Question for Mike ...

[AndyP]

With time on my hands, no spring soccer or baseball to coach, I was going to try stripping some streamers below Flat Rock Dam in the Gladwyne/Lower Merion area. My question for Mike is do you have any historical sampling data or memories to share ? I don't see much when scrolling thru the PFBC reports. Anybody else from SEPA try that area ?

 

[Mike]

It is primarily a smallmouth bass, channel catfish, flathead catfish, white sucker, carp, walleye and gizzard shad area. The smallmouth population is of rather low density. At this time of the year many species are on their upstream migration and get jammed up below the dam or as they approach the dam, so now into mid-May is a good time to explore. Also the predominant species change over this period as one migration starts and another tails off, so it pays to go to such an area multiple times. It would not surprise me if streamers would produce gizzard shad and American shad. Anglers also occasionally catch striped bass, striped bass hybrids, and white perch there.

 

[AndyP]

Thank you Mike ! I hope you are enjoying your retirement. I'll let you know if I catch anything down there. The pool below the dam can get a lot of attention but I wade down and fish between some of the islands.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

This topic should have been a PM

 

[outsider]

PennypackFlyer wrote:
This topic should have been a PM

Why? This could be informative for anyone who fishes in that area.

 

[AndyP]

Penny - The water below Flat Rock Dam is hardly confidential information. I read the PFBC Region and Biology Reports and I could find very little information. I was interested to see what Mike had to share. I've wondered for years if they would ever remove Flat Rock and also how effective the fish ladders are. Lets meet up and give it a go down there ! I'm sure access is tough other than wading down from the dam. All of this being said, if the Moderators felt it should be removed they could have done so without a complaint from me. It's just fishing.....

 

[wildtrout2]

I fished a lot right below the dam before the fish ladder was put in. I went targeting channel cats, and the fishing was awesome! A fish on almost ever drift. I used spin gear with chicken livers at the time.

All the river bed disruption from fish ladder construction changed things, and it wasn't the same since. Last I was down there (years) the fish ladder was clogged up to the point a fish couldn't negotiate it. I hope it's being better maintained these days.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Because it was addressed to one person - Should have been open

 

[Mike]

Some people like that I answer such questions to everyone’s benefit.

 

[jifigz]

Mike wrote:
Some people like that I answer such questions to everyone’s benefit.

I appreciate reading it and I have no plans to ever fish there in my life. So, yeah, I'm glad it was a public thread......

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I am glad this was public too.
I never plan to fish there myself but Mikes info is very valuable to anglers all over the state.

Listen to what Mike just said, consider other streams in your area that have similar circumstances and look at the time of year.
Its a recipe for success.
Why would we want this info hidden? I just dont get it.

 

[afishinado]

Hey Penny,

If you think the fishin' at Flat Rock Dam is a secret, ya gotta tear yourself away from the Pennypack and get out more.

 

[marcq]

I’ve seen a musky around the dam. I prefer fairmount for dams in the Schuylkill. I’ve caught huge hybrid stripers, stripers, flatheads, channel cats, walleye, carp, American shad, hickory shad, gizzard shad, largemouth, smallmouth, snakeheads just to name a few. In the summer you can go out and catch 15 stripers on any given tide. The shad fishing is pretty good. It’s not like Easton but you can catch fish. Every hybrid that I’ve caught has been over 25 inches long. It’s just a fishy spot. Depending on the species. I usually go low tide for shad. A lot of rocks become exposed and you can walk on them. They are slippery. High tide for everything else. The hybrids and striped bass like to hang right under the waterfall or at the mouth of the fish ladder. It’s a tough spot to fly fish but it can be done. Most the time I use live sunnies but have had successfully days on the fly.

 

[BruceC2C]

Thank you for leaving/continuing as a public view.
I agree, NUMEROUS interested members here will benefit .

 

[wgmiller]

It's fairly safe to assume that if there's a dam, there will be fish below it...

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

True Geo but what species and when is the real question.

 

[Prospector]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I am glad this was public too.
I never plan to fish there myself but Mikes info is very valuable to anglers all over the state.

Listen to what Mike just said, consider other streams in your area that have similar circumstances and look at the time of year.
Its a recipe for success.
Why would we want this info hidden? I just dont get it.

+1

 

[Prospector]

Mike,

Since you are on the topic of fish migrations, I have a question about suckers. I have the impression from the old timers, when I was a kid, that suckers spawn before trout season in March (when most streams are closed). However there were a few times that I remember seeing huge amounts of suspended suckers in western PA (Lawrence Co) around May 20-25 and also in Potter Co around June 3-6. It was like 50-100 in the hole. I suspected those suckers were spawning and I assumed they were the same type and just the difference in water temps between the 2 streams drove the different dates that it was commencing.

Can you comment on that?

 

[Mike]

Even in western Pa and northern Pa the month of May would be too late. We see sucker fry in the shallows of the Delaware River in Northern Bucks Co in mid-April to the third week of April. My experience with sucker spawning runs has been with fish ladders, observations when walking along streams, and electrofishing. The runs through the fish ladders begin in March and are usually going full steam by March 15. My observations of spawning runs in small streams have occurred in the second week of April. I have electrofished and found spawning runs in other small streams in late March.

One factor that you should consider is that I have been speaking solely about white suckers. In western Pa various redhorse sucker species are present and the timing of their runs might differ somewhat. In eastern Pa we only have two other suckers, the northern hogsucker and the shorthead redhorse. The shortheads are in the Susquehanna R. As I said the details that I have provided pertain to the white sucker.

I once asked Ralph Abele, famed former Executive Director of the PFC, and my favorite “boss,” whether he fished. He responded that whenever he fished the sucker was on the wrong end of the line.

 

[wgmiller]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
True Geo but what species and when is the real question.

That's the fun of it. Think of it like saltwater fishing - ya never what you're gonna find! :lol: