Shad

[47onthewall]

I caught two shad last night around high tide at the Boat Club. 1/0 white deceiver. First one about 24", second about 14" and a BIG bass opened up a hell of hole under him as I was playing him. Landed the shad but not the leviathan beneath!

Are people getting shad in the other rivers or are they only in Hampton? There are a lot here.

[Merrillizer™]

We saw a TON getting banged on last night when the tide dropped. The Merrimack has a good shad drop too.

[47onthewall]

These aren't peanuts-they're 14" and up. I wouldn't think we had a "drop" in this river since they aren't going up the ladder with the alewives.

[Riverjim]

I still have tons to learn, and by no means am I an authority on the subject, but I have had an interesting time volunteering with fish and game over the last three years during the spring spawning runs. I am a real sponge for info on the days that I work with them, and probably give them a headache by asking so many questions.

When I saw the original post I was pleasantly surprised to hear the news. For anyone who hasn’t caught one of these wide-bodied fish, especially on light tackle the fight can be great. Many sportsmen compare them pound for pound with the Smallmouth Bass.

As far as it being fish that have dropped back from spawning, they normally do that immediately after the spawn, which occurs ideally when the water temp is between 52-63 degrees; therefore these are probably a school of adults that spawned further north and are just beginning their southerly migration.

We should be thankful that they are around though because often their habitat in the summer is much deeper. Dragging in the Bay of Maine found them at depths of 13-306 meters [42.5-1003ft] wow, though most frequently they are between 50-100 meters deep. To catch them where you did is a real late summer treat.

You can get more technical info at these two links:
http://www.fws.gov/r5gomp/gom/habitatstudy/metadat a/American_shad_model.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Shad

[Riverjim]

For those who I haven't met, you will soon learn that I love looking at the science of what we do. The majority of my fishing experience has been in the fresh water arena. Durring the 90s, I fished alot of Bass tournys in the states' lakes and noticed somthing realy interesting. Many of the winning fisherman won consistantly, or at least had regular top ten finishes. This wasn't always on their favorite lake but at a variaty of places. I think that this had much to do with a very analitical aproach to what the varied methods should be acording to changing conditions. The reason I mentioned this hear is because of my above post. I enjoy feedback and varied opinions to mine, so all should post even if we disagree. I think the biggest benefit of what we do on this site other than the friendships we can make is what we can learn from each others diverse experiences.

Jim

[Riverjim]

Now to get back on topic to this thread. Something else that the marsh indian mentioned has been my experience since I started helping fish and game. The only rivers that I am aware of that have a shad run in N.H are the Lamprey, the Squamscott, and the Cocheco and the runs have been only small and declining.

This info reguarding the returns of adronomous fish such as river herring, should in my opinion, be of a major concern to all of us, The results of the ongoing baitfish problem could effect the entire food chain, but could be felt the most with the gamefish we love.

Another part of my intrests is history. If we open our eyes to what has been done in the past , and learn from our mistakes, we can hopefuly avert major disruptions or extinctions before it is to late. The power of us collectivly as sportsman is one of the largest influence on what can happen with our outdoors future. There is a big difference between a weekend yahoo enviormentalist,and a person who loves and is willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to managing and protecting our enviroment. Because of that personal relationship many of us have with nature, I think we can do the most.

The reason I mentined this hear is because of what happened to the American Shad in N.H. and Mass. It was written that durring the 1760s, the shad population on the Merrimac was so prolific that people would come from miles away, mostly netting them at amoskeag falls in Manchester, filling their waggons. Durring native times, the population would follow the runs to the different falls, being a great source of protien and omeaga 3 [they didden't know about those]. In the late 1700s the catch was estimated to be about 900,000 !! Thanks mostly to the mills, and a attitude by many of the new europeans who didn,t live in unity with the wilds, but as though they owned them, by 1880 the catch was ooo,ooo What a shame!
Jim

[47onthewall]

Old dams that serve no useful purpose need to be removed. Fish and Game is in the process of removing the Winnicut Dam but it met with a lot of resistance from property owners who bordered the shallow pond above the dam. There are plans to fix the Taylor River dam that will run into the same sort of stiff-backed resistance from neighbors. We will need to speak up for improving native fish passage when the time comes.

[Merrillizer™]

Im with ya there I also agree with Jim.....some Humanoids believe they own and are "higher" or "above" nature. Nature surely corrects them though, sometimes these are the people you see skidding off the road in the winter and plowing head on into the woods

We should definitely make sure we help "correct" folks who try to negatively effect nature. We can use this forum to help rally support for stuff like the dam problem Pete mentioned. You know I will be there to help and be vocal

It's nice to see all this bait this summer though. It HAS affected the fishing in certain areas, especially the Pogie pods....they have really effected the fishing.

[Riverjim]

Lets say that you bought lake front property, only to find the dam needs to be removed for the survival of a few fish. Yes it's only a shallow pond but still now it's not lake front and it hits that all important wallet .

Or someplace else, [ My home town of Exeter], sees the priority to have drinking water for it's citizens.
Look above the great dam in town right now and you will see that the combo of a month long drought, coupled with the drawing of water for town use, has left any of the few herring that did make it past the ladder little chance for their youngs survival, thanks to the water being below the dam right at the prime time for the young to fall back. Hopefully todays rain will give them a boost.

I agree totaly. One thing that is so often a problem reguarding these things is the competative intrests. Often times the sportsman are under represented or ill prepared to present their side of the issue. Thats were groups like ours can really make a differnce. It takes involvement though and unfortunately many would rather sit at home and crack a cold one than step out to a meeting with a bunch of suits. When this happens, we only have ourselves to blame if we don't at least present our side of the argument. You have a person who will gladly join you when the time comes reguarding the Taylor and thank you for taking the intrest you do.
Jim

[Merrillizer™]

Are we certain that these werent the pogies that invaded the marsh in June '07? I saw more pogies last year in local rivers around the area than I have in my whole life. Just schools upon schools of em.