shad fishing coming

[Kype]

the non native fish are fun to catch though and peel out drag. id go carp and flatheads any day of the week. 

[SPEARFISH]

17 hours ago, Bucksnbows said:

Yes, exactly.  But you can add so many others that we fish for here in NJ that aren't native.  Largemouth aren't even native nor are bluegills to start with the basics.  

 

17 hours ago, JHbowhunter said:

and snakeheads and flathead catfish and many carp species to name a few more

I like the options.  NJ really does have a great freshwater fishery.

[hammer4reel]

38 minutes ago, SPEARFISH said:

 

I like the options.  NJ really does have a great freshwater fishery.

Both our freshwater as well as our saltwater fishery are great , and give super diversity of choices all year .

.

except for shad the Big D is probably one of the most underutilized fisheries .

shad , stripers , small mouth , large mouth , walleyes ,  carp, catfish of all kinds as well as muskies give an angler many great choices of what to fish for .

‘the flathead fishery will be world class in just a few more years .. already being caught into the 40# class throughout a lot of the river 

 

[JHbowhunter]

15 minutes ago, hammer4reel said:

‘the flathead fishery will be world class in just a few more years .. already being caught into the 40# class throughout a lot of the river 

 

And I am probably in the minority view on this - but I think they are a leading reason for no more returning shad to the annual run.  They are "one and done" based on the cookie cutter size fish we are seeing last 5 years.   Weakened shad, warm water, struggling to get back to the salt are easy pickings for catfish 3 to 10 times their size.   A 30# flathead can easily swallow a 4# roe shad with ease, and probably several per day.  And folks are mainly C&R on these invasive fish. I know it's exciting to catch a river monster, I get a big thrill out of big channel cats but I have a very bad feeling about the rise of the flathead and the impact to the rest of the river's fishery 

[hunterbob1]

5 minutes ago, JHbowhunter said:

And I am probably in the minority view on this - but I think they are a leading reason for no more returning shad to the annual run.  They are "one and done" based on the cookie cutter size fish we are seeing last 5 years.   Weakened shad, warm water, struggling to get back to the salt are easy pickings for catfish 3 to 10 times their size.   A 30# flathead can easily swallow a 4# roe shad with ease, and probably several per day.  And folks are mainly C&R on these invasive fish. I know it's exciting to catch a river monster, I get a big thrill out of big channel cats but I have a very bad feeling about the rise of the flathead and the impact to the rest of the river's fishery 

You're not in the  minority Jack I actually agree with.

https://www.ms-sportsman.com/columns/getting-fresh/fish-eating-machine-flathead-catfish-biology/

[hammer4reel]

5 minutes ago, JHbowhunter said:

And I am probably in the minority view on this - but I think they are a leading reason for no more returning shad to the annual run.  They are "one and done" based on the cookie cutter size fish we are seeing last 5 years.   Weakened shad, warm water, struggling to get back to the salt are easy pickings for catfish 3 to 10 times their size.   A 30# flathead can easily swallow a 4# roe shad with ease, and probably several per day.  And folks are mainly C&R on these invasive fish. I know it's exciting to catch a river monster, I get a big thrill out of big channel cats but I have a very bad feeling about the rise of the flathead and the impact to the rest of the river's fishery 

I think very few shad make it back to the ocean . Bigger ones are more than likely fish that came in a year later than normal .

flat heads are def a super predator, and like live fish more than normal cats .

‘but also betting their is a better bass concentration due to them eating the sunnies that destroy bass beds and eggs .

Def seems to be less carp in the river now also , so possibly they are also keeping them in check .

 

susquehanna small mouth fishery doesn’t seem to have been hurt by the flatties.

 

[JHbowhunter]

9 minutes ago, hammer4reel said:

I think very few shad make it back to the ocean . Bigger ones are more than likely fish that came in a year later than normal .

 

They used to- shad over 6 and 7# used to be the norm, and catching over 8# was not a shocker for many years.  One year I even landed several over 9#.    Over the past 5 years, even 5# shad are getting tougher to come by.   The evidence is there - I catch enough over the last 40+ years to see the change in quality of fish. 

[SPEARFISH]

6 minutes ago, JHbowhunter said:

They used to- shad over 6 and 7# used to be the norm, and catching over 8# was not a shocker for many years.  One year I even landed several over 9#.    Over the past 5 years, even 5# shad are getting tougher to come by.   The evidence is there - I catch enough over the last 40+ years to see the change in quality of fish. 

Those 9lbers were the ones that stayed at sea waiting for the pollution levels to come down.  J/K I know next to nothing about shad.

[hammer4reel]

26 minutes ago, JHbowhunter said:

They used to- shad over 6 and 7# used to be the norm, and catching over 8# was not a shocker for many years.  One year I even landed several over 9#.    Over the past 5 years, even 5# shad are getting tougher to come by.   The evidence is there - I catch enough over the last 40+ years to see the change in quality of fish. 

That could just mean they spawned a year later than they are doing now . They can spawn at any time between 4 and 7.

less than 10% of fish make it back to the ocean , and less than that ever spawn a second time .

Overall size of the fish is smaller , not just that few percent made up by a possible returning fish .

 

could be younger fish can now get through the pollution easier , and took an older heartier fish to get through before .

 

could even be that guys actually carry a real scale now lol

Edited March 9, 2021 by hammer4reel

[hunterbob1]

33 minutes ago, hammer4reel said:

I think very few shad make it back to the ocean . Bigger ones are more than likely fish that came in a year later than normal 

 

susquehanna small mouth fishery doesn’t seem to have been hurt by the flatties.

 

It's really good by the hat company.

 

[308federal]

21 hours ago, Bucksnbows said:

God no!  Enough of the non-native fish please! 

NJ actually had plans and executed them back in the 70s to introduce Pacific coast salmon to the Hackettstown Hatchery in hopes they would somehow make it down and up the many dams that were still intact on the Musconetcong River.  PA and NY sued to keep the state from trying, but I believe lost.  However, the project never really went anywhere, mainly due to dams even salmon can't get over, and today would never be suggested knowing what we do about the problems inherent with non-native fisheries.   

Seem to remember many many years back about the discussion on the salmon, but there was a  concern, for whatever reasons, that it would affect the trout populations on the upper Delaware.

[230jhp]

I want to catch one on my fly rod. Now that I lost a lot of weight I should be able to get down the steep bank to a choke point I haven't fished in years.