Shad Watch

By ED WESELY

Late on Mother’s Day, six fishermen wet their lines at the Darbytown Landing, below Narrowsburg, but during the two hours I stayed there wasn’t a single hit.

Had cool water temperatures been holding back the shad? Were commercial fishermen depleting the Atlantic stock along the continental shelf? So went the speculation.

Rob Gronowski, who lives in Lackawaxan, had positive news. “We have been fishing hard and caught some shad this [last] week—some real nice roe shad, all between five to nine pounds. Fish are starting to finally come through the Upper Delaware River area. Fishing should start getting real good this week— should be a decent run of shad passing through the Narrowsburg area.”

Then Rob added a postscript about the need for “catch and release” shad fishing. “I would greatly appreciate it if you would stress ‘Catch and Release.’ The American Shad numbers are down drastically from the early 1990s. We need to release these fish for the future reproduction of the American Shad.”

Finally, Dave of Pottstown PA wrote, on an internet site, “My real question is “Did we miss the run?” There were very few boats from Easton up to Dingmans…I need some help on where to go.”