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Delaware River Shad Fishing Reports - 2017

 

Surveys Show Strong Rebound of American Shad In the Delaware River (DEP News Release, 10/30/17)
Andrew and Steve Meserve mix fish roe and chicken eggs to create a unique dish (Travel Channel)

Every year American shad migrate up the Delaware River to spawn. The numbers and timing of the "shad run" vary year to year depending on water temperature and conditions. Having accurate, up-to-date information on the run can greatly impact on angling success and enjoyment. Fortunately, there are resources anglers can use to get this information.

INFORMATION RESOURCES

In addition to the postings below, anglers can utilize the following resources:

"The Big D" - 2006 Freshwater Fishing Digest article about the river and its fisheries. (pdf, 165kb)
Why You Should Care About What Fish (Shad!) Swim With You In N.J. Rivers - nj.com, 3/24/15

10/9 Report
5/24 Report
5/23 Report
5/22 Report
5/19 Report
5/18 Report
5/17 Report
5/16 Report
5/15 Report
5/12 Report
5/11 Report
5/10 Report
5/9 Report
5/8 Report
5/5-6 Report
5/3 Report
5/2 Report
5/1 Report
4/29-30 Report
4/28 Report
4/27 Report
4/26 Report
4/25 Report
4/24 Report
4/22 Report
4/21 Report
4/20 Report
4/18 Report
4/17 Report
4/15 Report
4/14 Report
4/13 Report
4/12 Report
4/11 Report
4/10 Report
4/7 Report
4/4 Report
3/29 Report
3/22 Report

Lewis Fishery Report, 10/9/17
OK, finally getting the last report out for the year. For the year we kept 208 bucks, 319 roe and returned 735. That gave us a total of 1,262 total shad for the year. That is the best year we have had since 1,257 in 1995. I think I said this in a previous email but we made 66 hauls in 43 days in 1995 and made 43 hauls in 34 days this year. That gave us a catch per haul this year of 29.35 compared to 19.05 in 1995. All in all a really good year for us. And I have been seeing a bunch of fry making their way down stream the last couple months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they make it back in 3 to 5 years.

On a side note, due to an merger/acquisition my company informed me that my job would be impacted and I was let go. I had been at my company for 27 years as a Sr. Computer Programmer Analyst. In many ways a sad day but in others not so sad. I am going to take this opportunity to take a step back and maybe look to do something a little (or maybe a lot) different. If you know of anything that you think I should take a look at please feel free to reach out to me at LewisFishery@comcast.net. I am looking forward to the possibility of moving my career in a new direction.

Thanks,
Steve

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/24/17
It was another kinda gray night on the water. Water temp was still 67F. The river height was down to 1.08'. That meant that we needed to add another piece of net on. So we added the 40-yard piece that we were going to add the first time we added net at the beginning of the year. That put us at 235 yards (195 + the 40).

What a good looking haul. Of course we were on the side again. The extra net helped. We ended up with 7 roe. We returned 1. We also had 3 smallmouth bass, 84 catfish, 1 carp, 1 quilback and 3 stripers (one had to be about 24-30").

While it's hard to do, this will be the last haul of the year I think. The weather the next 2 days is not looking at all good and then we are into the holiday weekend. After that I have to start getting ready for a vacation Sue and I have been looking forward to for about a year. I am still getting reports about shad being hooked by the rod and reel folks so you never know, we might make it out again sometime next week. I can tell you that we did pass the total for 1995 (1257). I have to double check the numbers and all but I come up with 1260 total shad for the year. And we did it in 9 fewer days and 23 less hauls. Again, details to follow.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/23/17
Kinda gray night tonight. And getting cooler. Water temp was down to 67F and the river was down to 1.2'. It was low enough that we hauled in on the side. We didn't add any more net but could have. We did have the excitement of having a beaver swimming around in the net for the last half of the haul. He did get out without incident. But it was at the very end. Might have lost a few fish because of it. We did end up with 2 bucks. We also had 4 smallmouth bass, 65 catfish, 8 gizzard shad and 3 quillback. We will be out again tomorrow night. After that we'll see, that might do it for the season. I'll keep you posted of course.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/22/17
I'm getting the e-mail out before 8pm. And that can only mean one thing, No Fishing Tonight. The weather didn't look too good at about 3:30 for the evening and I was heading to the vet to get our dogs up to date on shots so I decided to give it a pass. The weather is still looking a bit iffy for Tuesday and I have a few crew member that will be out. We will be going out Wednesday for sure.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/19/17
It was another hot one on the river tonight. Water temp is up to 72F and the river was at 2.17'. And still the 195 yards of net keeps working. Great night on the river. Starting to see traffic pick up with the warm weather. We netted 6 buck and 3 roe while returning another 9. Also in the ntes were 2 smallmouth bass, 6 catfish 2 gizzard shad, 2 quillback and 2 stripers.

