2003 Email Reports

^New Email Reports, June 14, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill, passing along a report from one of his customers fishing in the Trenton area on June 14:

“Bob and I made the trip to Trenton yesterday, river was in pretty bad shape, murky and high, We did manage to catch 5 stripers and about 10 catfish. Bob got the biggest Striper about 8 lbs. and I got the biggest cat about 6 lbs. Action was a lot slower than in the past, don't know if things are winding down in Trenton or if it was due to the water conditions. We will keep trying till we get skunked on the Stripers.
Kurt”

^New Email Reports, June 9, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill, passing along a report from his customers fishing in the Trenton area:

“Pete, Just talked to 3 more guy's that went to Trenton yesterday. They also had a very good day. They caught & released 32 Stripers in the 3 to 10lb. range. They also managed to catch about 3 dozen herring. Quite a few from this area went down that way this weekend. They claim the river was much more fishable in the Trenton area than it was up this way. Bill.”

^New Email Reports, June 8, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill, passing along a report from one of his customers fishing in the Trenton area on June 7:

“Went to Trenton yesterday, wasn't going to go because of river conditions but figured why not. River wasn't to bad down there a little tainted but all in all not bad. No herring so we used frozen ones. Bob and I were in my boat ,Paul was in his and Scott and Donna were in his boat. Scott and Donna caught 5 stripers largest one for Scott was 9 lbs. Paul got 3 largest was 8lbs 8 ozs.and Bob and I caught 26 ,our largest was a 9 pounder for me and a 8 pounder for Bob ( pictured) . Weather was rainy but so what the stripers were still there.As I said no Herring,don't know if they are done and left or if it was just to bad of water conditions for them to see the rigs. Might try next week again,will have to see what the weather does.
Kurt”

^New June 1, 2003 - Report from Bob Kuntz bowhuntrbob6@excite.com Woke up Sunday morning no wind lots of rain called Lance said we're going fishing. Got to Yardley ramp at 6:30 river fairly clear 50yrds. out, found herring right away, but finding striper's a different story. We tried all of our hot spots around the wing dam since thats were the cleanest water was.I boated a 26" & Lance a 28" but that was it.Started drifting below 95 bridge and picked up 2 more in 2ft. of water along the islands.Tried one more time on side of wing dam and I hooked up on a 31" to end the day. Wasn't a bad day after all.

^New Email Reports, May 31, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill, passing along a report from one of his customers fishing in the Trenton area on May 31:

“Went to Trenton again today. Had a fair day all in all. Bob and I took Paul Kozak down for the first time and I must say I think he is hooked on Trenton.We boated 8 stripers and about 30 herring. Paul caught 5 and lost 1, I caught 2 and lost 1 and Bob caught 1.I guess we taught Paul ""Trenton fishing"" a little to well. I was glad he had a good day.

All the fish were between 4 and 12 lbs. The pictures are of Paul with a 12 pounder # 643 and a 10 pounder # 644.

Scott,Donna,Mike and Trudy were in Mikes boat and landed 7 and lost 3.

My biggest was 9 lbs. Bob’s was 9lbs. 6 ozs.”

^New Email Reports, May 26, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill, passing along a report from one of his customers fishing the Trenton area on May 26:

"Went to Trenton Yesterday. Herring were there in the morning but no Stripers. After catching about 50 herring we made a move to another spot down river. It was Myself,Bob,Scott, and Bobs 12 yr old son Justin in my boat and my son Brian and my son in law Jay Young in Jays boat. We boated 17 and lost quit a few and Jay and Brian boated 10 and lost just as many. All the action was in about one hour. We used just about all the Herring we caught,fish were caught on live herring and chunks. All fish ranged from 7 lbs. to 13 lbs. The action was so heavy I only had time to take one picture. The picture was of Justin with an 8 pounder he landed.
     Top catches:
          Bob Platt--- 12 lbs.
          Scott Ketchledge--- 12 lbs. 6 ozs.
          Kurt Ketchledge--- 12 lbs 4 ozs.
          Justin Platt--- 8 lbs.
          Jason Young of Wilson--- 11 lbs 8 ozs.
          Brian Ketchledge of Palmer Twp---13 lbs."

