Fishing Log

Fished 5pm to 7:30 tonight. Was hot-shotting it from the shoreline (no waders) with 4lb. line. below Tom's Creek on the PA side. Landed 10 of 17, Not a good ratio, but I was off-balance on the slippery shoreline at times and lost fish when they jumped because of it. One big roe got off at my feet and must have been in the 6lb. range. I thought the old hen was going to burn up my freakin' drag. Still getting mostly cock-fish though. Good outing.

a big thank you to the man operating the weigh station you turned a bad day into a good day . thanks for all your help

Final day of the Bi-state. We returned to a super-secret spot N of Bushkill, where we got them real good Friday before the big river surge, and scratched out 30 to the net out of 35 hookups and several more LDRs. Too many cookie-cutter 4-4.5 roes to get us into the upper echelon of the tournament money, but we feel blessed to have held onto 5th overall. We made a wise decision to sleep in late, but then started trolling around 12:45 pm to explore what was going on in these horrid conditions, and got 2 out of 3... I thought it was best to then anchor in a spot that normally produces but get in tight to the PA shore and it paid off. Once the sun went behind he mountain the steady stream died off and we motored upriver to another spot to get back in the sun on the NJ side (water very stained, needed the shad to see the darts) for the last hour and banged several more. River dropped a lot today, and historically I would not fish in these conditions let it wait one more day, but I can say I caught fish in higher and more stained water in this location than I ever had in 40 years. Thanks again to the tournament director for running a great tournament. I am not sure how many were running an hour south to weight in fish... Probably just us maniacs..

Fished for four hours at Riegelsville this morning/afternoon and boated five shad, three roes, two bucks. Did not see any other shad caught among 10-12 boats. Very odd day. River was rising, logs all over, got hit by one and had to untangle it from anchor rope. Had to clear lines every few minutes. Must have been a lot of rain up north. Just happy to be out on the river. Work has kept me from fishing for the past 10 years. Got out three times last year after fishing maybe 10 times in the previous eight years. Imagine that, me, the guy who started the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the DRSFA back in 1975, when I was 24. Now I'm 65. Holy s__t!

Tried to launch at Smithfield to fish with my kids who are both in the tournament and the NPS closed river road. Later found out it's closed for a bike n brew. So not only do shad fisherman get screwed but it is also the youth turkey hunt. Guess the NPS and Deb Zyrus feel drinking beer is better than getting kids in the outdoors.

Looks like we will just have to sit tight for a while with the high water. Next good opportunity seems to be Monday-late, if it can come down to 2 1/2 to 3 feet over normal by then and clear up some. Tuesday will not be conducive to good shad fishing if the weather report is correct. Komar: Sometimes the fish will manage to get the line wrapped around its body during the fight and stay out there for long periods of time like that, as you probably know. Time to put the butt against your gut.

Tough start, had a hard time setting anchor where I wanted to be and saw a lot of nice fish coming in on boats near by. None the less, shook my troubles and anchored up where I could....I'll be getting a real anchor this week...left with 11 boated and about 8 shook the hook. Solid fights bending hooks before their time. Big Roe shad mostly on my lines, made the first shift worth it!

Traveled to Smithfield beach yesterday only to find that the ramp is only open on weekends. We ended up at Bushkill and had a good day. We picked up about 20 that included some really nice Roes. One took me 20 minutes to bring in. Great day on the big "D"

Newbie to shad fishing, and want to try on the fly rod. Any recommendations on where to try, Port Jervis or upstream from there? Thanks

Tough day for us. We were right in the middle of boats that were hooking up. Usually, we can do as good as others, but not today. Go figure!?

Jim Shad are well past PJ - catching in Narrowsburg, Zane Grey, etc. There is a heavy concentration of shad for well over 100 miles , go get them while you can!

Thanks for the ramp update Dick, we did 20 in 2 hours last night, did not sit for 5 minutes.

Another awesome evening of fishing on the deleware. Stopped counting at around forty with non stop action and even a quad hookup in the mix. Everyone seemed to be catching last night including the 20 or so shore anglers who where stacked up like shad in front of the Lehigh fish ladder. See u guys again tonight!!!!