We are taking tomorrow off but will be on the water Monday. Looks like the rain for tonight is not coming after all. Next rain is in Monday's forecast. If the river forecast sticks we could fish the lowest water of the season at just below 1.6'. To put that into perspective, most years we will get down below 1' and in one year we were as low as -0.54' (these are my records that go back to 2007 with collecting river height).

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/18/17
Another nice summer day on the river. Water temp climbed to 70F and the river was at 2.34'. And you guessed it, still 195 yards of net. We dragged our feet a bit to delay the start of the haul to try to make the sun work for us. We ended up with a better haul than last night. We kept 5 buck and 5 roe. We returned 5 shad. We also got 3 catfish, 39 gizzard shad, 1 quillback and one striper. With the weather change coming who knows what will happen next. I do know we will be out again Friday night but then take Saturday off. After that we will fish Monday for sure (weather permitting). It is starting to wind down though. We'll see if we make it to Memorial Day weekend.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/17/17
All of a sudden it's summer. What a change from Monday. Air temp must have been in the high 80s still when we got to the island. At least it felt a little cooler on the water. The river temp was 66F. The river was running at 2.53'. Still have the 195 yards on. All we could come up with for the night was 3 bucks and 2 roe. There was also 2 smallmouth bass, 18 gizzard shad and 1 quillback. It's really looking like the end is near. We'll go out tomorrow night and then Friday night. We'll be taking Saturday morning off. I'll let you know about next week on Friday.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/16/17
Another good night on the river. Not much breeze, sunny. And the water is very clear. Water temp has made it to 62F and the level is down to 2.98'. Still the same 195 yards of net. The first haul was a little more difficult than it needed to be. But all looked well until we got to the final 10 yards of net. There was a huge rip in the net along the lead line. All we got was 1 shad. We also had 4 gizzard, 2 quilback and a turtle. It was decided to make the repairs and everyone waited for a second haul. It took about an hour and a half to make the repairs but we did and the net looked wonderful. The river and the temp stayed the same for the second haul. However, all it netted us was 2 bucks and 1 roe. we also got 2 smallmouth bass, a catfish, 3 gizzard shad and 1 striped bass.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/15/17
Yet another great night on the river. There was quite the wind coming out of the north-north-west. It really moved us down river once we got started. The river was up to 60F and 3.07'. There is still that same 195 yards of net on. We only needed one shad. We got that (a buck) and also returned 14. There was also 9 gizzard, 1 quillback and a turtle. The forecast for the river at 11pm is showing a slow drop over the next few days. Going down to 2.3' by 8am Thursday. Still great conditions to be fishing in.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/12/17
It was a gray evening and it was starting to get cooler. We had one woman who was looking for shad and away we went. The river temp was 58F and the height was 2.14'. We continue with the 195 yards of net. It was quite the quiet haul but we ended up with keeping 1 buck and 1 roe (I will admit now that I thought I kept out 2 roe for our customer, my bad). We also returned 18 shad. We also had 2 smallmouth bass, 1 catfish, 2 suckers, 9 gizzard shad, 1 quilback and 2 striped bass. We didn't go out today due to a graduation in the family (it was lousy weather anyway). We'll out there again on Monday.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/11/17
Yet another beautiful night on the river, even if there was a cool wind out of the south. The water has dropped to 56F and 2.34'. We had a nice haul of fish. We ended up keeping 7 roe and returning 8. We also had 4 catfish (all big ones), 2 suckers 15 gizzard shad and 1 quillback. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rains hold off tomorrow until after we are done. Also, we will not be going out on Saturday the 13th. Besides the 1-2" of rain forecast it is graduation season.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/10/17
What a perfect night on the river. While it may still be cool out Spring is still trying to make its way in. There were goslings out and about, we've seen the first ducklings. An there was even a raccoon wandering around in the parking lot across the street. And the shad are still here.