Email Reports, May 17, 2003 - From K. Wolf Delrvrwolf@aol.com Still catching shad At Bulls Island. Hooked 5 landed 3 Saturday.

Email Reports, May 17, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill, saying, "This is a report from 2 of my customers that went to Trenton Saturday morning."

SUBJECT: Stellar Day.
PLACE: Trenton
FISH: 16 Stripers , 7 Herring & 10 White Perch
SIZE: 10 to 17 Lbs.
LARGEST: Bob, 17 lbs. Myself, 16.5 lbs.
NOTE: Could not do anything wrong. All fish were set free to fight another day. Had several doubles, at one time we had 3 poles going at the same time. Also found out live lining white perch work just as good as the herring. No pictures, got down there and found out the dam batteries were dead. Later, Kurt

May 8, 2003 - Report received from Conn Leahy CLeahy@pathmark.com I was bank fishing the Cherry Island Flats below the Commodore Barry Bridge on April 23, using Blood worms, water temp 55 deg, high tide casting out onto a flat that is relatively shallow – under 10' at high tide. Fish in photo was one of many that day with best fish running 39" ,3of 36",35",34". Also tried bunker and only had catfish on it but one was about 10 lbs. and had that at the same time as the 39" on a second rod doing the bunker research.

Same area on April 29th had even better day with perhaps 15 fish between 36" and 45" all on blood worm from about an hour after the start of incoming to about 2 hours into the outgoing . The big fish was caught at long range from the shore towards the top of the tide. Not the hardest fighting fish of the day but definitely the toughest to move. As these are spawning fish we fish for them with heavy surf tackle to get them in fast and back released as quickly as possible . Usually use a Breakaway 11'9" with penn 525 ,17lb Berkeley and pulley rigs . The 39" was caught on a Daiwa AWB 12'6" with the penn reel in the background.

Email Reports, May 6/May 8, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received these notes from Bill:

May 8 - Pete, From what I have been told a large group of shad passed through our area yesterday. Very few guy's were fishing for them however. One of my customers told me that he landed and lost a total of 27 at Hummers Beach fishing from the bank. He said the action was non stop from 7:00 am until around 10:00 am. He stayed until 1:00, but only caught 2 fish after 10:00. He said that he was the only one fishing in that stretch of the river. I also heard that about 30 shad were caught in the same time frame by 2 guy's fishing from the bank at Scott's Park. They also said that they were the only ones fishing in that area. Both of the reports said that the fish were running very close to shore (from 10' to 25' from the bank ). Bill
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When I passed along the previous note to Mark Boriek at the NJ Fisheries Dept. he said that those fish might have corresponded to the big fish passage he marked at Lambertville on April 25, 26, 27. He also said that the past two days have been good for Gene Neiderlander in Belvidere.)

May 6 - Pete, The Shad are still coming through this area, however since the Shad tournament is over most guy's have stopped fishing for them. They have turned their attention back to the trout streams & Merrill Creek Res. The run this year was interesting. I filled out angler award applications for three Shad this year. ( minimum weight for the award is 7lb. ) This is the first year in the last nine years, that I had any brought in that weighed 7lb. and over. Bill.

May 3 and 4, 2003 - Report from Bob Kuntz bowhuntrbob6@excite.com Lance & I went out of Trenton Sat. morn. caught 25 herring before 7 o'clock. Went above bridges NJ side Lance hooked up on first drift, 28" got too congested and tide was dropping fast, went below bridges PA side missed 2. Tried our hot spot down river hour of fishing no hits. Worked down river trying creek mouths & points ended up with 5 fish largest 31".I went out Sunday afternoon from Yardley ramp caught 8 herring at wing dam fished for 3 hours one 32" striper & lost another broke my #8/0 hook in half.

May 4, 2003 - Request for "rides" at Yardley Smallmouth Tournament, from Pete Antoniewicz DRFA_TheRiverNews@hotmail.com We have had several requests for "rides" at the Yardley tournament on May 17th from several non-boating club members. If you have an extra seat in your boat and would like to help out a fellow DRFA member, contact Pete A-Z at the DRFA E-mail address or in the evening at 609-466-7719.

