Keep an eye out for American shad in the lower Musky

[Rusty Spinner]

Keep an eye out if you fish the lower Musky for American shad again this spring. Same for river herring and striped bass. With 3 remnant and 2 formerly intact dams removed on the lower river, shad are making a big comeback to NJ Delaware tribs. Paulins Kill is next with the removal of the Columbia Lake dam that could come as early as this year. Could the Pequest be next?




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[lightenup]

Keep an eye out if you fish the lower Musky for American shad again this spring. Same for river herring and striped bass. With 3 remnant and 2 formerly intact dams removed on the lower river, shad are making a big comeback to NJ Delaware tribs. Paulins Kill is next with the removal of the Columbia Lake dam that could come as early as this year. Could the Pequest be next?

how far up the Musky can or will these shad and stripers swim?

[Rusty Spinner]

how far up the Musky can or will these shad and stripers swim?

That was being debated a bit on my Facebook post by those that regularly see American shad in undammed rivers. They can and do swim way up into or near the headwaters of a given watershed or river system. The Musky still has 3 dams to be removed, and right now they swim to the base of the big Warren Glen Mill dam and cannot get above it. The US Army Corps will one day remove the Bloomsbury Mill dam while the state continues to move slowly forward with the Warren Glen Mill dam removal. After those two get yanked, it's up to Asbury's dam which is part of the county road there. That won't be a traditional dam removal, but rather some low breach to allow shad to get above it.

If all dams were out of that river, in theory anyway, you could catch shad in Stephens State Park or upstream of that. Just remember that you cannot currently target shad in the tribs like the Musky or lower Paulins Kill. As more fish arrive back in those restored waters, the Division will have to work that all out. I'd like to see a C&R fishery allowed at some point, but it might take a bunch of years. Any shad that spawned in the Musky last year are 3 plus years from returning as adults. And last year was our first documented shad year for the lower Musky. But it will or should build each year. To me, the Paulins Kill is the better shad producer because it has the better, slower pools than the Musky does. There is a whole formula for shad spawning which is based on current speed and pool depth.

[tompg]

I've seen them at Hazel Bridge...which is not on the musky

[Rusty Spinner]

I've seen them at Hazel Bridge...which is not on the musky

And no dams in their way.

[falcon]

I have seen them up the Mongaup to where they release from Rio.

[Rusty Spinner]

I have seen them up the Mongaup to where they release from Rio.

Shad will run up most all Delaware tribs that are clean enough water if they don't encounter dams along the way that are impassable.

[Twism]

An exciting prospect now without the damn dams! I wonder how many ignore the rules about targeting them?

[lightenup]

An exciting prospect now without the damn dams! I wonder how many ignore the rules about targeting them?

"No sir, I catch loads of trout on shad darts....didn't even know shad were in this river, when did that happen?"

[Twism]

"No sir, I catch loads of trout on shad darts....didn't even know shad were in this river, when did that happen?"

I mean the trout magnet is basically a mini shad dart and it works well!

[lightenup]

I mean the trout magnet is basically a mini shad dart and it works well!

Right, so how will they know if you are targeting shad? They will probably just watch from the woods with binoculars for a few, until they see what you are doing, kind of like Grobert does every time I go fishing, wierdo....