Shad fry are moving down the Delaware river, leading to great top water action

Post date: Aug 11, 2015 11:55:02 AM

Weekly Wrap Up:

Last week we saw a high pressure system sit over the Delaware Valley for about 4 days. The system moved in on Tuesday and finally lifted late Saturday night. Any one that knows about barometric pressure and fishing knows that high pressure system can produce some beautiful weather but some difficult fishing conditions. 

American Shad fry are moving down the river:

Every fall the American shad move down the river when the tempter of the river hits in the low to mid 70"s. With the cold nights and the damn stuck open in New York the Shad have started to come down the river a month early. By mid-week I saw a pod or two by Sunday they turned into schools. My uncle went out fishing for a two hour trip and we pushed double digit fish for each angle. The best part about this time of year is they will be on poppers anytime now and the fish gather together in larger schools leading to some explosive action. This is the best time fish for smallmouth and we will be offering two hour trips.

New Two hour smallmouth evening trips (Shad Bite)

2 hours $175.00

Start time- 6:30-8:30 pm

Wednesday:

I was out with Larry and Larry, one on spinning tackle and one on fly gear. We started the morning off hooking a monster bass that we fought for several minutes before breaking the line. This fish was very heavy and strong and had the rod hell bent. The first fishing hole yield 4 fish, then we moved down the river and got into some steady action with fish being timid grabbing the back of the baits short. For every fish we caught we had another 3 bites. Moving to the shallow water we say some smallies chasing daces around and Larry was able to connect with two of them on poppers. By the end of the day we at 19-23 fish.

Thursday:

I was out with Mal and Tony both fly fishing. High pressure was stilling hanging over our heads lawing to 59 degree nights. The river lost about 7 degrees over night and the fog was thick till about 8:30. Tony was able to hook and land some really nice bass using poppers and Mal had really nice catches as well. We cover a lot of territory today and land a fair amount of fish for fly fishing. When I broke out the spinning tackle to see what was going on I hook a few fish and got a few fish to bite with in 9 cast. Sometimes the spinning gear is just the way to go.

Friday:

Went out with Rob and Nick, the high pressure system was still hanging over our heads but the barometer was dropping. As the pressure lifted the fishing started to pick. We landed well over 33 fish and had another 50 bites easily. We caught a ton of fish that were very respectable for the Delaware River but no monster bass. All in all we had a great day and it was Nick and Robs best day bass fishing in PA and all summer. All to note we located several schools of shad coming down thew river.

Saturday: 

The High Pressure system finally gave way to a warm low pressure system. Tim and His Girl friend who bought the trip as a gift for their anniversary got into some heavy action fast. We located a school of fish in the shallows sunning and was able to land 12 fish out of one stretch and jumped off 3. On fish we had to the boat was every bit of 4 plus pounds but we popped the hook. We caught 3 fish in that stretch that was over 16 inches. As we moved up the river we stayed with steady action picking a fish up every 5 cast. then the action slowed to about every 10 cast. By mid day the sun was blazing and the action had slowed down. We ended up with over 23 fish for the morning but time jumped or pulled the hook on another 16 fish easily. 

Sunday:

I was out with Rob and his son and caught 5 and 7 years old. Right away as soon as wee dropped anchor we where into them hot and heavy and big fish too. We caught several fish in the 13-16 inch range and a good few in the 17-22 inch range, one fish being the second biggest that we caught all year. with in 2 hours we caught over 24 fish and the day kept going like that until the sun really started to blaze.