Fish species that might surprise you: Pa portion Delaware Estuary & tribs

[Mike]

Hogchoker
Atlantic Menhaden
Atlantic Silversides
Croaker
Mummichog
Atlantic Sturgeon
Shortnose Sturgeon
Smallmouth Flounder
Naked Goby
Atlantic Needlefish
Spot
Sea Lamprey
Bay Anchovy
Striped Mullet
Atlantic Needlefish
Not a fish, but common: Blue Crabs

 

[jifigz]

I had never heard of a hogchoker or a mummichog before. Looked em up to see what they were. Thanks for the education.

 

[Fredrick]

I seen a Lamprey dead in the river before It was allot bigger then I expected. I'm surprised the river doesnt have the same problems as the great lakes with lampreys . Growing up I used to see blue crabs up in the tidal sections of allot creeks, I used to think that people had released them in the creeks .

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Mike,

I low water years I used to see blue crabs at the Yardley PA boat launch in the summer.

Mummichogs are the flounder minnows you buy when you rent a boat on Long Beach Island. If they aren't supposed to be in the Delaware I might have started the population because I always bought minnows at Brinkmanns Bait and Tackle and that is what he sold. At the end of the day I always dumped the live ones back in the river.

Years ago I was fishing on the West Branch of the Delaware at Hale Eddy. I waded upstream to the PA side to fish a channel around a small island. I got into fish on caddis and spent an hour or so catching fish one right after another. My legs felt heavy and when I looked down I had probably a half dozen lampreys wrapped around my feet. Thank God I had cleated Weinbrenner boots back then. I managed to turn a couple into crayfish bait before the remaining eels swam away.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Mike]

Tim,
Thanks for the Yardley blue crab info. I was not aware that they moved that far upstream at times. Over the years I think that the farthest upstream that I had heard of them occurring was around Neshaminy Ck. As for mummichogs, they are native to the Estuary, although we found that someone, almost undoubtedly an angler, introduced them to Skippack Ck, Montgomery Co.

As for the sea lampreys, they are ecologically harmless in the Delaware and its tribs. They are native and fish populations there have co-evolved over time unlike in the Great Lakes where sea lampreys are problematic. Fish passage facilities on the Lehigh River are allowing them to be restored to that system and I am glad to see it. We have reports each year from as far upstream as the gorge. The adults drop off their hosts before or soon after entering the non-tidal Delaware because they are then going into spawning mode, the final part of their life cycle.

 

[Dave_W]

Interesting.

The upriver travel of blue crabs is a curious topic. I have always seemed to think that the tide line was about as far up as one would expect to find them in a river system, but I'm not sure. Is Yardley above the tide line?
I can remember seeing them way up in tribs of the Appomatox River system in southern VA when I was bass fishing.

 

[Dave_W]

Mike,
Have you ever heard of juvenile jack crevalle in the DE sysyem? They show up in Barnegat Bay (only very young ones, as far as I know).

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Dave, and you too Mike,

I'm not a fisheries biologist, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night either, but I would figure that in a low water year when the salt line moves further up the river it would be rather easy for a crab to just climb the Trenton Falls, which theoretically mark the fall line between fresh and salt water in the Delaware? They do have legs and can walk on land, right?

Regarding jack crevalle, if they ever show up in the NE Atlantic on a regular basis you can be certain that a lot of fly rods will get broken. They are the saltwater equivalent of a bull bluegill. Years ago I had one of about 30 pounds literally cut the tip-top and the last two guides on the surf spinning rod I was using. Granted they were old school chrome guides as used at the time, but still, jacks are seriously bad dudes.

They fight 10 X's harder than their size would indicate. I don't fly fish saltwater much, but my brother Michael does. He caught a 25 to 30 pound jack crevalle on same trip he caught a 70 plus pound tarpon. I asked him about the comparative fights? His words, "Tarpon fight like rock bass compared to jack crevalle."

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Mike,

Thanks for letting me know I didn't destroy the ecosystem of the Delaware by releasing my Brinkmann's minnows!

For those of you who didn't grow up in Lower Bucks County or NE Philly Brinkmann's was the absolute greatest bait and tackle shop on Earth. I think they are still in business, but it's been 20 years since I visited them? You could buy tackle and bait and assorted gear in there to fish anywhere from Iceland to Florida. On a nice summer morning they used to open around 5:00 AM. By 6:00 AM there was often a cop directing traffic, that is now busy things would be on the corner of State Road and Linden Ave. ;-)

I know that sea lampreys are native to the Delaware system, but that doesn't mean I have to like them does it? I really only saw them that one time above the old Hale Eddy bridge but once was enough for this kid!

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[moon1284]

I've seen lampreys all the way up at beaverkill campground and above shinhopple. Hale eddy is about as far as I've seen them on the west branch.

 

[Mike]

Yardley is a few miles and at least one set of Rapids above tidal influence. They move into the very lower ends of creeks just above the tidal influence as well.

No Jacks in the Pa portion of the Delaware. Forgot to mention that there are occasional gray snappers, however.

 

[melvinthefisherman]

I saw a needlefish up in yardly one time. It repeatedly tried to eat my spook but could not get hooked.

Blue crabs I have seen at the fairmount dam.

Spot are thick in the skuke the years they are thick out front.