Susquehanna circa 1816

[sandfly]

On the Juniata River, shad were known to occur as far upstream as Hollidaysburg but most fisheries were located below Lewistown (Gay 1892).

On the West Branch Susquehanna River, much less information is available. Gerstell (1998)
indicated that substantial shad fisheries occurred in the late 1700s between Lewisburg and Lock
Haven, and anecdotal reports suggest shad reached Chest Creek in Clearfield County. However,
according to Gay (1892), "The shad appear never to have gone up the West Branch in such
quantities as they did up the North Branch, and the same may be said of the Delaware, or else
the fish were of inferior quality, for the dwellers from the banks of both of these streams came to
Wyoming Valley for their supply of shad.”

Shad were known to go as far as cooperstown, Ny

 

[flyflicker]

That's some good stuff sandfly. The trip up to Cooperstown is quite a swimming/navigational feat!

 

[jifigz]

Walleyes are in no waye native to the Susquehanna watershed. The only fish that are still frequently caught that are native are Redbreasts and Fall fish. Basically every other fish people catch and care about are "invasives." A general list of fish that are native to the Susquehanna are American Eels, Redbreast Sunfish, Fall fish, bullheads (I believe), and stripes in certain reaches in the tidal areas. Anything else that I'm missing?

 

[jifigz]

Ah yes, the wonderful shad which no longer frequent the river drainage like they used to. After all, that was one of the most important fish to native people and early settlers along with the Eels. Of course some Brookies would be prowling the waters as well.

 

[moon1284]

I think the term invasive gets thrown around way too much. Introduced is a better term. Also I strongly doubt there would be any st that low in the Susquehanna.

 

[Dave_W]

There are some anecdotal accounts from the colonial era of harbor seals in the Susquehanna, and up the Juniata River to at least around Lewistown, that were reported by frontiersmen and soldiers during the 1750s.

I'm not sure if there is any archealogical evidence for this and a cursory google search didn't reveal anything. Perhaps its a myth.

 

[flyflicker]

Whoa! Could you imagine a seal coming out of the depths to grab your hooked fish?

Great thought provoking stuff!

 

[sarce]

Would channel catfish have been in the mix or are those also an import?

 

[JeffK]

Back in the 1960's my wrestling coach who was also a PA game warden claimed he saw a harbor seal in the Foul Rift pool on the Delaware. He took a lot of heat for it, but stood by his position. He lived on the pool and saw it repeatedly one winter.

 

[jifigz]

sarce wrote:
Would channel catfish have been in the mix or are those also an import?

Channel Cats are not thought to be native to the Susquehanna watershed but they are thought to be native to the Mississippi and St. Lawrence watersheds. So they would have naturally occurred in the Allegheny, Ohio, Etc.....

 

[pcray1231]

Back in the 1960's my wrestling coach who was also a PA game warden claimed he saw a harbor seal in the Foul Rift pool on the Delaware. He took a lot of heat for it, but stood by his position.

I could understand 1 person seeing it, if no one else did, being questionable. It's hard for a large mammal to not be seen more often in a highly populated area like that.

But it should not at all be questionable that a harbor seal COULD be there. Harbor seals are occasionally found as far south as North Carolina beaches. And in areas nearer their core populations, they are known to travel 50-100 miles inland.

Seals have been showing up as far south as the outer banks.