The river was at 2.65' for the night. The temp was up to 60F. We still have the 195 yards of net on. We got 2 bucks and 3 roe and also had 3 gizzard shad. There were still customers wanting fish and the night was still young so we made a second haul. What a difference 45 minutes can make. We got 4 bucks and 5 roe. We returned 18 (our customers wanted more but not that much more). There were also 19 gizzard shad. We will be out again tomorrow night.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/9/17
Last night we had some equipment issues. Repairs were made and we were able to get out on the river tonight without a problem. The river was at 3.01' and still only 57F. We still have the 195 yards on. Not much moving around tonight. All we got were 3 bucks and 1 roe. We also had 9 gizzard shad. I still think there are fish coming our way. We just need some warm, sunny days and warmer nights then we have been getting. We'll be at it again tomorrow night.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/8/17
It really cooled off this past weekend and the river reflects that. The temp is now down to 57F. And while we didn't get as much rain as was forecast the river is staying a little over 3'. For tonight we were at 3.21'. All this combined to give us our first haul without a shad since the third one of the season (4/14). What we got was 5 gizzard shad and one muskie that was about 28". Quite the nice fish. Looks like the weather stays cool for a while (40s at night and 60s during the day) until the weekend. Once the weather warms again I think we'll see a few more good days of fishing.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/5-6/17
We never got the rain that was forecast so the river never came up as much as they said it would. The river was at 3.07' and 58F at the start. We were still fishing with a light crew and 100 yards of net. We got 1 buck,and 1 roe. We also had 7 smallmouth bass, 1 sucker, 6 gizzard shad and 1 herring. We had people wanting to by fish so we decided to try another haul. This time we ended up with 2 roe and 2 buck. And there was 3 gizzard shad. Everyone left with something. We'll be out again Monday. The way things are looking we will most likely go back to 195 yards of net.

For anyone keeping count, we are up to 1,122 total shad for the year. That is in 29 hauls. I think we will be going out for another 2 weeks or so.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/3/17
WOW! the river came up almost 2' from noon today until we went out at 6:45pm. I'm still not sure where it all came from (I got an e-mail yesterday from a guy in NY State saying there was a "slug" of water on its way). So for the stats.

The river was at 3.46' for the first haul. Water temp was 63F. We kept the 195 yards of net on even though we should have replaced the 95 yards with 50. We ended up with 10 bucks, 6 roe and 9 returned (all little bucks). There was also a single gizzard shad. We had more customers so we went out again. The river we up to 3.57' and 64F (in about 45 minutes). Same net. We changed the haul a little and ended up with 4 bucks and 5 roe, just enough for our customers. We also returned 12 gizzard shad. We are taking the night off tomorrow night. Depending on the weather we will be out again on Friday. Right now the river forecast is for the river to be at 3.2' by 8pm Friday before getting to 3.9' at 8am Saturday. We'll see if that forecast holds up.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/2/17
Strange night on the river tonight. Started out sunny and breezy. Then it turned cloudy and windy. The river was at 1.64' and rising after being 1.7' and falling last night. The temp was up to 66F. We kept to the 195 yards of net for tonight. There seems to be some kind of release going on in NY State. The forecast is for the river to go up to 3.9' by 8am Thursday and then start dropping. We won't be on the river on Thursday anyway but we'll see what we get tomorrow and Friday. As for tonight, we got 7 bucks and 7 roe. We returned 7 shad and also had 9 smallmouth bass, 34 catfish, 8 suckers, 14 gizzard shad and 4 quillback.

Lewis Fishery Report, 5/1/17
Is it May already? Where did April go? Well, another Shad Fest is in the books. We had a great weekend. Caught shad in every haul. Now to finish up the season.

Today the river was at 1.7' and 64 F. We had a breeze coming up from the south. We are still at 195 yards of net but that might change tomorrow if the river keeps going down. We ended up with 2 bucks and 3 roe. We returned 20 shad along with 12 smallmouth bass, 27 catfish, 5 suckers, 30 Gizzard shad, 2 carp, 10 quillback, 1 stripped bass and 1 walleye. Everyone seems to be moving around now. We'll be back out tomorrow. Looking forward we will be taking the night off on Thursday.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/29-30/17
It was a busy weekend. But before all that a correction and thank you. It seems that even though I corrected the count for 4/17 in an e-mail I didn't make the correction in my database. Because of that my total for the year has been off by about 100. A big thanks you to David Bieg for keeping an eye on my numbers.

