6/1 Report
5/28 Report
5/27 Report
5/26 Report
5/25 Report
5/17 Report
5/14 Report
5/12 Report
5/11 Report
5/10 Report
5/9 Report
5/8 Report
5/7 Report
5/6 Report
5/4 Report
5/3-2 Report
5/3 Report
5/2 Report
4/26 Report
4/25 Report
4/24-2 Report
4/24 Report
4/23 Report
4/16 Report
4/14-2 Report
4/14 Report
4/11 Report
4/9 Report
4/8 Report
4/5 Report
4/4 Report
4/3 Report

Delaware River Report, Friday 6/01/07 (from "Mark")

2007 Hydroacoustics: The contractor’s next visit will be to tear down site, possibly as early as today. Peak American shad passage period at the Rt. 202 Bridge appears to be last week in April through first week of May, as expected based on flows and river temps. Full report with population estimate by late July.

Hunterdon County Area: Been catching channel cats up to 20 inches in the early evenings on a floating Rapala or a live hellgrammite. They really smack the Rapala, and then bulldog it along the bottom. Taking full advantage of the strong current, a cat of that size is tough to reel in. When the fish is within arm’s length, it invariably goes into "spin cycle." With spines erect, and any loose treble hooks flailing away, one must be very careful!

Some schoolie stripers, and an occasional smallmouth bass or walleye are also caught. At, and after dark, splashing/slapping starts at the surface, but I can't hook anything - turns out to be big schools of channel catfish sipping tiny insects at the surface. I saw them, sipping/slapping, throughout the fast & calm water, right at my feet to as far downriver as my light illuminates. A flyrodder would have fun!

Warren County Area: Received a report from a reliable source that a 20 lb. striped bass and 6 lb. walleyes were caught on plugs at the mouth of the Musconetcong River, Rieglesville. Year after year, the combination of cold water and stocked trout draw large predators to that confluence. The retired chief of the NJ Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries stopped by to report that he caught & released 5 buck Delaware River American shad in the early morning, in the channel above King Cole’s Grove. Smallmouth bass and a walleye also ate his Mepps Spinner (silver, # 2).

Delaware River Report Monday, 5/28/07 (from "Steve" and "Mark")

Dingman’s Ferry Area: Twenty-five shad today. Today's action was steady for longer blocks of time. The shad are running high in the water column. All taken on either Mr. Woo's size 0 flutters or micro darts with a 1" pink twister tail. No 'old' fish in the mix at all, and more buck then roe in the mix. Even with water temps at a high of 72 today, and the river at darn near August water levels....this thing has 'legs'.

Hunterdon County Area: A few smallmouth bass, schoolie sized stripers and channel catfish up to 24 inches were caught on floating plugs. The catfish were especially hard to land. Slamming the plug and bulldogging to the bottom, these strong fish use the heavy river current to their advantage.

Delaware River Report Sunday, 5/27/07 (from "Dan")

Dingman’s Ferry Area: Fished for Shad today for the first time ever! I got two Roe on a red/gold "Tommy's Torpedo" on an 8wt sink-tip at Ten-Mile. It took me a while to figure out which bumps were Shad and which were rocks. And now I'm the one who is 'hooked'. Reminds me a lot of steelhead. I was not prepared how strong these fish were. These two were at least 4 to 5 lbs ea. if not more. I will try to hit this during the 'peak' next year.

Delaware River Report Saturday, 5/26/07 (from "Milt")

Dingman’s Ferry Area: Best day of the year for me. Left house around 1:30 in the pm. First cast about 3 pm. First hook up 3:45pm, fresh roe. Left river at 7:10 total for the day, 8 landed, 18 hooked. Five roe fresh looking, very hard fighters, and 3 buck that were taking flying lessons. Leaping all over the place. Taken from the fast riffles below my favorite pile of boulders. Not right behind as in previous years, about 40 feet below, near a shallow line of rock going cross river. Of course I stated with my old favorite, red and white dart, 1/8 oz. 45 minutes later switched to 1/16 gold no dressing dart.

Delaware River Report Friday, 5/25/07

The river is warming and running low & clear. Currently, as measured at Trenton, the river is flowing at 5,860 cubic feet per second, whereas a "normal" discharge for this time of year is 13,500 cfs. At 69°F, the majority of American shad have spawned, and the best chances for hooking some are from the Gap and upstream.

