish! ;-) Note: I had one within 5 feet of the boat last Sunday 3/11/18 when the hook pulled. It was a real heart breaker as it was the only bite Mike & I had all day long. That fish was hook in 38.0 degree water and yes, it was hooked inside of the mouth.

At what time exactly can we expect them at the gap? Just wondering.

I'll be at the Sergeantsville Fishing Flea Mkt on Sunday 3-18-18 from 9am to 3pm at the Sergeantsville Fire Hall in Delaware Twp NJ. located just North of Stocton NJ. Follow the signs on Rt 29 to the market. Breakfast and lunch will be available and lots of great vendors; over 90 tables selling fishing tackle and lots of great deals. Stop by to pick up your shad fishing supplies for the 2018 season. Shad are in the river and fishing will be begin in earnest once we get a few warm days. Hope to see you at the fishing market on Sunday and see you on the river. Kevin

Ironhead...I mean Ironshad, I got spoons for you!

Rich- Sure do flyfish for them. I use a 10 foot 7 wt with a 250 grain sinking line, a short straight mono leader, a Shad Fly and maybe a flutter spoon dropper in the Delaware and Susky. In Deer creek I'll use a 5 wt. for hickories.

Took a ride to the Conowingo dam today. Flood gates were dumping water and the Fishing platform in Fisherman's Park was closed to access. Very few eagles there meaning few fish. Went to Deer creek and saw nothing from Stafford Bridge and although 3 men were Fishing at the mouth nothing caught. Three men anchored by the stone buildings perching had caught nothing. Oh, well.another week or so.