Back to the weekend. Saturday was in a word HOT! The back of my neck is all you need to look at to have proof of that. Our 10:30am haul was typical for a Saturday morning. The river was at 2.62' and the temp was 61F. We are still fishing that same 195-yard piece of net. We kept 3 roe and returned 2 shad, 1 smallmouth bass, 4 gizzard shad, 1 quillback and 1 walleye. For our haul at about 1pm for the Shad Fest the river was at 2.50' and the temp was 63F. We kept 6 buck and 10 roe. We returned 1 shad , 1 smallmouth bass, 4 catfish, 1 sucker, 2 gizzard shad, 2 carp, 8 quillback and 1 trout. We got another haul started before our 2pm cutoff. The river was at 2.45'and still 63F. We kept 4 bucks and 7 roe. Returned were 2 shad, 5 catfish, 3 suckers, 2 gizzard shad, 5 quillback and 1 sunfish.

Then Sunday turned into a completely different day. Much cooler and overcast. All fish returned. They were 17 shad, 9 smallmouth bass, 19 catfish, 1 sucker, 27 gizzard shad, 7 carp, 5 quillback, 2 striper and 2 walleye. The river was down to 1.99' and the temp was back to 62F. And still the 195 yards of net. With all the fish from the weekend we are up to 1032 shad in total for the year (in 22 hauls in 17 days), passing the total from 2013 (1015 shad in 37 hauls in 36 days). Next biggest is 1995 with 1257 (66 hauls in 43 days).

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/28/17
Another beautiful night on the river. The river was at 2.38' and the temp was 62F. We still have that same 195-yard net on. I thought it would be another night where the first haul did not produce but the second one would. Well, we got 13 bucks and 35 roe. We returned 54 shad along with 1 smallmouth bass, 1 catfish and 28 gizzard shad. Our grand total for the year now stands at 875 shad. This weekend is Shad Fest in Lambertville. We will be going out at our regular time on Saturday at about 10:30am. We will also make demonstration hauls at 1pm both Saturday and Sunday. If you come into town and get a chance make your way down to the river and watch us fish. If you are using Google maps to fins us punch in 5 Lewis Island, Lambertville NJ 08530. That should take you right to our foot bridge. Also, if you would like to see a little different side of us they are replaying the episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern that we are in on Monday May 1st @ 9pm. Here is a link to the website with additional air dates and a clip that did not make the show - Cooking 'Eggs and Eggs': www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/philadelphia-shad-cakes-krak-and-kishke

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/27/17
What a beautiful night on the river. Light wind out of the south to start then the east later. The river was at 2.54' for the first haul. The temp was 58F. We still have that same 195-yard net on. We got 3 bucks and 6 roe. We returned 5 shad along with 1 smallmouth bass, 16 gizzard shad and 2 quillback. We were all ready to call it a night having filled what orders we had and then a few more customers showed up so we decided to go out again. We made the same haul as the first. The river was at 2.56' and the temp was 61F by then. we ended up with 8 bucks and 19 roe. We returned 33 shad and 22 gizzard shad.

Our grand total for the year now stands at 773 shad. That is with 17 hauls made in 14 days. To get to our 1,015 number in 2013 it took 37 hauls in 36 days. We'll be at it again tomorrow night.

Also, this weekend is Shad Fest in Lambertville. We will be going out at our regular time on Saturday at about 10:30am. We will also make demonstration hauls at 1pm both Saturday and Sunday. If you come into town and get a chance make your way down to the river and watch us fish. If you are using Google maps to fins us punch in 5 Lewis Island, Lambertville, NJ 08530. That should take you right to our foot bridge. Also, if you would like to see a little different side of us they are replaying the episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern that we are in on Monday May 1st @ 9pm. Here is a link to the website with additional air dates and a clip that did not make the show - Cooking 'Eggs and Eggs': www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/philadelphia-shad-cakes-krak-and-kishke

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/26/17
The evening started out pleasant enough. The river was up to 2.75' by 6:30pm. The temp was 58F. Everything looked good. We even fixed a few more holes in the "lucky" net. We ended up with 1 shad that we returned and 3 gizzard shad. There were a couple of folks that really wanted fish so I decided that we should make a second try. I fished it a little differently. We made a 200-yard run-around (75 yards out 50 yards down and 75 yards back in). The river was up to 2.77'. For our efforts we got 8 bucks and 5 roe. We also had 2 gizzard shad and a quillback.