Be advised that the main migration is over, so there won’t be large schools of shad moving through as there were earlier in the season. At that time some anglers caught 30 fish in a single outing. Other fish species are feeding heavily now and are being targeted. Striped bass, smallmouth bass, walleyes and channel catfish are all being caught.

An advantage to the present water conditions is that anglers can wade wet and access more areas of the river. One angler took this opportunity to make it to the downstream end of an island in the Hunterdon County section of the river. There, just at dusk, he reportedly saw schools of bait fish breaking the water surface, obviously attempting to escape predators. Subsequent casts resulted in catches of all of the above mentioned species (except A. shad). The action continued into the night.

Delaware River Report Friday, 5/17/07

Mark reported that he waded wet at Worthington State Forest, above the Route 80 bridge, catching a nice size, unripe buck around 5:15 PM. At 6:15 he landed his biggest roe ever. Estimated at 25+ inches and 7lbs., it took a while to land the wide-bodied fish. At 7:15 he caught a 5-6 lb. roe. At 7:30 he landed another roe, nearly as big as the first one. All went for the same green/chartreuse dart. None appeared ready to spawn. All of the shad were released.

The cold front that blew through on Wed. 5/16/07 could shut down the bite. Fortunately, the accompanying rains did not cause much of a rise in the river level. The warm up, predicted for the beginning of next week, should turn the fish on again.

Down the river, near Trenton, the shad bite has tailed off from the over 15 fish each outing, and anglers have moved on to stripers. They are picking up 4-5 fish per day, ranging in weight from 5-14 pounds. Herring are in real thick. Some claim that they have not seen the herring in this thick in years.

Good American shad catch reports continue from the Delaware Water Gap and upstream. The majority are roes, some weighing over 7 pounds. Shad darts and flutterspoons in chartreuse, orange/black and gold are taking fish. As the water has warmed to the mid-60s F, the American shad will soon begin to spawn. Increased surface activity (swirling & splashing) can be observed in the evening and into the dark. Spawning, and post-spawned American shad, are often caught at the surface on flies and spinners.

Bare, gold hooks are catching herring, and those herring are catching schoolie-sized striped bass, in Trenton.

Reported catches of smallmouth bass and walleye have been increasing throughout the river.

FISHING REPORT - 5/14/07 (from Gary Conner)

Trenton, Ron M. fished above the bridges catching herring as he needed and stripers from 7-14 pounds. Most catches were on fresh cut bait heads.

Sunday took my son Bud and grandson Noah out for some herring and stripers. Noah did great, catching plenty of herring then a 20 # striper and an 8# cat in less than 45 minutes. We ended up with 4 stripers and 5 cats. Stotch showed up and took Lothar on board so We could get home for Mothers day on time. They caught another 12-15 each stripers and cats in the next 3 hours.

Lewis fishery, Steve reports the water temp is now in the 70s. We got 2 buck and a roe on Friday night and 1 roe on Saturday. We'll go again tonight but that may be it for the season. I'll let you all know for sure with the next report. Still plenty of fish in the net. We had 2 strippers on Friday and 3 on Saturday. There were 137 catfish in the net Saturday along with 15 small mouth bass and a walleye.

Sandtz Eddy, Walt and Woody report action slow to zilch al the up to Smithfield Beach.

Dingmans Ferry, John found the run, it's from dingmans north hitting silver backed white and red. John says it's the best it's been in years. The schools are massive he watched as they passed. He had to quit, sore arms from fighting big roe.

Keep reporting to connerfish@aol.com or call my cell at 215-200-1658.

Tight lines,

Conner

FISHING REPORT - 5/12/07 (from Gary Conner)

Trenton, Jim reports herring are everywhere but stripers are hard to find. In 4 hours no stripers observed hooked let alone caught. I'll be there Sunday with one grandson.

Lackawaxon, George advised shad have arrived in good numbers. This is the time and place to break out the fly rods.

Raritan Bay, joined Steve Roberts on his new Sail Fish 25 with twin Suzuki four strokes. This is one sweet ride. Bunker were up in the coves, we filled the live well in less than 10 minutes. We set up at anchor and landed a nice 15# striper in the first 30 minutes then the blues found our bait. We moved 2 more times but the blues were just too thick. We fished 4 hours landing over 30 blues and lost a ton off tackle to them. I will probably take my boat up there next weekend. Chunk was more affective than live lining.

