Fishing census. Between March 17 and October 31, 2002, an extensive survey was conducted to determine anglers’ fishing efforts on the Delaware River and to estimate catches of assorted fish species between the Delaware Memorial Bridge, below Philadelphia, and Downsville, NY on the East Branch.

The contractor estimates that 120,042 angler trips were made on the Delaware, 80,000 of which were to the non-tidal river, which begins above Trenton, NJ.

The total catch of American shad was 35,281 with all but 1,190 captured in non-tidal waters. The study reports that 49 percent of the shad were females and that fishers kept 19 percent of the total catch.

The latter statistic will please the Delaware River Shad Fisherman’s Association, which preaches (and practices) a catch-and-release ethic.

Ninety-five percent of smallmouth bass taken (or 93,936) were caught in non-tidal waters, which gives them the distinction as the most commonly taken fish. Ranked second were channel catfish, with 82 percent caught in non-tidal waters (or 48,552).

	TRR photo by Ed Wesely (Click for larger image)

Field notes. On milkweed plants, the passage to mid-summer is marked by the appearance of armies of small “harlequin caterpillars.” The parent is a small moth, which deposits hundreds of eggs under a chosen milkweed leaf. In the photo (right), scores of tiny siblings, which are harmless, were awaiting their first molt.