May 4, 2003 - from Pete Antoniewicz DRFA_TheRiverNews@hotmail.com Went out of the Trenton ramp Sunday with my nephew and brother to test the waters. Did well enough on herring, catching over two dozen just off of the baseball stadium. Tried one drift for stripers along the Morrisville side of the channel. had one take and no hook-ups. Went back to herring fishing closer to Katmandu night club but only got one herring and several white perch and baby stripers on the Sabiki rigs. Did not see any other anglers landing stripers, but then again, we did not venture up to bridges area.

Email Reports, May 2/May 3, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received these notes from Bill and his customers:

May 2 -- (From the Martin's Creek Area) These shad are something this year. I was out all day yesterday and only got one. It was the same size as the one the other day 23" 5lb 9oz~~~1oz bigger. Today it was the same old story. I fished for 5 hours in the morning and didn't even get a hit. I didn't see or hear of anything being caught,every boat that came by us said nothing doing. I went in for lunch down to Eisleys house and we decided to go out for some carp when we were done for atleast an hour since the shad sucked!. I hooked into one in about 40 minutes. I had 8lb test line and a light medium action rod that I use for shad so the fight was awesome (a good 15+ min). He got me hooked in a tree for a while and some how I managed to get him out,I was thinking that I would take over the non-shad catch w/ this carp that I was fighting,only to find out he would be well short and was just a good fighting fish. He was 32" 13 1/2 lbs and I got him on corn. After the carp had satisfied my craving for a good fight I was pumped up for some shad again. I tied a dart back on the pole the best I could w/ my shaking hands and finger tips (gotta love fighting those carp) I got to my spot and got a shad w/ in 10min then another and another. I got 3 in a row and ended up getting 6 in one and a half hours compared to 1 shad in the 30 hours fished before that. Half were over 22" all in the 5lb range. BT got 1 and Paul got 0. My uncle has not been doing good either down by eddie side. The shad king RUSS WILDRICK has been slamming them though. Averaging 10 a day while everyone else around him gets nothing. My uncle told me he thinks he got close to 20 today!. Anyway,I let you know how I make out tomorrow. I was just glad I got that little spurt today,i think I really needed that to keep me going w/ these shad!!!!!!!!!!

May 3 -- (From the Trenton area) Just got back from Trenton. We caught about 25 Herring and 2 Stripers. Had 6 runs live lining but only 2 hook ups.Bob caught both fish. We used Scott's digital scale to weigh them, one was 9 lbs 3 ozs. and the other was 8 lbs. We also got about a dozen White Perch.By the way,we were using circle hooks and one was hooked in the mouth the other was gut hooked. Both were released in good health.

Call for Help - From Mark Boriek, New Jersey Fisheries Biologist Received another request from Mark asking for DRFA club members' help in tracking shad activity. If you have any fishing logs of dates, times, and locations for shad fishing efforts and catches, OR EVEN JUST MARKING ON YOUR ELECTRONICS PODS OF FISH MOVING THROUGH YOUR ANCHOR SPOT, WHETHER YOU CATCH MANY OR NOT, please pass them along to Mark so he can correlate that data to his hydroacoustic readings from the Lambertville area. You can speak directly with Mark at the Lebanon Fisheries Laboratories at 908-236-2118 or contact him via E-mail at mboriek@eclipse.net

Email Reports, April 30/May 1, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received these notes from Bill and his customers:

April 30 -- (Portland Power Plant area) Bill, I got a total of six shad (3roe) the biggest was 23" 5lb 8oz. Brian got 4,Dave got 5 .Tom,Scott and Paul got skunked. Water temp went from 55 deg to 57. The best bite was from 1-4pm. We ended up going for the non-shad w/ doing a little carp fishing. I got a 29" 10lb 14oz carp and Paul got one half the size

May 1 -- (Portland Power Plant/Martin's Creek area) ????? went 6am-2pm w/ not a bite. Brian and Tom had the same. Scott Moser got out at 4pm till dark. He missed 1 at the boat w/ the net. It seems it goes one day nothing then one day fish????? I'm taking the wife out today w/ me,I'll be in touch.