That's it for now, the reports have really dried up, if you want to know what's happening you have to share your experiences, so report to connerfish@aol.com or call my cell at 215-200-1658.

Tight lines,

Conner

Delaware River Report Friday, 5/11/07

Good American shad catch reports continue from the Delaware Water Gap and upstream. The majority are roes, some weighing over 7 pounds. Shad darts and flutterspoons in chartreuse, orange/black and gold are taking fish. As the water has warmed to the mid-60s° F, the American shad will soon begin to spawn. Increased surface activity (swirling & splashing) can be observed in the evening and into the dark. Spawning, and post-spawned American shad, are often caught at the surface on flies and spinners.

Bare, gold hooks are catching herring, and those herring are catching schoolie sized striped bass, in Trenton.

Reported catches of smallmouth bass and walleyes have been increasing throughout the river.

FISHING REPORT - 5/10/07 (from Gary Conner)

Trenton, Ron joined me for a run to Trenton for herring then a try for stripers. The herring bite is red hot we made 2 drifts by the ball park dock that filled the live well. We had one run off of a live line and a 2# cat in the next 2 hours. At sundown we pulled the plug and headed for the ramp. Way behind on stripers

Lewis fishery Steve reports the run is probably past him now

No new reports from up river the last reports were fishing slow to very slow though out the river

Heading to Sandy Hook for bunker and stripers tomorrow.

Tight lines,

Conner

Delaware River Reports Friday, 5/09/07

Got a report from good source, Riegelsville area one boat 8 fish and some nice size at that,others boats doing ok also??? Don't these fish bite as they pass Easton area? Getting some hits and fish in the real early am at day break and before sun up and then in the pm. Guess we all have to plan and change our strategy for the up coming weeks.

Fished Bull's Island from 8:30am to 12:45pm one other boat on river. Water temp am 59.9 pm 62.4. I boated 3 roe and 1 buck had two LDR'S, All fish fought hard. First time out this year.

Fished the Zane Gray area the last couple of days water is warm and gin clear! If you're going to have any luck you need to fish very early am or very late pm. Due to the water temps 60 dergees plus and climbing.

Landed 8 of 8 fish hooked, 4 anglers, all doing about the same, nearly 3 hours, wading, single fly (silver). Bright, fresh, green (not ripe yet) fish, but also some spawning activity near dark. Seems to be a mix of new fish, and longer-in-the-river fish, in the area.

Delaware River Report Friday, 5/08/07

Gap area: Nine landed, a few LDRs....3 more landed! 1 LDR, UGH! The low/clear water, bright sun, and water temps are really affecting the bite! Arrrrrrgh!....Try smaller spoons/darts, and fish early and late.

Delaware River Report Monday, 5/07/07

Gap area: Landed 1 of 1 hooked, 3 hours, wading, single fly, (5 anglers fishing, total of only 7 fish caught out of 8 hooked).

FISHING REPORT - 5/6/07 (from Gary Conner)

The river is in great shape, time to get out and fish.

Trenton, thanks for all the reports, in summary, herring fishing is great (this is the time to get out there with the kids, they can get hooked on fishing when they can catch a lot of fish in a short time.) Shad is good but stripers and cats are off by at least 50% from past years at this time. Let's hope it's just delayed.

Yardley, Kevin went 13 for 21 mostly roe, temp 54-59 perfect conditions.

Lambertville, reports from Pete and Dieter, everyone in Lambertville is catching shad, high hook was 25 plus.

Lewis fishery, Steve and crew had another good night: 16 roe 9 buck, the run is steady and not as shabby as the past 2-3 years. This may be a good time to give shad another chance.

Sandtz Eddy, Ron reports action steady under perfect conditions.

Easton, no reports from this area, there must not be anyone from the DRSFA fishing the tournament this year!

Keep reporting back to connerfish@aol.com or call my cell at 215-200-1658.

See you on the river.

Tight lines,

Conner

Delaware River Report Friday, 5/04/07

Delaware River American shad anglers are calling this "the best American shad run in years." Reported catches of more than 20 shad per trip are common. The Delaware Water Gap area will be the hot spot this weekend.

