PoughkeepsieJournal.com - Shad run is dud, fishermen claim

Shad run is dud, fishermen claim [By Dan Shapley, Poughkeepsie Journal]

John Mylod found nothing in his nets Wednesday and gave up fishing for shad early. He turned to working out knots and repairing holes in hopes they catch more next year.

"It's not so much the season. It's the few shad that are out there," the Poughkeepsie fisherman said. "We used to fish past Mother's Day."

Shad fishing on the Hudson River reached new lows this year. The number of crews trying to catch the Hudson's only remaining commercial fish declined. Most who did fish didn't catch much.

Coastwide, the story was the same, said Christopher Letts, an educator for the Hudson River Foundation. He buys shad for the annual shad festivals, and his suppliers reported slim harvests from South Carolina to Connecticut.

"The season is terrible. I've never seen it so bad," said Kevin Coons, a Hyde Park resident who for 15 years has taken time off each spring to fish for American shad. "I've had a lot of people stopping by. I've had restaurants stopping by. Restaurants can't get them from their suppliers."

Last year, about a dozen boats fished for shad, the largest of the river herring. This year, it was closer to 10.

Roe is coveted

Shad's Latin name means "most delicious herring." Its notoriously bony flesh deters many. It takes an expert to fillet a shad and remove the bones. Its roe is a delicacy as passionately loved by enthusiasts as it is reviled by its detractors.

Bill Collier, a Wappingers Falls resident, has looked for the fresh catch from the river ever since tasting roe at a VFW dinner in Cold Spring. He was sorry to hear about the early end to the season, since he hadn't had a meal yet.

"I'm disappointed to hear the news," he said.

Commercial fishing on the Hudson has been in decline for decades. PCB pollution makes most species of fish illegal to sell, and unsafe to eat, according to state advisories.

Shad are the exception because they spawn briefly in the river, eat little, then return to the ocean or die. Yet, a number of insults have contributed to a decline in shad numbers.

PCBs and other pollutants may harm fish directly. Acres of spawning habitat have been destroyed. Thousands of eggs and larvae are killed by power plants drawing cooling water from the river. Zebra mussels invaded the river 15 years ago and have since filtered so much plankton from the water that young shad leave the river smaller, weaker and more prone to predation. Intense industrial ocean fishing at the river mouths was only banned last year. And fisheries managers have favored the striped bass, the voracious predator at the heart of a recreational fishery that now eclipses the commercial.

This is the second year since interstate fisheries managers banned off-shore fishing that had decimated the shad population. Whether it results in a resurgence in Hudson River shad remains to be seen, since shad born in coastal estuaries mature for four or five years in the Atlantic before returning.

"It'll be another couple years before we see," Mylod said.

Bobby Gabrielson Sr., whose family has fished out of Nyack for decades, catches the smaller river herring, bluebacks and alewives that striped bass anglers use for bait. They hardly fished for shad this year, but caught them when they tried. He was the lone fisherman of several interviewed who said shad were abundant.

"I'm telling you, the shad were there. They were there last year too," Gabrielson said. "They stopped the intercept fishery on the coast. Now, I'm getting calls from Cape May, N.J. A guy from Philadelphia came all the way up here for shad. That's the demand for this stuff now."

Restoring shad coastwide is a goal of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. On the Hudson, it's a priority for the state's Hudson River Estuary Program.

"This is one of our signature species, and it is our goal to restore them to their historic high levels," said Fran Dunwell, coordinator of the estuary program. "We have our work cut out for us."

There are no shad festivals scheduled in Dutchess or Ulster counties this year. The Hudson River Foundation will host a festival Saturday at Memorial Park, Depew Avenue in Nyack, Rockland County. Next weekend, festivals are planned in Catskill, Greene County and Croton, Westchester County. Visit www.hudsonriver.org for information.