April 26, 2003 - Report from Bob Kuntz bowhuntrbob6@excite.com ^{Talking to shad fisherman the past two days & hearing of one shad caught Lance & I decided to put in at Trenton anchor up in our herring spot put the down riggers out with spoons & herring fish. An 1 1/2 later no shad & 25 herring we decided to striper fish. Lance boated 7 & missed just as many largest 36" 18Lbs.. I boated 3 & missed twice that many can't get used to circle hooks.I'll be out again sunday & try again.}

Email Reports, April 26-28, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received these notes from Bill and his customers:

April 26 -- Bob and I went to Trenton Today. We fished the power plant from shore, t0o nasty to take the boat.The action was slim to none with Bob getting one hit on chunked frozen Herring. Tried for Herring and nothing. There were 6 other guys there trying for shad and they had the same luck as we did. The tide was in coming and the plant did start to generate which did start to warm the water. Going back in the morning with the boat. Hope we can do better.

April 27 -- Bob and I went to Trenton today, not a bad day. We fished the area above the tunnel and caught about15 Herring. As we were fishing for Herring we live lined a few out the back of the boat. We had 6 good runs but only caught one, I guess we just have to get used to those dam circle hooks. The one I caught was about 20 lbs,didn't take time to measure it cause I wanted to get it back in the water before I did it any harm. Saw other boats around the marina doing pretty good on Herring. By later this week I think the run will be in full swing as long as the weather cooperates. We will be back down there next weekend.

April 28 -- The Brown Trout action at Merrill Creek has been very good in the last few day's. I weighed one on Saturday that was 6lb.8oz. and heard that several others in the 5 to 7lb. range were being caught and released. Bill

Email Report, April 25, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received this note from Bill for all you trout fishermen out there. Bill says, "Pete, If you have anybody interested in fishing the Musconetcong
River. This is a report from a guy who followed the truck today." Bill.

"Hey bill i thought i would help you out tonight with people coming into the shop. I just got done watching them stock and they put little rainbows in and the breeders were browns. Just about ever hole got 1 or 2 big browns, and there were a couple big rainbows thrown in here and there. The bronws averaged 16" to about 21". The guy on the truck said he had some many fish with him today that he had 2 tanks left over. He went back through a couple spots and some stretches of the stream got 4 to 6 big browns in a small area. Its was a good stocking overall. And if anyone has kids that they want to take fishing and they want them to catch something, tell them to go above the bloomsbury dam in the slow water. "5 full nets of fish". Have a good night and i will let you know if i get a big one."

April 24, 2003 - Fishing Reports from April DRFA Meeting A number of club members reported on striper activity at the April meeting. Chris Hoffman said that he had relatively better luck catching 15 herring in the Trenton Marine Terminal area today and hooked up with 8 stripers at the Trenton Power Plant warm water discharge where the water temperature was 10 degrees warmer than the 54 degree river. Other reports came in on fish being taken when you're lucky enough to hook the herring. Some nice fish ranging from 30"+ up to 40-lbs.+ were reported from Trenton to Florence to the Rancocas Creek area. One report from shore anglers in the Delanco area said that the fish there were still preferring bloodworms, even when herring was available.

Shad fishing has improved slightly as water temperatures have risen, although anything would be an improvement over the past month. Fish are being taken at various spots up and down the river, but there has not been a real blitz reported. Several club members scored Saturday afternoon in the Lambertville 202 bridge area.

April 23, 2003 - E-mail report from Charlie Schneider, cmschneider1@comcast.net I was at the Portland Power Plant last night and the guard told me that despite the easing of the Alert status, they have decided not to open the fishing access or the launch ramp, at all, this year!! This is disappointing news, as this is a great area of the river. Shad fishing remains a very slow pick for most of the guys I know, including myself. See you on the river.

April 20, 2003 - E-mail report from Aaron and Neil Skolnik, nskolnik@comcast.net We launched out of Neshaminy on the 20th. We caught one striper that was 22 inches and four pounds. We used shiners to catch him. We saw one guy that had a lot of luck catching eight stripers, including one that weighed forty-two pounds. We had no luck when the tide was dead but had luck once the water started moving. I hope you have good luck on your next outing.