Lewis Fishery, Lambertville: "Another good night (5/03)! There were 25 shad in the nets. 16 roe and 9 buck. Four of the bucks were returned. We also got two trout (1 brown and 1 tiger) and a muskie. The water temp was 61.2° F. We'll be out again tonight."

Anglers on the lower river, below Lambertville, should be on the alert for catches of hickory shad. Hickory shad caught in the Delaware River, from either NJ or PA water must be released, as they are considered endangered. See www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/fishhtms/chap10.htm#hickshd for identification information.

Delaware River Report Thursday, 5/03/07

Excellent catches of American shad, from shore and boat, have been reported all the way upriver to Narrowsburg, NY. Silver flutter spoons and darts have taken fish, as well as the always reliable color of chartreuse.

With the water temperature at 57.2° F, the river is predicted to drop to near its average discharge (14,900 cubic feet per second) near the end of this week from the current 17,600 cfs(Trenton gauge). Fishing conditions should improve even more, especially for the boat anglers. At normal flows, American shad migrate directly in the river channel, that is most easily reached by boat anglers. However, shoreline anglers can have success where portions of the river channel are within their casting distance.

Many of the A. shad caught thus far have been the smaller males (bucks). One of the fewer roe (female) A. shad weighed close to 8 pounds. Steve Meserve of the Lewis Fishery reported on 5/02 the following: "A good night at the river tonight. We got 20 American shad all together. Kept the 16 roe and released the 4 bucks. The one boat angler that stopped by after the haul said that he hadn't gotten anything. He had been there from 4 to 7:30. It's not too often that we beat the line guys."

Captain George Kumor reported that he caught only 2 American shad in his Delaware Bay nets today, 5/03/07, and feels that the 2007 run is over for him. He caught the most shad on 4/21 & 4/22. His largest roe, weighing 14 pounds, was released alive back to the bay.

FISHING REPORT - 5/3/07 (from Gary Connor)

Trenton - Muskie Archie reports 2 guys sank their boat. They tried to retrieve the anchor by tying off to the stern. To top that, they didn't put their PFDs on before trying this deadly maneuver. Fortunately, Archie and his buddy were motoring down river, saw it all unfold and pulled them out hanging nto, but not wearing, PFDs.

Lewis fishery - Steve reports 20 shad in the net last night, get this 16 roe 4 buck. Looks like the peak of the run is passing Lambertville right now.

Keep those reports coming in to FISHING REPORT 5/6/07 The river is in great shape, time to get out and fish. Trenton, thanks for all the reports, in summary, herring fishing is great( this is the time to get out there with the kids, they can get hooked on fishing when they can catch a lot of fish in a short time.) Shad is good but stripers and cats are off by at least 50 % from past years at this time. Lets hope it's just delayed. Yardley, Kevin went 13 for 21 mostly roe, temp 54-59 perfect conditions. Lambertville, reports from Pete and Dieter everyone in Lambertville is catching shad, high hook was 25 plus. Lewis fishery, Steve and crew had another good night 16 roe 9 buck, the run is steady and not as shabby as the past 2-3 years. This may be a good time to give shad another chance. Sandtz Eddy, Ron reports action steady under perfect conditions. Easton, no reports from this area, there must not be anyone from the DRSFA fishing the tournament this year! Keep reporting back to _connerfish@aol.com_ (mailto:connerfish@aol.com) or call my cell 215-200-1658 See you on the river Tight lines Conner .

See you on the river.

Tight lines,

Conner

FISHING REPORT - 5/2/07 (from Gary Connor)

Trenton, Chaz reports, temp jumped from 55-58 degrees, clarity pretty good, flow rate 19,300 CFS. Caught shad herring and a couple smaller stripers. Debris way down from last week.

Lewis fishery, Steve is getting happy, netted 5 roe and 5 buck for the best night of the year. With a week of fair weather coming the nets should be filling up.

Lambertville, Pete had a good day on orange and black going 10 for 13, mix about even.

Poxano, Dan reports one boater trolled the old Hildebrandt shad kings to land 22 while another boated 10 on down riggers, Dan hooked 2 with pro release.

Shad appear to be well represented up and down the river, with a great weather forecast for the next week looks like this is the time to get out and fish.

