Stripers galore @ Trenton Falls (Morrisville): Del Estuary

[Mike]

With little effort we captured and tagged 92 striped bass from 16" to 31" long at Trenton Falls yesterday. Missed a number of others...too many fish scattering. Also saw at least 20 walleye, most of which were perhaps 22-26". Hardly anyone fishing (three boats for part of the day, one boat for the rest of the day). Spoke with one angler, who caught 12 stripers. He was correct in his observation that due to low rainfall the water was so clear that he could see the stripers to which he was fishing at times.

 

[mszoke1802]

Where's this spot at?

 

[phiendWMD]

Where route 1 crosses into NJ at Trenton.

 

[Fishidiot]

Wish I lived closer.

 

[sandfly]

boat is best way to fish it..

 

[phiendWMD]

I decided to go outside tonight, so I took a ride by there but didn't fish. 1 boat and a kayak were out. I yelled over to the guy in the kayak and asked if he was catching anything. He said "Lots of stripers?". I didn't how many lots were.

I saw a bunch of small to medium stripers jumping up above the falls.

Mike did you see the beaver that has taken up residence in the area?

 

[poopdeck]

I have fished that area for years. The number of stripers do not surprise me. the small stripers can actually get annoying at times. The number of walleyes seems exceptional. I have fished the delaware river almost exclusively for the last 24 years (thank you children for keeping me close to home) and have noticed a dramatic increase in the walleye population. At least in my catch rates. Are my observations correct that the walleye population seems to be exploding.

 

[afishinado]

mszoke1802 wrote:
Where's this spot at?

Quote from the link posted below:

"I just want to advise people that some areas are not the best place to fish alone or bring kids. Some locations are in rough areas and even in Bristol I have heard of people getting robbed and pistol whipped." :-o


http://www.delawareriverbass.com/17-hot-spots

http://www.delawareriverbass.com/pictures

 

[poopdeck]

Great now the delaware river has been spot burned. I have been working very diligently at keeping the river a secret. All that effort for naught.

Not only are there bandits plundering on the banks but there are hoards of Somalian pirates seizing fishing vessels and taking the crew to sell on the black market as slave labor. Way way to dangerous to fish and its best to stay away. It is far safer to fish for tiny Brook trout on tiny mountian streams.

 

[phiendWMD]

Afishinado, I was just above the falls about 2 weeks ago and it was slow. I went over to the canal to see what was going on there. Almost immediately after I got there a guy walked by with pruning shears. I thought it was really strange but didn't dwell on it. Like 2 minutes later police from 3 towns showed up. Apparently the guy threatened to stab another man, who was with his wife and kid, with the pruning shears! I'm not sure why, as if there would ever be a reason that made sense to do something like that...
Morrisville isn't that best neighborhood for sure that was really crazy. I've never felt threatened there and most people are quite nice. I guess there is always one.

 

[Mike]

I don't know about "exploding," but after 20 years straight of electrofishing for about a 2 week period for stripers, always at the same sites plus a few others, we have noticed an improvement in walleye numbers...not big numbers, but an improvement. The greater improvement (much bigger numbers) appears to be at Trenton Falls, with minor improvement, but very noticeable, in the Phila Airport/Darby Ck area (Mantua Ck area in NJ) to Betsy Ross Bridge area.

Of note is that we also saw exceptionally large numbers of menhaden ("bunker") this year as far upstream as central Philadelphia (Ben Franklin Bridge/Penns Landing vicinity). We see this occasionally in May, but usually from the Phila Airport area to Chester. The salt line has advanced closer to Pa due to low fresh water inflow and this may be behind the menhaden abundance this May.

Did not see the beaver at Trenton Falls, but can believe that they are there.

 

[jay348]

phiendWMD wrote:
Mike did you see the beaver that has taken up residence in the area?

That guy snuck up behind me a few weeks ago when I was shin deep. Didn't bother me luckily, but I promptly resumed my fishing from shore.

 

[fishngun]

Mike, I'm assuming you used electrofishing gear for the capturing and tagging effort. How deep into the water does this reach when used? I have no knowledge of the process really.

 

[poopdeck]

I primarily walleye fish the non-tidal river and is where I see the "explosion" I only fish for stripers in the the tidal river up to the Trenton falls area. Great question on the electro fishing equipment.

 

[phiendWMD]

jay348 wrote:

phiendWMD wrote:
Mike did you see the beaver that has taken up residence in the area?

That guy snuck up behind me a few weeks ago when I was shin deep. Didn't bother me luckily, but I promptly resumed my fishing from shore.

It popped up behind me then slapped it's tail when I was waist deep. It was like an asteroid fell from the heavens. Then it went back under so all I saw was the huge rings when I turned around It came back up a little further away and I realized what it was. It definitely got my attention.

 

[Mike]

Regarding electrofishing for stripers, it is done in our case from a 19 ft jon boat rigged with 8 positive copper electrodes (arranged in two groups) suspended about a foot into the water from 2 hot-stick resin booms extending about 6-8 ft forward of the boat. The aluminum boat is the negative electrode. We typically use 6-8 amps for stripers. Don't fall in!

We are quite confident in the performance of the gear for capturing stripers in up to 8 ft of water, but we regularly pull stripers from depths up to 12 ft and have on occasion pulled them from 15 ft. That requires a very slow boat speed, however.

Lateral range: depends on the size of the fish and it's position relative to the boat at the time that the power is applied, but ideally we can pull fish from up to 10 ft away laterally on each side of the boat. Power is applied intermittently with use of a foot pedal, which adds an element of surprise to the operation.

Fish are drawn to the positive electrodes and are often very active when netted via large dip net. Guys who dip net fish for a living are the guys you want netting your fish of a lifetime for you.

Mike