Email Report, April 19, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received two more E-mail notes from Bill. The first is a report from a Phillipsburg angler who visited the Trenton area on 4/19:
"Not much to report. Just fished for herring and stripers, got one cat and that was it. Saw one guy fishing the shore at the Trenton power plant so I guess they opened the gate. Heard that Wednesday was the day to be there."

The second was a note from a Martins Creek area angler that was forwarded by Bill:
"Put my boat in yesterday, (Saturday 4/19) fished from 9am-12 and got 1 shad 18 1/2". That was the only action I had and didn't get another hit. I had a boat below me that brought in 2 and I saw a shore angler leaving w/ a stringer of about 3 which he must have caught earlier in the morning because I didn't see any of them get anything while I was there.

Paul Eisley (Easton)was out w/ me in his boat w/ no luck. He ended up moving to go try for some Carp w/ no luck there either. Last week he got 3 carp~~~35" 15lbs~~30 1/2" 13lbs and a 26" all on corn

April 19, 2003 - E-mail report from Phil Bakanowsky, philbuck2@snip.net "Hi gang, I spent the afternoon on the river at the Rancocas creek. I fished from 9 AM to 130 PM on Sat .the 19 th of April. I had a falling tide and the water temp. was 54 D. My bait was bloods ,herring ,and chicken liver .The total in the river was 7 stripers and 3 cats...I went up the Rancocas, hooked up and in an hour put 10 more cats in the boat up to 22 inches. See you on the river

April 17, 2003 - from Steve Raulfs and Pete Antoniewicz DRFA_TheRiverNews@hotmail.com Spent a wet, windy Thursday fishing out of the Byram ramp for shad in the AM. Nothing but an 18" catfish on a shad dart. Around noon, switched over to minnows along the shorelines, just out of the high, fast, current and picked up seven smallies between 12" and 14" on minnows as well as a 12" largemouth. Threw a few lures -- suspending jerkbaits and twister tail spinners -- but all fish were on live bait. Final score: Steve 6, Pete 3.

Email Report, April 16, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Just received these two E-mail notes from Bill. It looks as though the action is starting to pick up now that water temperatures have shot past the 50 degree mark.

The first is a report from the Phillipsburg area on 4/15:
"I just weighed a 3 lb. 12 oz. roe and a 3 lb. buck. They were caught by two little kids by the cattle crossing. ( Delaware River Park ) I was told that between 30 and forty shad (most of them roe ) were caught there tonight by about 15 guys.

The second was a note from a Trenton area angler that was forwarded by Bill:
"Bill, Picked up 6 shad on Monday, seven today in Trenton. Also heard from Mark and he told me netters in the bay have started to pick up more roe shad in the nets in the bay."

April 13, 2003 - E-mail report from Charlie Schneider, cmschneider1@comcast.net "FINALLY broke the ice!! Got two bucks at the dam in Yardley. Fished from 9am to 2:30pm. Temp went from 46 to 48 when I left. Only one other boat fishing and they hadn't caught anything when I left. Two other boats just going out at 2:30, don't know how they did but the temp was rising so hopefully they had some luck!

April 13, 2003 - E-mail report from Bill's Bait and Tackle in Phillipsburg NJ Here is an E-mail report Bill got from one of his customers and passed along to us. Seems as though the shad are just starting to wake up upriver too.

"Bob and I went down to Riegelsville yesterday morning for about an hour for shad. Water was cold but a few shad were there. Bob and I both lost one and we had several other bumps, the hits were very sluggish.Went back this morning and fished for 2 hours, I caught one nice roe and that was it. No other hits.The one I got today was a nice fish but the fight was very sluggish. We need the water to warm up and then I think all hell is going to break loose."

April 12, 2003 - SHAD TOURNAMENT RESCHEDULED Due to the poor water conditions and a relatively unfavorable weather forecast for the week, the DRFA shad tourament originally scheduled for April 12 has been moved back two weeks to Saturday, April 26. Same times and locations, just two weeks later. Please inform any club members you know. Thanks.