A reminder that this weekend is Shad Fest in Lambertville. We will be going out at our regular time on Saturday at about 10:30am. We will also make demonstration hauls at 1pm both Saturday and Sunday. If you come into town and get a chance make your way down to the river and watch us fish. If you are using Google maps to find us punch in 5 Lewis Island, Lambertville, NJ 08530. That should take you right to our foot bridge. Also, if you would like to see a little different side of us they are replaying the episode of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern that we are in on Monday May 1st @ 9pm. Here is a link to the website with additional air dates and a clip that did not make the show - Cooking 'Eggs and Eggs': www.travelchannel.com/shows/bizarre-foods/episodes/philadelphia-shad-cakes-krak-and-kishke.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/25/17
It was touch and go for a while today with the weather. In the end I thought it was best to go down and see if we could get one in. The rain held off enough for us to get out. The river temp was 57F and the height was 2.74' We kept on that 195-yard piece of net and were rewarded with 28 shad and a gizzard. We didn't have anyone to sell to tonight so we were able to return them all. The weather looks better for tomorrow but the river looks to get up to about 3.5' by 8pm. IF that is the case we will be looking to take some net off. As for Shad Fest weekend, Saturday looks to be the best day with partly cloudy skies. Temps both days will be in the 80s.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/24/17
Well, the weather was a tease most of the day. I even drove through some light sprinkles on my way to the river. In the end the weather held off. It took a bit to get the new brail back on and there were a number of holes that needed our attention. The river temp was 56F and the height was 2.84'. We still had the 190 yards of net on. Really it's more like 195. We took a little bit of time and did a measurement so we are going with 195 for this net now.

We ended up with 7 bucks and 18 roe. We returned 26. So, another 50+ night. We also had 2 smallmouth bass, 2 suckers and 2 gizzard shad. I'll be keeping an eye on the weather to see if we can get out tonight. I am hearing about some heavy rains later in the day. Right now there is a chance of almost an inch of rain between 5 and 8 PM. IF all this happens we are looking for the river to start going up over night and getting back up to 3.6' by Thursday. Hopefully it all settles down before the weekend and Shad Fest.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/21-22/17
It's 2-fer Saturday. For Friday night. For the first haul the river was at 2.27' and 58F. Everything looked good and we ended up with 6 roe and 8 bucks. We didn't return any shad. We also had 4 catfish and 9 gizzard shad. Most years lately that would have been OK but we noticed a hole in the bag of the net. Since we had customers who still wanted fish we went out again after fixing the hole. We were rewarded for our efforts with 23 roe and 27 bucks. We returned 55 shad. We also had 2 smallmouth bass, 4 catfish, 7 gizzard shad and 2 quillback. The water was still 58F but it was up to 2.32'. Fixing the hole paid off.

Saturday the water was still 58F. The level was up to 2.6' and still coming up. did not expect much with the overcast sky and rising river. We ended up with 6 bucks and 10 roe. We returned 14 shad. We also had 1 catfish, 8 gizzard shad and 1 quillback. Not bad for a Saturday. For the year we have kept 103 bucks, 155 roe and returned 348 shad. That gives us a total of 606 shad for the year so far. Next week is shaping up to be a very good week. Just in time for Shad Fest.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/21/17
The sun was out during the day but decided to go away just in time for use to go fishing. Still a bit of a breeze but not bad at all. The water temp was 59F and the river was at 2.01' @ 6:30pm. We are still using the 190 yards of net.We were rewarded with 12 buck and 14 roe (and that was all the roe in the haul). We also threw back 39 shad. There were also 6 smallmouth bass, 7 catfish, 1 sucker, 46 gizzard shad and 3 quillback in the nets tonight. That brings our total for the year (with the revised numbers for Monday) to 457. Not bad for only have been fishing for 8 days.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/20/17
Got a little cooler last night (4/19). Pretty gray too. Still had the wind up from the south. Not quite as bad as Tuesday night, but still had to allow for it. That old net we added on Monday is getting bigger and bigger holes in it so it took some time to make repairs. The water temp dropped to 58F. And the river itself dropped to 1.89' by 5:45.

