Shad watch

By Ed Wesely

Shad fishing continues on the Upper Delaware with “some fish spawning,” according to Steve Andrusiak of Milford, PA, “and some still on the move and not close to spawn time. With any luck, we should be able to keep this going through June, if the conditions hold up.”

Reports from Dingmans and Milford show considerable activity: 18 shad were landed on a charter trip at Dingmans on June 6, and 10 were boated at Milford, where “we lost at least a dozen.”

Tom B, who fished Milford, recounted, “the fish were mostly bucks. Two roes still had eggs, and I noticed some spawning activity with fish slapping the surface. I would still give it a try until the water really warms up.”

Cool weather last week kept river temperatures in the low 60s; the high on June 6 was 59 degrees. But as we learned in late May, when the river temperature at Barryville, NY hit 77 degrees, hot, sunny days rapidly bump water temperatures.

For whatever reason, shad fishing at Narrowsburg has dwindled to an occasional fisherman. One of them, Jeremy, of Honesdale, reported June 5, “I have been fishing at Narrowsburg Access the past three days and had one on and lost it.” Even so, he believes “the shad are still moving up the river. What does everyone else feel about this?”

From Knights Eddy, ten miles below Barryville, Tom wrote on June 3, “I had six bumps, lost two, and landed one. The one I landed was a very healthy fish, dark in color and not played out. I was wondering if these fish were down by Dingmans and moved up?”