Delaware River Striped Bass

[streamrunner89]

Has anyone recently fished the Delaware (between Trenton NJ to New Hope) for stripers? I'm heading out Thursday evening with the fly rods in search of some schoolies.

Any reports would be great!

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

A friend of mine told me that they just started to show up around that area this weekend.

 

[streamrunner89]

Great news! Thanks for the report SurfCowboy!

 

[afishinado]

+1 to surf's report above >

Report from last week:

The Stripers are in the river full force. I have gotten plenty of schoolies and up to 30” pigs. My buddy has had a few in the 38”, 22# range and I have seen quite a few larger being caught. We are fishing anywhere between Lambertville, down to the Tacony-Palmyra bridge. The Linden area has been great the past two weeks, so if you can, get out there and get them while they are here. The last two hours of each tide seem to be the key from my experience the past few weeks.

The river is fishing great and based on levels, may remain pretty good for some time yet.

 

[Mike]

Except for Trenton Falls, the good tidal water fishing will most likely be over within a week to ten days. This week should be great, as only about one- third of the females have spawned. Large fish are still around as well as the slot size and smaller males that they attract. I know of one boat with three anglers who landed 100 fish on Sunday morning. Another landed about 40. Both were fishing tidal water. Survey work today revealed fish as shallow as 3 ft along a sandy beach area often mentioned here.

 

[poopdeck]

I've been fishing this area since the beginning of April. The stripers have been in full force in the Trenton area for the last month. Been hammering the slot fish, quite a few in to 30" range and the biggest going 42" caught by a friends son. Haven't been out for the last two weeks but I hear the slot fish are still hammering away.

If I were heading out in a boat I'd fish the tidal Trenton side of the river. Launch in Trenton or the falls twp ramp and fish the rocks between the train and the Trenton makes bridges. The tide ends here so be mindful of the tide.

If between the bridges is to sketchy, and it can be in a prop boat, fish the pa side from the train bridge south. It's very Rocky and shallow on the pa side so be careful. If you have some kind of gel coat glass boat I don't recommend any of these areas.

If your bank fishing or wading I can't help you. It rained hard all day today and it looks like it's going to be raining thru Thursday so I'd keep an eye on the gauges and make a plan B just in case. So far the rain has not really effected the river but just keep an eye on it,

 

[Mike]

It appears that the run has been over since about Tuesday. Stripers still present, however, in good numbers at Trenton/Morrisville, which is typical post-spawn behavior as they fill up on white perch and herring.

 

[afishinado]

Bet Mike wishes he had his fishin' pole...

 

[Mike]

Yes I did in so many ways. That gravid female was captured in Philly 40 yds from shore in 8 ft of water. Upon capture, the fish was placed in a tub of water, scale sample removed for later aging, tag implanted, lifted from the water for measurement, a quick photo, and released. A similar size striper was tagged in Philly some years ago and 19 days later it was captured by an angler along Cape Cod, Mass. Last year a striper tagged in May in the same general area was captured by an angler in Maine in mid-July. Thirteen percent of the tags implanted in Delaware R stripers are returned by December of the same year, primarily from the NJ coast and the Chesapeake system. Talk about fishing pressure and vulnerability, given that these fish are roaming some "pretty large" water bodies, i.e. the Atlantic and associated bays and rivers.