Dave,
The adult sites that are sampled in what is designated as the lower Delaware R in the report were set up by my crew in about 1982. There were 8 adult sampling sites for that survey; three of the four best that are also reasonably geographically separated are those that have been sampled consistently over the years since about 1990 or thereabouts.
The problem with the lower river from a SMB habitat standpoint is that it tends to be wide, shallow, and featureless (sand, gravel, cobble bottom, and not a lot of rock). That is especially true from Point Pleasant (Tohickon Ck confluence) downstream, which represents the lower half of the lower river. The upper half of the lower river is not nearly as bad and I would recommend that anglers focus their energies there if they can. Of course, there are isolated areas in the lower half of the lower river, as in any river, that are more suitable, and fishing those short, individual stretches of good habitat can be very good, but I am speaking about the general trend with respect to less than desirable habitat.
You have certainly seen here how individuals blame the decline of SMB in the lower Schuylkill on flatheads from about Pottstown or Limerick downstream. I have always countered that with the gradual degradation (sedimentation by sand and gravel creating a largely featureless river bottom) of habitat that has occurred. We saw that happening as early as the early or mid-1980’s. One need only look at the Delaware R data to understand how poorer habitat in the lower Delaware produces poorer catches, even with electricity fished at night, to recognize that the even poorer habitat in the lower Schuylkill would and does produce even worse catches. It takes more than water to produce good habitat. Again, there are a few isolated areas of fair to good habitat in the lower Schuylkill just like in the lower Delaware, but they are uncommon and short.