By the time we went out at 7 it was starting to creep back up. It was 1.93' by then. It got up to 2.1' @ 12:15am before it started dropping again. We ended up keeping 8 bucks and 12 roes. We returned 25 shad. We also had 8 smallmouth bass, 12 catfish, 7 suckers, 51 gizzard shad, 1 carp, 10 quillback and 1 walleye.

My bigger news is that after rechecking the tally sheet for Monday night I discovered there were a number of shad not accounted for in the final number for returned shad. I had reported 113 returned. I double checked the "ticks" and found there the number should have been 218! That makes the total for the haul 298! I know there was a haul of 440 in 1963 and there was a haul of over 500 in the 90's (never got an exact count for that one. It was while we were tagging for the state and there is a good story there, but you have to come to the island to hear it). We are now well over the total number we caught for all of last year (367).

We'll be out there again tonight. Hope the good catches continue.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/15/17
Yet another beautiful night on the river. There was a bit of a breeze coming out of the south. Almost had whitecaps on the water. Water temp was 60F (I expect it to drop a bit tonight). The river is running at 2.26'. We kept 6 bucks and 22 roe. We returned 94 shad. We haven't had back to back 100+ shad days since the 90s I think. We also had 4 smallmouth bass, 2 catfish, 15 gizzard shad, 1 walleye and 4 quillback. The river looks to be dropping slowly for the the next couple of days so there should be some good numbers into the weekend.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/17/17
It was a beautiful evening on the river tonight. With all the reports I had been getting I thought we might be in for a good night. I wanted to add another 50 yards on but ended up adding 100 yards a bit by mistake. Sometimes 2 nets can look like one. So we made the best of it and headed out. I figured we would make the haul and then I could change the net around again Tuesday night. Had a good group of folks out to watch and help.

We were all rewarded with a really nice haul of shad. We wound up keeping 62 roe and 18 bucks. We returned 113! I have detailed data on our hauls back to 2003. The biggest haul in that time period is 164 in 2013. And 2013 was the year we had over 1000 shad total for the year. Tonight we also got 74 gizzard shad, 2 quillback, 1 herring and 1 smallmouth bass.Water temp was 58F and we were fishing 190 yards of net (we needed to take about 10 yards off because the sea end of the net was in such bad shape). We'll be out again Tuesday night.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/15/17
Sorry this is late getting out. Too much to do for the holiday this weekend. The river got down to 3.06' Saturday morning. Temp was at 56F and we still had 100 yards on the boat. Saturday mornings are not our best times to fish but my wife told me we would get some. And she was right. We got 10 bucks and 2 roe. We returned only 2.

The river was already down to 2.42' at 9:45am today so it looks like another 100 yards of net for tonight. I hope the little bit of rain that is in the forecast for the rest of the week will keep it from falling too far and we can keep it going around the point for the rest of this week into next week. I'll put out tonight's report latern in the evening.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/14/17
We Got Shad! Great night on the river. Made all the better by getting shad. The river has dropped to 3.38'. The temp was 56F. We ran 100 yards of net again. We ended up with 8 roe and 4 buck. We returned another 7 shad. There was also 14 Gizzard shad. We'll go out again tomorrow about 10:30am.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/13/17
Another nice night on the river. River was down to 3.71'. Temp looks like it was about 53F (still working with the backup thermometer). We had 100 yards on. Still no fish. We did have a tie-up in the net that didn't help and we are still dragging through a bunch of mud at the point. We'll be out again tonight. Keeping fingers crossed.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/12/17
And finally it begins. We were able to make our first haul tonight. It was great to see the crew back on the island. There were even a few new ones. The river was at 4.08' and falling. Didn't really get a temp. The thermometer we had to use was a Celsius one and I'm not sure if was reading correctly. I'll find our Fahrenheit one for tomorrow night. We had 100 yards of net on and caught zip. We didn't even have much debris. Still, it was a great night to be on the river. We'll go out again tomorrow.