Providence Journal 5/12/06

1. BAY:When there's a break in the weather, striped bass are rolling on the surface outside of Bristol Harbor and along Prudence and Patience Islands, especially near Potter Cove and Providence Point, said Billy Silvia, skipper of the charter boat Can't Imagine. Wednesday evening, Silvia caught 34- to 40-inch bass in the Seekonk River. Jim White, skipper of the charter boat White Ghost, says the Providence River is loaded with stripers. He also recommends the waters off Barrington and Poppasquash Point in Bristol.
2. This is the time of month when Ed Hughes starts finding large schools of large stripers in the waters off Conanicut Point. The fish tend to be just beneath the surface, and they'll hit flies, Slug-Gos and hard-plastic lures. He said bass have been hitting flies in East Greenwich Harbor near the Goddard Park boat ramp. Nearby, Dave Sanford has been catching a lot of stripers and some squeteague at Sally Rock, said David Henault of Ocean State Tackle.
3. In Middletown, Sam Toland of Sam's Bait & Tackle said schoolies to keeper-sized bass are biting at First and Second Beaches early in the morning and in the evening. They're taking small poppers, Slug-Gos and Storm Wildeye Shad. A bit up the Bay, anglers are taking fish as large as 26 pounds on squid, he said.
4. Tautog are biting from Sachuest Point to the Stone Bridge in Tiverton, Toland said. He also recommended fishing the rocks at Fort Adams, Ocean Drive and the Mount Hope Bridge. The bite has improved in Bristol Narrows, said Henault.
5. BEACHES AND SALT PONDS:Fran Sawicki, the dean of Point Judith Pond, has been catching flounder, but it hasn't been easy, he said. "I caught four real nice flounder [Tuesday], but I had to work for them," he said. I caught them in 4 feet of water, and they were nice, fat fish. I got four on Sunday, but I had to look for them. They're in places where they haven't been before. Two weeks ago, I got my four fish in 25 minutes, but they're much harder to find since the weather turned cold." Stripers as large as 35 pounds are holding in the deeper holes of the pond. Sawicki cuts 6-inch, motor-oil Slug-Gos in half and uses the tail ends to catch the bass. Three- to 4-pound bluefish have appeared in the pond, too. "My gut tells me this is going to be a phenomenal year," Sawicki said.
6. Quonochontaug Pond holds bass and tautog, said Don Cameron of Captain Don's Bait & Tackle. He weighed an 18-pound striper Wednesday morning. The fish hit a squid-colored Gag's It's Alive lure at the boat ramp on the breachway. Tautog, as large as 7 pounds, are biting worms.
7. Fluke are biting in the waters from the fish trap at Point Judith to Green Hill Beach, Cameron said. Thom Pelletier of Quaker Lane Outfitters said the fish are in 35 feet of water one day and in much deeper areas on other days.
8. PARTY BOATS:Squid fishing has been excellent aboard the Frances Fleet boats, their skippers report.
9. Cod fishing is slow, but fluke fishing along the beaches is excellent, even though there aren't any jumbo fluke being caught. When cod fishing did improve a little on Sunday, the largest fish taken was a 25-pounder.
10. FRESHWATER:"All this rain will raise water levels on our rivers, but that's not necessarily a bad thing," Ed Lombardo said in an e-mail. "I like fishing blood worms in sizes No. 18 to No. 16 just under the surface. The worms will be washed in rivers and still waters by all the increasing volume of water. The worms are a deep to bright red in color and are tied on a scud style hook or a regular hook. I also like using all of the other flies that mimic what is still hatching, such as Mahogany Duns, Red Quills, and Black and light Tan Caddis in sizes No. 16 and No. 14. Black ants have also been good during long periods of rainfall. I like using sizes No. 16 and No. 14."
11. BEST BITES
    
12. Point Judith Pond:Striped bass, bluefish
13. Aquidneck Island shore:Striped bass, tautog
14. Prudence Island:Striped bass
15. THE TIDES:The moon causes tides and affects the activity of saltwater and freshwater fish as well as animals on land. Anglers generally find the best fishing two hours before and after a high tide, but fish and other animals also become active around the time of low tide.

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]

Fluke 18-inch rule negates the bounty -- Newsday.com

• Anyone interested in catching fluke on opening day last weekend was in luck. The fish were biting hard and fast. But anyone interested in keeping fluke had a much tougher time as the 18-inch regulation relegated some otherwise very big fish to throwbacks and left many anglers frustrated.
• The distance between 17 1/2 and 18 inches never seemed as great as it did this week. So many fish were just-shorts, forcing fisherman to first squint at the lines on the ruler, then wince at the idea of tossing the catch back. The good news is that in another few weeks, those fish will be big enough to find their way to someone's plate. By the end of the summer, the 16-inch fish will probably be long enough to keep. The bad news is that fluke season ends in early September, so any fish smaller than 16 inches this week won't likely reach the regulation by the time the recreational fishing ends.
• While many anglers were tossing fluke over the side as if they were bailing water from the engine room, there were a few locations where keepers were plentiful. Just outside Shinnecock Inlet on opening day, the Shinnecock Star found plenty of 18-inch fish. Bill Nixon had a 9-pound, 4-ounce, fish Saturday afternoon to go with an 8-pounder and a 6-pound, 8-ounce fluke by other anglers on the trip. On Sunday, Mike Chan hooked a 9-pound, 2-ounce fluke. In the Greenlawns area off Shelter Island, Bill Joyce caught a 10.44-pounder and Wego Fishing in Southold weighed about five fish of more than 8 pounds from that same area during the weekend.
• Eighteen inches will be a difficult benchmark to meet throughout the summer. Heck, it was difficult to meet this week. But it is still early for productive fluke fishing in many areas. Sure, anglers may have to alter their techniques or their locations to put some filets on the table this year. But fishermen who know their craft and put in their time will find the keeper fish. That's the one constant in fishing. [Tom Rock NY Newsday]