April 10, 2003 - E-mail report from Mark Boriek Senior Fisheries Biologist from the State of New Jersey

"Got the attached from the Hydroacoustics Contractor. Most of the reported A.shad catches that I heard of occurred around the last weekend in March when river temperature was the highest and river discharge dropping. River discharge at Trenton now is just below normal but cold at 39 degrees. Fish are moving through but not hitting because of the cold.

"Hydroacoustics is working in spans 1, 4 and 5. Waiting for the Bridge Commission to remove large amount of debris from front of pier between spans 2 and 3 before reinstalling those transducers.

"Info. from Earle at Dill's Seafood in Bridgeton, NJ : Commercial netters did not go out as early because they felt that the cold
weather would delay the run. A netter off of the Salem River in NJ got 541 lbs. of Roes and 168 lbs. of Bucks on 4 / 2, and 288 lbs. of Roes and 43 lbs. of Bucks on 4 / 8

"This may indicate that the netter missed the main school of bucks, they had already moved up the Delaware (the ones caught at Yardley Area last weekend in March and marked earlier 3/13 by the Hydroacoustics?) past the mouth of the Salem River. Because the roes declined, that main school too, has passed that point. Again, probably lots of fish have been moving through because of the normal flows but are not hitting because of the cold temperatures."

April 10, 2003 - from Barry Vuolo RBABarry@aol.com

The flats on the Susquehanna River, Saturday and Monday, 30 + striper's ranging from 6 to 10 lbs. and 12 were from 15 to 22 lbs. Fished in 4 to 20 feet of water,using Storm Lures in 4", 5", and ,6," and Sassy Shad 4"-6", and Bass Assassins "5-7", with 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 oz. heads fished slow on bottom. Water temp 42-45 degrees. And of course used Smelly Jelly. Barry Reel Bass Adventures Guide

April 9, 2003 - Shad Report from John "Stotch" Sawick Stotch@webtv.net Today, April 9, 2003 went over to the Lewis Netting operation in Lambertville, NJ. Steve Lewis made 2 hauls. The 1st haul produced 1 smallmouth bass and a few rocks - No Shad. The 2nd try resulted in 1 catfish & 1 sucker, more stones - No Shad. River water temperature was 41 or 42 degrees. Cold enough for Lockjaw. Let's have a drawing. Pick a date when you think the Shad will start bitting, closest date wins the pot. My choice is 4-17-03.

April 8, 2003 - Charlie Schneider Cmschneider1@comcast.net ^{That "Other member" Bob Kuntz saw on Sunday was me! We stayed until 1:30pm and caught 0. We did not see anyone catch anything and there were a few boats out there including a Guide. As Bob said ,the water was cold, only 43' when I left.

Things have got to get better, they can't be any worse!!}

April 5, 2003 - Shad Report from Bob Kuntz bowhuntrbob6@excite.com ^{Fished out of Yardley Sunday morning, caught 2 buck before 7o'clock, didn't get another hit all morning. Water very cold, did see a couple other members on the water, hope they did better then me. P.S. I heard a couple of 30 in. stripers were caught this week in Yardley area.}

Editors Note: FYI, here are a couple of links we just learned of, for shad fishing, and for the river in general.

http://www.woofish.com/shad.html will bring you to a daily shad report (I thnk from more upriver)

http://www.woofish.com is the home page of that site, with more general information and a ton of links

http://www.delawareriver.net is a site with a wide variety of fishing and boating information for the non-tidal river, including some shad fishing info.

April 5, 2003 - Charlie Schneider Cmschneider1@comcast.net ^{See my report on Woofish.com . In a nutshell, Nothing happening at Yardley, Lambertville or Portland on Saturday 4/5!! I did speak directly to the Lewis netters at Lambertville at 11:30 am, after they pulled their boat for the day. They made TWO (2) pulls, the first of the season, they caught 0 Shad and 1 turtle in the two attempts. I did not inquire as to the species of the turtle but was assured that it was released unharmed. This news will be appreciated by all the "tree-huggers" in New Hope!}

April 2, 2003 - River Report Finally was able to get through to the NJ State Police Marine Enforcement Office in Burlington to ask about some conditions we had heard about on the river. Specifically, we had heard that you couldn't anchor within a certain distance of a bridge or power plant on the river and that a boom had been installed to keep anglers out of the Trenton Power Plant cove. The seargent on duty was not aware of any boom at the power plant, but here is what he had to say about anchoring near bridges, etc.