Lewis Fishery Report #2, 4/11/17
So, as of 6pm, when we typically go out, the river was at 4.54' in Lambertville. Still about 0.2' higher then I can fish at. At the 8:45pm reading the river was at 4.48'. The forecast is for the river to be at 4' by 8pm Wednesday. If that is the case we will make a haul. We did end up spending tonight cleaning up the bank as much as we could. Thanks to everyone that came down to help. If things continue as they are you should get the first official Lewis Fishery Report tomorrow at about this time.
Lewis Fishery Report #1, 4/11/17
Just the quickest of notes. The river is looking to be at about 4.5' by 8pm today. Just about where we can start. What ever crew I can get for tonight we will at least get some of the debris off the bank. If we can we will go out. I'll send an update later tonight.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/10/17
As of 11:45am the river at Lambertville was at 5.3' and dropping. The forecast is for it to get to 4.5' by 8pm 4/11. That would be just about where we could start fishing (really we are looking for 4.3'). The boat is in the water at least so as soon as we do reach a level we can fish at we will be good to go.

As an aside, for anyone that thought that geometry wasn't necessary in school, try putting a boat into the water without taking a good look at the angle of descent. You can end up with a boat full of water real fast. In the end all was well. We were even able to get a tree off the bridge to the island and send it downstream. I hope to get to the river tonight and finish making up the net we will use to start. I will send out an update tomorrow and make a call one way or the other by early afternoon.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/7/17
Just another quick update on things on the river. More rain means more river. The river bottomed out at 5.39' at 2:45pm on 4/6. At 9:45pm it was up to 7.68 and still rising. The forecast crest is now 8.2' at 8am Saturday 4/8. IT should start falling sometime after 2pm on Saturday and reach 5.1' at 8pm Monday 4/10. That will put us about a foot from being able to go out and fish. I hope to be able to dump the boat in sometime on Sunday. Keeping fingers crossed that we will actually get on the river early next week. I'll send out an update sometime on Sunday. Enjoy your weekend.

Lewis Fishery Report, 4/4/17
Just a quick update on things on the river in Lambertville. Currently the river is at 5.18' (@11:45 AM). That's about a foot higher than we can fish at. The forecast is currently for the river to reach 8.3' about 8 AM on Friday 4/7 and will continue to rise. There is a new product available on the Trenton (http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=phi&gage=tren4) and Belvidere (http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=phi&gage=bvdn4&prob_type=stage&source=hydrograph) river forecast pages that looks 7 days out.

It's not looking good for getting out before next week sometime. Both pages have the river coming up to a crest sometime tomorrow, settling down just a bit and then going a little higher by the weekend. All we can do is wait and see what the river offers us. I'll be keep you all posted.

Lewis Fishery Report, 3/29/17
The good news is that I had a good crew on Saturday and the nets are out of the cabin and everyone can get to their boots. We were even able to clear the path of 3 fallen trees. The bad news is the rains came and as of 8:45pm the river at Lambertville is at 4.95'. My wife and I went down to take a look and it's too high to fish by almost a foot. And the forecast into the weekend is not looking much better. I just looked (at 9:25pm) and the graph shows the river getting up to 5.6' by 2pm tomorrow, coming down to 5.1' by 2pm Friday and then getting up to 6.2' by 8am Saturday (let's hope it's an April Fools), and that 6.2' doesn't even look like the crest.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a better (less rain) forecast as we hit the weekend and everything settles down for the beginning of next week. Maybe the boat goes in Monday or Tuesday and we can start making hauls Wednesday (ever the optimist). We'll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature will allow us to do. She's funny that way.

As always, we are looking for any extra hands to volunteer. If you think you might be interested, come on down and check us out. We start about 6pm Monday to Friday and 10:30am Saturday.

Lewis Fishery Report, 3/22/17
OK, I know this is way late. Sorry for that. There has been a lot going on this winter. If you asked me 6 weeks ago I would have said we would be fishing for a week by now. As it turns out Mother Nature has other ideas. Looks like we'll get started around 4/1. Keeping fingers crossed that the weather gets better for us. I will update you all over the weekend after we start getting the gear out of storage.

If you know anyone who would also like these updates just send the e-mail address and contact info to me.

Steve Meserve
Lewis Fishery
1 Lewis Island
Lambertville, NJ 08530
908-806-3163
908-507-8197

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