Hudson River Shad

How's fishing? Depends on who's telling the tale By DAN SHAPLEY

Commercial netters on the Hudson were, with rare exception, consistent in their assessment of the 2006 shad season. It was lousy.

When it comes to dropping a hook and line in the water — whether the target was shad or striped bass — the story line was not nearly as consistent.

Spring is the time for fishing on the Hudson, as river herring like shad spawn. They are followed by the spawning striped bass, which prey on the herring.

As you're reading this, chances are Bill Emslie's sitting at White's Marina in New Hamburg, waiting for the next boat to dock and unload a striped bass. The Wappingers Falls resident organizes the annual Hudson River Striped Bass Tournament, and so he will spend this weekend weighing bass.

'Fish are scattered'

If anyone has a pulse on the season, it's him, and this is what he had to say about the year in stripers: "It depends who you talk to."

"There are fish out there now. They're scattered between here and Albany," he said. "You have to find them, and maybe you have to find the hungry ones."

Anglers have been catching bass in the 20 and 30 pound range consistently, he said. He expects one more than 40 pounds to take the prize today.

When it comes to shad, some anglers said they have had a lot more luck than the commercial netters.

"Not many people consider a rod and reel when they think of American shad. Since Colonial times, shad had been the providence of commercial fishermen," Tom Lake, a naturalist for the Hudson River Estuary Program and a fisherman, said.

"In the last 25 years, however, they have slowly become a darling species, albeit for only about three weeks, of a select number of dedicated anglers looking for a world-class fishing experience in the Hudson River."

The best fishing for shad is probably done, as the spawning run nears its end and the rain makes the water muddy. Shad strike by sight so anglers need clear water, Lake said.

If shad are under-appreciated as a sport fish, river herring are all but ignored.

Shad's smaller cousins, the bluebacks and alewives, have been scarce, many fishermen have said. Some catch them to eat, but the biggest harvest supports the bait needs of the trophy bass hunters.

There's no good data on herring caught in the Hudson, but many say their decline has been steep and persistent, just as it has been elsewhere on the East Coast.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts banned all herring fishing this year, following the lead of Connecticut. Other states have set restrictions of various kinds as well.

There's a growing chorus of voices suggesting, quietly, New York should follow suit, though others say herring don't need such aggressive restrictions.

Rob Marshall, who works at his parents' bait and tackle shop, Fisherman's World, in Wappingers Falls, said fishing for the popular bait needs to be stopped.

"We're going to have to," he said. "The only reason the stripers come up here is for the herring. They follow their food up here because that's where the herring spawn." [Poughkeepsie Journal by Dan Shapley]