Hello All, Shad newbie here. Fished twice right below first railroad bridge in Easton. Hooked one in 2 outings . Thinking of fishing for 2 hours tomorrow morning starting at first light. Would scotts park or railroad bridges be better in Easton? Will. E wading. Thank you!

Hope somebody cleans out the sands eddy ramp, a foot of muck on the ramp last night. We get any rain it's gonna be a real mess.

Fry's Run finally had a bit of beach to fish from. 3 man crew had 9 in 2 hrs, but bigger and better fish than Scott park had earlier in the day.

Hi all, DC area transplant now living in Brooklyn, NY. Got out on the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers with my buddy this past weekend. My buddy and I caught an overabundance of Hickorys and 6 Americans (though they're smaller than those you see out of the Delaware). It's always a thrill to see them in the Rapp, though. I'm pretty anxious to get out on the Delaware to catch some big shad. I've been looking through the website for a few good public access fishing spots to check out over the coming weekends in NJ. I'm without a boat, but with waders... I'm looking for any guidance or suggestions of places to check out or maybe meet some folks willing to share some local knowledge. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it out to the SeWyCo meet-up on Wednesday due to work travel (and, well, it's a long way to go). I've picked up some info from this log, but any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!

Well what can I say about yesterday afternoon and this morning, other that it was simply the best I have seen since the magic 90s. Took two first-timers yesterday on my boat, father and 9 yr old son along with my 20 year old college student. Launched a spot I never fished before on a "hunch" and dropped anchor at 2pm, pulled anchor at 5:10 pm, as we simply had enough, although part of me wanted to go for "100". We boated 65 shad in that timeframe, with 6 roe, and the largest pictured was 6.5 lbs on the boga grip. It was frenetic, many doubles, triples and some tangles along the way to slow us down. For most of the session, really could not get all the lines in. To reinforce that I absolutely suck with spoons, I tried them several times to no avail - not even a bump. Small pink head and chartreuse darts won the day, behind 1/4 and 3/8 ounce in-line sinkers. It doesn't get any better than taking first timers and kids and seeing them experience the unbelievable. That's why I love shad fishing from my boat. Switching gears to this morning, just a bit north of there, was just me and a rod and my yellow lab, fishing alongside Minda and a few others. Got to meat Capt. Alex as I was leaving, who was hooking up immediately as I left the hot bite. I don't know how many I landed, nor could I tell you how many Minda landed. I fished from 6:30 to 9:05 and it was pretty much a fish on every cast during that session. Once in a while would go 2 or 3 casts without a hit but that was rare. One of the best mornings I ever had from shore, although I never landed a roe, and Minda only landed one. . I am blessed to be able to experience boat and shore fishing for this amazing natural resource. I concur with what some Easton men had mentioned last week - it's some of the best if not the best shad fishing ever. I would have to go back to the 90s to compare.

Riverwolf, thanks, I'll give it a go next week!

Donald......yes you can join wed night......would be a pleasure to meet you....Frank....in this high water there is a good hole right up from the boat ramp where the creek runs in......waders are a must.....or right off boat ramp...

I am looking for info from anyone who can advise me of opportunities to fish in Belvidere by the bridge at Water St. It looks like a good spot. Is there anywhere to park and are there any holes where the bite may be consistent. Any reply would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Frank

We waded rieglesville pa 9am-1pm. Hooked one and lost it. Few hits here and there. Waded Easton, mouth of the Lehigh, 2-7:30. Two of us caught over 30. A lot of the other guys on shore said Thursday night was WAY better. For my first trip out on the Delaware for shad ever it was a blast. Compared to fishing shad in Md the numbers were way lower but the size of the fish was way larger. I'll be back.....

finally got out, it was as slow 2 hour session quit by 8am. 2 for 2. River 2.5' higher than normal, slightly stained, and exactly 50.5 degrees. Overall - great conditions. It will only get better up here with all the action in Easton right now, maybe this afternoon, maybe tomorrow it should break open.

Fished Martins creek today from 1 till 4, boated 8 shad, water so dirty we quit early, tired of cleaning lines of debris.