There's something just better about fishing the evening then first light, at least if you're driving an hour to fish. It just seems like the window is open a little bigger and longer later in the day. In the morning there's that window, and then it's shut. So I planned my day around fishing in the evening. The day started with a Nat Geo moment when this doe plopped down and delivered twins just below our
kitchen window. What was wild was watching the mom deliver the placenta and then eat it. I guess there's a lot of nutrients in it, or, I was thinking, that maybe she eats it to hide the evidence from predators that may be drawn in to the scent of the nastiness of birth. I know my dog Luke was.
I got down about 7 pm with a few hours left on the incoming. Water was clean and green and there was a stiff ESE wind. Didn't see anything for bait or wildlife so it was cast and retrieve, cast and retrieve. I went with a smaller fly but then switched over to something more juicy and on the second
cast came tight on the above fish. When I went to land it the fly popped out but from where I was I was able to retrieve the fish but not the fly. After a quick release Leif and I pounded the same area with only one touch.
I took the ride south and stopped at the Shark and Manasquan Rivers to see if there was any signs of life. I fished one for about a half hour before taking the ride west. I made a pit stop in the river but found
no love there either. I don't why it just does me better getting home at 1 am rather than 1 pm. Maybe it's because as you get older there's nothing like a nap or bedtime after a fishing session. After I got home I laid my head on my pillow and was asleep in 10 minutes.
Yesterday, well it seems like I catch these guys like clockwork each year, I watched the guys from the PA Fish and Game Commission electrofishing the river around Trenton. What they do is have a set of electrically charged probes that are powered by a generator that hang from the bow of the boat. The captain drives and two biologists or fishery managers man the nets and collect the stunned fish.
The PA Fish and Boat Commission does this annually in May, collecting fish and data from around 20 sites from Trenton down to Raccoon Creek. In addition to collecting data about the size, sex, and
location of the fish they will also stick in a US Fish and Wildlife tag to study the migration of these fish. What is interesting is that data shows there is a lot of fish movement between the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Delaware River, up to around Trenton, by fish using the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. The C & D Canal is at river marker 60 and Trenton is around 130.
Now I'm not trying to be a striped bass Karen. But two years ago I had some concerns when I witnessed the same operation. Then the fish were stunned, data collected, and they were returned to the water. I saw at least one go belly up after being tossed, yes tossed, back in. Some may say a little post stunning love in the way of a slap into the non-aerated tub of water may get them going again. Kind of like smacking a baby on the bottom like they used to do back in the day, now we just do a chest rub.
The net releases kinda reminded me of when you try and shake a crab loose from a net. Now, again, I'm not trying to be, but, I don't know. Let me say it this way, electrofishing or not, stunned or not, if you saw anglers in a private boat doing this and then having the fish in a tub for a ride downriver before they were, measured, weighed, photographed, ect, and then "released" you would be, well, let's just say you would be concerned. Listen, I know it's a job, a good and important job, and after making pass after pass on 20 survey sites along the river it gets old and I'm sure boring. "Male, 24 inches, USFWS tag # 34674537"...kerplunk. Next.....I get it. But, there is no doubt that there is fishing mortality in the data collection and tagging process. That's if PFBC is doing it, the USFWS, or anglers that are hooked up with the Gray Fishtag Striped Bass Study.
You can read the PFBC 2022 Striped Bass Survey results HERE. New Jersey does a seine study of juvenile striped bass. They are supposed to post it. On their website the last I find is 2019, but The Fisherman Magazine had an article discussing the 2022 Delaware River results, HERE. The state of Delaware also does fish and data collection in the lower river and Delaware Bay.