Don't forget to report back to connerfish@aol.com or call my cell at 215-200-1658.

My plan is to fish the tidal river this weekend. If you the see the MYoga give a shout.

See you on the river.

Tight lines,

Conner

FISHING REPORT - 4/26/07 (from Gary Connor)

Lewis Fishery, Steve reports water levels are rising - he estimates rise will be 1 foot by Saturday, Netting is suspended till levels return to normal.

Lambertville, Dick and Pete report the run has stopped. Last report of fish landed 4/23. Let's hope there are more schools to come.

Pete also reported there were men working on the Hydro phones on the 202 bridge.

Keep reporting all fishing activity by E-MAIL to connerfish@aol.com, or call my cell at 215-200-1658. Info like water temp, levels, debris and clarity are also helpful.

Come to the Delaware River Fisherman's Association meeting tonight 7 PM Dicks Sports at Franklin Mills.

See you on the river.

Tight lines,

Conner

FISHING REPORT - 4/25/07 (from Gary Connor)

Just a few quick up dates.

Dick reports, the Sandtz Eddy ramp is usable (be careful of the mud in the turn around) best to back straight down the drive.

Easton is fishable the P'burg ramp is in the best shape. Water temp in Easton now 53 degrees.

Dick observed one shad lost at one of the two boats out.

Lewis fishery still on hold, Steve wants the water level to drop 6 inches before pulling the net.

If you are planning to shad fish this weekend, try from Bull's Island south to Yardley.

For a mixed bag go to Trenton, rig for herring, stripers and shad. Don't get carried away, the 2 rod rule still applies along with the 3 hook herring rig (sabiki) rule and the in-line circle hook for all bait fishing till 6/1, and last but not least NO harvest of stripers before 6/1.

The Delaware River Fisherman's Association meets this Thursday at the Dick's Sport Store in Franklin Mills Mall complex, Dick's is between Boaters World and WalMart. Start time 7 PM. If it swims in the Delaware someone at the meeting will be able to help you fish for it.

Last but not least, your reports are very important, please drop line to connerfish@aol.com, if you don't have e mail call my cell at 215-200-1658.

Tight lines,

Conner

4/24/07 (From Gary Conner)

Action is starting to pick up in the lower river on Monday.

Kevin fished Trenton and went 3 herring, 1 striper and 40 shad. Kevin also fished Saturday with clams boating more than a dozen, but only 1 was keeper size.

Ron fished Lambertville from 3-7. from 3-5 boated 9 for 20+ then total shut down. Mostly buck, water temp 52 degrees. Temps this low this late in the season MAY help push the run further up river before the spawn starts, lets hope!

Also, Saturday I took my own advise and joined Ron at Nockamixon for a little bass fishing from 3-6 PM. The lake was muddy and very cold, 49-54 degrees from one side to the other. Talking to bass fishermen coming in the fishing is really late. The surrounding area looks like mid winter with no hint of green up, and no grass or pads growing in the shallows.

Lewis fishery, Steve is waiting for the river to go down more before putting the nets out, maybe Tuesday. Good news, most of the bridge is salvageable, as soon as the water levels get low enough they will re-raise the bridge to the island. If you get the chance take the kids to see the pulling of the nets. It is pulled just like it was when King Charles issued the grant for the fishery almost 250 years ago.

See you on the river.

Tight lines,

Conner

4/24/07

The river is still high, 31,300 cubic feet per second (Trenton gauge), but dropping. By Tuesday afternoon, it could be near or below the 20,000 – 25,000 cfs range that past hydroacoustic monitoring studies have shown trigger large schools of American shad to migrate upstream, past the Route 202 Bridge.

The water temperature, too, is cooperating. At the time of this writing, it is 53.78° F at Trenton. Fifty degrees (50°) F is about the coldest temperature at which A. shad begin to show an interest in shad darts and flutter spoons. Southwesterly winds have aided the migration and have warmed the water. The higher than normal water level gives the advantage to the shore anglers, as the A. shad prefer to migrate in the slower current velocities near the shoreline. Per usual, the most productive times are near dusk and dawn. Winds shifting to the west / northwest with an accompanying cold front, predicted for Tuesday night, will undoubtedly turn the bite off.

