What did I see in Broadhead Ck?

[Troutmeister]

Yesterday I fished section 3 of the Broadhead. While working up through a long run I saw what appeared to be a couple of large redds. This was in fairly fast water. The redds were about 2 1/2' in diameter and a good 6" to 10" deep. looking closer I saw these fish? in the redd that I thought at first were eels, but looking closer they were too fat for their length to be eels. they were around 2' in length. 3 of them were dark gray and one was more brownish with spots.

The only thing that I can think of that looks similar would be bowfins or snakeheads, both of which I thought were creatures of slower, still water.
Anybody have an idea of what these could be?

 

[pcray1231]

American eels get relatively big, but spawn in the ocean. So that's out.

Sea lamprey's are spawning now and get decent sized and do dig nests like that, your description of the nest is dead on. That's my best guess. Don't be fooled by your mental picture of the little freshwater lampreys, sea lampreys get several feet long and several pounds and can be hefty in their adult, spawning life stage. Pic below is a sea lamprey speared on a spawning bed in Jersey. If face was stuck to the bottom in the current, that pretty much tells you lamprey. If face was up in the water column, then it's some type of fish.

Bowfin are spawning as well, but yes, they like still water. Longnose gar are also spawning, and do run upstream and spawn in riffles. They don't make redds really, but do tend to clean the gravel around the spawning area.

 

[silverfox]

Hard to say w/ out photos. White Sucker? They're spawning now.

edit> if spotted, maybe hogsuckers? They might be spawning now too if the temp is high enough.

 

[Troutmeister]

Definitely not any kind of sucker or Gar. I got within 5 or 6 feet but the fast current made everything a little blurry. That pic of the lamprey was the color of the one I saw, the one I said had a brownish coloration with spots. The other 3 were darker, appearing as gray in color. Are males and females different in color? Do they spawn in current in rivers?

 

[Troutmeister]

After looking at pics on Google I'm pretty sure they were lampreys. They had the prominent fins on top of back like pictured. And some of the pics are a variegated brown and some are gray. I had no idea they spawned in fresh water.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

I don't know if this helps, but I did swear I saw a small snakehead in the gorge a few years ago. I would assume some type of sucker, but it sounds like you're confident it was not.

 

[phiendWMD]

Someone was telling me something about lampreys around Stroudsburg recently. Or maybe I read it here?

That's my best guess.

 

[tztrout]

I would think they were lampreys- I’ve seen them spawning in the Delaware at this time of year many times

 

[lars]

i'd go with lamprey too

 

[hooker-of-men]

Years ago, I saw a long eel-like creature with it's face locked onto a rock at Creekview Park. I don't have any specialized knowledge about the differences between such species, but I always assumed it was a lamprey.

Made me want to get out of the water.

 

[Troutmeister]

Creepy looking for sure.

 

[JeffK]

I'd guess sea lampreys. Plenty spawn in the Flat Brook not far away in NJ. They get pretty mottled at spawning time. Have seen them as far up as Shinhopple on the upper East Branch of the Delaware. BTW, lamprey larvae are great walleye bait. Used to sieve them out of the muck/leaves in the Delaware.

 

[Nympho]

Brodhead is loaded with Lampry this time of year.

 

[gungagalunga]

These are sea lamprey and build large redds. I spent the last two weeks on Upper Delaware system, where the creeks are loaded with them this time of year in addition to anything oepn to the Delaware system. They will spawn and die. If you get the opportunity to watch them build a nest, its a pretty cool sight! Like most anadromous fish species, they will die after spawning. The really scary ones are the decaying while living ones, look like zombies in the current!