shad in schuylkill

[STREAMWISE]

i'm wondering how far shad can migrate up the skuke. I live in pottstown and I'm wondering if it's possible for them to get this far up river. I know there are a lot of dams but don't know about breeched dams,fish ladders etc. does anyone know?

 

[marcq]

not sure if they get up that far. I fish fairmount and they are their now.

 

[Mike]

I would not recommend fishing any farther upstream than Flat Rock Dam, located near Gladwyn.

 

[marcq]

mike is their a good population by flat rock? just wondering because their is such a small period where you get good fishing by Fairmount with the tides.

 

[Mike]

It all depends upon how many have ascended Fairmount Fishway by the time you decide to fish at Flat Rock.

 

[Coughlin]

Ah...just a question. If shad migrate upstream to where the were born, is flatrock the birthing place of Skuke shad?

 

[Mike]

No, the stocked ones, which are the vast majority, if not all of them, are moving toward Reading, which is where they were stocked. Finding each small entrance to a fishway at each successive dam has proven challenging.

 

[Fredrick]

Why won't they do the basket lift like they do at the Conowingo ?

 

[sandfly]

conomingo is not that successful. they should put the money into the eels so the susky cleans up. it's been proven no eels = no mussels = bad water.
delaware= eels=tons of mussels=clean water.

 

[AndyP]

What's the eels - mussels connection ?

 

[icyguides]

Sandfly is right. The lifts at conowingo haven't been very successful. It's still essentially a stocking based fishery and the #'s have been steadily dropping. Even at the peak the #'s of fish pale in comparison to historic, pre-dam runs.

Andyp, The larvae of freshwater mussels are parasitic. They must have a host organism to mature enough to become independent/viable. It just so happens that american eels make the best host for this metamorphasis. eels are catadromous, meaning they live in freshwater and run to the sea to spawn.

Thanks to dams this type of movement is no longer possible. I think they might be the only species of catadromous fish or at least one of very few catadromous fish species in the northeast. There are some efforts (stocking) underway to restore eels to the susquehanna because biologists have realized their importance, but imo until they solve the dam problem it will probably be futile.

 

[marcq]

not sure about the susky but i think the Delaware has had record runs of shad the past few years. that being said i haven't really had any good days this year. i know they stock but the fish i have caught and seen look in really good shape and look fresh from the salt.

marc

 

[troutbert]

marcq wrote:
not sure about the susky but i think the Delaware has had record runs of shad the past few years. that being said i haven't really had any good days this year. i know they stock but the fish i have caught and seen look in really good shape and look fresh from the salt.

marc

The shad in the Delaware are wild shad, not stockies.

 

[jdaddy]

Mike wrote:
No, the stocked ones, which are the vast majority, if not all of them, are moving toward Reading, which is where they were stocked. Finding each small entrance to a fishway at each successive dam has proven challenging.

Reading folks say "tell me more".