4/23/07, 8:43am Angler Report - "My brother John caught 15 American shad in the warmwater effluent of the Duck Island power plant, Trenton this morning on his home made flutter spoons. After the day break, most fishermen left."

4/23/07 - Lewis Fishery, Lambertville: "The good news is that we got the footbridge apart this weekend and it looks like we will need to replace very little lumber. The bad news is we are still quite a way from getting to a water level that will allow us to put it back up. We may be able to start seining again today but that determination will be made late this afternoon. I will continue to keep you posted."

4/23/07 – Captain George Kumor’s wife reported that "a good number of American shad" were caught in their Delaware Bay nets yesterday. I anticipate receiving similar good catch reports from the Kumors through, at least, Tuesday.

4/16/07

Due to the flood, of course, everything's shut down. However, the below angler report from 4/14, is an indication of potential good catches when the water eventually recedes and warms.

4/14/07

"Wasn't expecing much but I got lucky Saturday evening and stumbled into I suspect a warm pocket in the Lumberville/Bulls Island area. I wacked 12->15(lost count) BIG Roes 6->8+ lbs all on the same dart in 2hrs. Water temp only read 48 but I guess nobody told the roes - all fought like bluefish, four even jumped. It was sweet pay back - I could count all of last year's shad catches with 3 fingers. It was just like the good old days. Has me thinking this will be an exceptional spawn year. Sent them all north."

FISHING REPORT - 4/14/07 (from Gary Connor)

The flowers are starting to bloom. The grass is greening up and the fish are biting.

Thursday evening Lambertville, Big D and daughter fished 6-7:30 PM going 4 for 9.

Lewis fishery got 2 cats Wednesday, 2 shad Thursday, no shad Saturday. At least 1 shad was observed caught under the Lambertville bridge Saturday morning.

What a difference a few bad runs will make, 10 years ago there was a fleet of 75+ boats out in Lambertville on this weekend, today there were 4 boats. Trenton, water temp at the ramp 46 degrees (10 degrees below normal) all other conditions perfect.

Trenton power plant action very good, Kerry was high hook with 9 A. shad in just a few hours with other anglers not far behind. A couple of boats close to the hot water discharge were having a good time snagging gizzard shad. Bob picked up a couple small mouth casting parallel to the rip rap. 2 stripers were reported at the bottom of the tide on bait.

With a nor easter heading our way tonight and running through Tuesday our next best chance will probably be next Saturday.

Don’t forget the big raffle at the DRSFA meeting Wednesday 3-18 , 7:00 PM at the SE WY CO FIRE COMPANY RT # 378 South Bethlehem bring the kids, all kids win a prize.

Keep reporting to connerfish@aol.com or call my new cell at 215-200–1658.

Tight lines

Conner

4/11/07

Last evening, 4/10 Lewis caught just 2 channel cats, no A. shad. Water temp = 45 F.

Steve Meserve, of the Lewis Fishery, needs help hauling the seine for American shad in the Delaware River at Lambertville, NJ in the evenings on week days, and on Sat. mornings. You can work as little as one netting per week if so desired. Contact Steve at lewisfishery@usa.net.

FISHING REPORT - 4/9/07 (from Gary Connor)

OUR 9 YEAR OLD GRAND SON CONNER JOINED US FOR THE TRIP TO SEE THE LEWIS FISHERY IN ACTION THIS MORNING. STEVE AND HIS CREW WERE GREAT AS ALWAYS, PUTTING ON A WONDERFUL DEMONSTATION FOR ALL THE KIDS.

WATER TEMP IS A COLD COLD COLD 43 DEGREES, ALL OTHER CONDITIONS WERE NORMAL. EXCEPT FOR THE 35 DEGREE AIR TEMP. WITH THESE CONDITIONS STEVE ADVISED THERE WOULD NOT BE ANY FISH IN THE NET AND HE WAS RIGHT.

LET'S HOPE WE CATCH A BREAK AND THE NIGHT TIME TEMPS STAY IN THE MID TO UPPER 40s FROM NOW ON WITH OUT ANY HUGE RAIN EVENTS. WISHFULL THINKING, SOMETIMES THAT IS ALL WE HAVE TO HOPE FOR.

