Fish ID

[Chaz]

Probably came up from the 'D' but I couldn't even say they can get above the dams.

 

[Bamboozle]

What dams?

 

[FarmerDave]

Bait.

 

[PocketWater]

Raystown Lake and I'm sure the Juniata have gizzard shad.

 

[TJones]

The lower Susquehanna has a strong population of adult gizzard shad, just like the one in the picture.

 

[Millsertime]

There are lots of shad in the Bhead, especially where McMichael's dumps in. I've always been amazed that they are still there in the summer/fall. I previously assumed they would come to spawn in the spring and then fall back to the D.

Real question is....What fly was the shad caught on? I'm guessing dead drifted nymph. I find them very difficult to catch in the Bhead.

 

[JeffK]

The Musconetcong in NJ up to the first dam has plenty of gizzard shad, and a few show up below the Columbia Dam on the Paulinskill. Plenty of larger Delaware tribs have gizzard shad, but the Lehigh, Beaverkill and the Paulinskill are the only ones I know with American shad and hickories. Except the hickories go all the way up to the top of the Willowemoc.

 

[troutbert]

In the Delaware River shad runs, roughly what is the percentage mix between American shad and hickory shad?

And does either or both species spawn up the small streams? Or spawn mostly in the larger rivers?

Has anyone seen them spawn in the Brodhead or Willowemoc or other smallish streams?

 

[JeffK]

I can't find the reference, but American shad have a minimum flow requirement for spawning and that the Paulinskill is just above it and the Musconetcong is just below it. The lowest two dams on the Musconetcong have recently been removed and people are waiting to see how the anadromous fisheries will go. Gizzard shad and juvenile stripers go up now. Some debate if American shad will follow. American and hickory shad both spawn up to the Columbia Dam (scheduled for removal) on the Paulinskill - the only NJ trib with an American shad run.

I never saw or caught any hickories in the main stem Delaware, but see hickories in the Willow and Paulinskill commonly. The highest I have caught American shad in the Delaware system is the Trout Brook pool on the Beaverkill. I have seen hickories all the way up the Willowemoc to the villlage of Willowemoc. That's roughly 350 miles up. They don't get that far every year, but I see them down in the big pool just up from the rest area most years.

Blueback herring are common near the head of tide in Trenton and I used to catch them as a kid near tiny trib mouths in the Raven Rock PA area. Haven't seen blueback herring that far up in a while.