According to him, there are no specific limitations about fishing near bridges, etc. But he said that they are being very cautious about all boat traffic on the river, especially boats near bridges, power plants, etc. You can expect to be visited, questioned, and have paperwork checked while fishing or traveling anywhere on the river, especially near those structures mentioned. The public's understanding and cooperation is appreciated.

Please drop us an E-mail if you have any additional information to pass along to fellow club members, about fishing, "off-limits" areas, or any other experiences out on the water.

March 30, 2003 - Collection of Fishing Reports Here are several reports and links to reports from a variety of sources. Visited Bill Pierce at Bill's Bait and Tackle in Phillipsburg on Saturday 3/29. He said that a nice 4-lb. smallmouth was taken from the river on a spinnerbait this past week. Dan Leach at HL Live Bait and Tackle in Morrisville said that one customer caught a half dozen buck shad in the Yardley area on Thursday. And Bob Kuntz and Lance Maleski submitted the report below. Let's hope this is the beginning of a more "normal" shad season for the year.

FYI, here are a couple of links we just learned of, for shad fishing, and for the river in general.

http://www.woofish.com/shad.html will bring you to a daily shad report (I thnk from more upriver)

http://www.woofish.com is the home page of that site, with more general information and a ton of links

http://www.delawareriver.net is a site with a wide variety of fishing and boating information for the non-tidal river, including some shad fishing info.

March 29, 2003 - Shad Report from Bob Kuntz bowhuntrbob6@excite.com Lance & I went out of Yardley on Saturday morning (3/29). Water was high but fairly clear. Temperature 46 degrees. Went on pennsy side, and anchored near dam. Boated 8 shad, four were roe, about 4-lbs. Caught most on green spoons, 3ft. down.

March 28, 2003 - Shad Report! Several notes on shad fishing from multiple sources. Club member Garry Conner reported at last night's meeting that several buck shad had been caught this week outside of the Trenton Power Plant cove (see not below on Power Plant Access closure). We had also had one report of just one shad caught before the heavy rains and high water.

Here is a link you can click on to see a recent shad report by NJ Fisheries Biologist Mark Boriek. http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/artnoshad03.htm

March 28, 2003 - Trenton Power Plant Fishing Access Area Closed Again! Due to the declaration of the orange security level, fishing access areas at all power plants, including the Trenton Power Plant are closed to the public once again. We also heard several reports at last night's meeting regarding access to the cove being closed and new regulations forbidding anchoring in the vicinity of bridges on the river. I have tried calling a number of State Police and Coast Guard sources, but have not had luck getting any answers yet. Several people did direct me to the Burlington office of the NJ State Police Marine Law Enforcement, (609) 387-1653, as the best source for new enforcement regulations on the Delaware River, but no one was in the office to answer the phone as of yet. If anyone learns anything more, please drop me an E-mail at DRFA_TheRiverNews@hotmail.com

March 10, 2003 - Trenton Power Plant Fishing Access Open! Visited the Trenton Power Plant yesterday. The gate is open and there were about a half dozen desperados slinging lures into the teeth of a 30 MPH wind. Didn't see anything caught, but noticed on the Internet this morning that yesterday's water temperature rose to almost 40oF before plummeting back into the mid 30s today. Won't be long now. Keep us posted on any increase in fishing activity by submitting an E-mail fishing report.

Email Report, February 19, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Bill's website has posted two nice walleyes caught from the river in the Phillipsburg area during February, both in the 5-lb. range.

Email Report, January 22, 2003 - From Bill Pierce BILLSBAIT@webtv.net Bill's website has posted three nice walleyes caught in January, ranging from 5 lbs. 9 oz. to 7 lbs. 11 oz.