SEE YOU ON THE RIVER

TIGHT LINES

CONNER

FISHING REPORT - 4/8/07 (from Gary Connor)

BACK IN THE LATE 70s AND EARLY 80s WE CAUGHT SHAD AS EARLY AS 3/6. THAT MEANS WE WOULD BE STARTING OUR SECOND MONTH OF SHAD FISHING THIS WEEK END.

STEVE MESSERVE, LEWIS FISHERY, PULLED NETS FOR THE FIRST TIME LAST NIGHT. NOTHING BUT COLD. STEVE SAYS WE ARE AT LEAST A WEEK AWAY FROM ANY REAL ACTION. HE WILL PULL NETS AGAIN SATURDAY MORNING. THINK MY GRAND CHILDREN WILL WANT TO SEE THAT!

THURSDAY, 3 STRIPERS WERE CAUGHT AT THE TRENTON HOT WATER DISCHARGE ON CUT HERRING. FRIDAY, AT THE HOT WATER DISCHARGE, 1 SMALL MOUTH, 13 GIZZARD SHAD AND 3 AMERICAN SHAD ON THE OUTGOING TIDE. WATER TEMP AT THE TRENTON RAMP 45 DEGREES.

WATER CONDITION GOOD, FLOW NORMAL AS FAR NORTH AS LAMBERTVILLE. ALL RAMPS ARE SERVICEABLE. 3 BOATS WERE HERRING FISHING, NONE CAUGHT. NO BOATS WERE OUT AT THE 3 OTHER RAMPS TO LAMBERTVILLE.

DROP ME A LINE ON ANY ACTION ANYWHERE, IF YOUR E MAIL IS DOWN JUST CALL ME AT 215-200-1658. E-MAIL (CONNERFISH@AOL.COM) IS STILL THE EASIEST FOR ME. SEE YOU ON THE RIVER.

TIGHT LINES

CONNER

Friday, 4/5/07
Delaware Bay commercial fisherman, Captain George Kumor reported that fishing picked up over the weekend of 3/31 & 4/01. He caught 300 - 400 A. shad on each day with the ratio of 4 females to 1 male. Average weight of the fish = 5 lbs. There were some 8 pounders. On 4/03/07 he caught only Gizzard shad & Hickory shad. He believes that the A. shad, sensing the approaching cold weather, have moved to deeper water to hole up. George estimates that he is 1/3 of the way into this year's American shad run. With the next warm up, he expects to make his biggest catches of 2007.

Up the river at Trenton, anglers have had a slow pick of A. shad in the warmwater effluent of the Duck Island power plant since mid-March. Below is a recent report:

Wednesday, 4/4/07, 9:02 AM - My brother John caught and released 3 American shad and lost 1 this morning on his homemade yellow with red head flutter spoon in the Duck Island power plant in the rain. His biggest one, estimated 24", jumped completely out of the water and threw the hook. Other 8 car loads of fishermen caught more than 12 American shad.

At Lambertville, the transducers for the Hydroacoustic Monitoring of the passage of the 2007 Delaware River American shad run at the Route 202 bridge went into the water on 4/03/07, as the river has dropped to a safe, workable height. A. shad passage number estimates are not yet available.

FISHING REPORT - 4/4/07 - (from Gary Conner)

The weather over the next week is not encouraging, we may have the lowest high temp for Easter in recorded history for that date.

Water temps in the non tide water is still in the 30 s and 40-42 in the tidal waters.

No reports of shad from any of my sources so far.

Tight lines

Conner

Tuesday, 4/3/07 Easton PA Angler Report:

Fished in the Delaware River below the Lehigh River Dam today with water temp at 48.9 F at 10:30 AM. When I left at 3:30 PM, the Lehigh R. was 51.9 F and the Delaware R. was 52.2 F. One small roe was caught by a boat right next to me. I was marking fish off and on until 2 PM, when about every 15 minutes large, and I mean large, schools of 15 to 40 fish passed under the boat. This lasted about 40 minutes. I took a ride up to Hummers Beach just below the scenic view, and man did I mark fish in that area, right up to the fast rapids. American shad are here, and in some good numbers, but with the water temps slowly rising, and now with more rain and cold weather, who knows what's in store for the rest of the week?

Answer: Probably not too much…………but with the next warm-up, when the water reaches 50° F. and above, and stays there, the A. shad now in the Delaware will be biting!