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SheltonTom



Joined: 16 Apr 2011
Posts: 96

PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2013 12:49 pm    Post subject: Housy 5/2 Reply with quote

I was out before dawn this morning. Started fishing the dam at 5:00 am. Lots of herring, all over the place.

Caught a short (maybe 14 inches) at about 6:00. That's all she wrote. Fish were breaking topwater towards the center of the river. There were about 10 guys along the bank and only one other fish was hooked up - it looked like a 26 incher that was released. I had a swirl and that was it.

At 8 or so I moved down to o'Sullivan's Island and have nothing to show. Not a hit, swirl or look. Saw some individual fish breaking, but that's it. Again, though, the herring were thick and all over the place.

Went back to the dam afted an hour and nothing. Called it a day at about 10.

It was a beautiful morning, though.
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Jeff



Joined: 06 Jul 2012
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2013 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only person I saw catching at the dam the other day was a guy who walked out along the bottom ledge of the dam Shocked Shocked
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PECo



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 5203
Location: Avon, CT

PostPosted: Thu May 02, 2013 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are the eight inch long fish that splash in small schools at the water's edge, right now, herring or alewives?
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SheltonTom



Joined: 16 Apr 2011
Posts: 96

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I assumed they were herring, but that is not based on any actual information. Whatever they are, they are all over the Housatonic.
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Sea Duck



Joined: 18 Nov 2012
Posts: 89
Location: Above grade

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 8:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PECo wrote:
Are the eight inch long fish that splash in small schools at the water's edge, right now, herring or alewives?


Likely alewives Peco, they are commonly called "river herring" as are american shad or hickory shad so "herring" and "alewives" are both accurate although "herring" can include other species and subspecies.
Surprised that you observe them at the edge of the water though. Not that they should not be there but they usually seem to be pretty spread out unless they are bottlenecked going upstream. They seem to be more active at night but that may only seem true be because it is quieter and I can hear them.
SD
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Herring?
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iversonbaby



Joined: 22 May 2012
Posts: 100

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw 7 inch thin bodied dark colored on top fish at derby dam. From shore early in the a.m. About 50 in a school swam right in front of me. This was about 3 weeks ago
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PECo



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 5203
Location: Avon, CT

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sea Duck wrote:
Likely alewives Peco, they are commonly called "river herring" as are american shad or hickory shad so "herring" and "alewives" are both accurate although "herring" can include other species and subspecies.
Surprised that you observe them at the edge of the water though. Not that they should not be there but they usually seem to be pretty spread out unless they are bottlenecked going upstream. They seem to be more active at night but that may only seem true be because it is quieter and I can hear them.

Thanks, Sea Duck. I was in the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant Canal with NWDarkcloud (aka Bob), yesterday. We got in there about an hour and a half before low tide, and the water level was as low as I've seen it this year. The little fish were splashing at every little laydown along the bank. We had a lot of trouble seeing them through the glare from the sun and the murky water, but they looked like skinny little largemouth bass in small schools. As far as we could tell, they weren't feeding, so we assumed they were spawning. I know that they weren't shad. I've read that blueback herring and alewives look almost identical externally and don't have a distinct lateral line, but think they had a single darker stripe that ran laterally down their sides.

iversonbaby wrote:
I saw 7 inch thin bodied dark colored on top fish at derby dam. From shore early in the a.m. About 50 in a school swam right in front of me. This was about 3 weeks ago

That could be what we saw, too. The "stripes" I saw might have just been the darker dorsal areas. Those little buggers swirled around fast.
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DirtyDawg10



Joined: 27 May 2009
Posts: 2238
Location: Granby, CT

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 9:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They are most likely blueback herring. I've seen them doing the same thing at Keeney and Wethersfield coves. I wasn't sure either at first but I happened to be there when the DEEP was collecting them last year at Wethersfield. The biologist I talked to told me what they were as well as what they were doing. It's pretty cool to see.
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fishfinder



Joined: 19 Jun 2011
Posts: 1672
Location: Naugatuck, Ct.

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 2:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rxactly correct! Blueback Herring is what they atre and alewives is what typically comes through late fall for the Fall run.
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stripertime



Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Posts: 69

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

alewives do not come in the fall fishfinder they come in in april and the bluebacks come in now the sea herring come in in the fall
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fishfinder



Joined: 19 Jun 2011
Posts: 1672
Location: Naugatuck, Ct.

PostPosted: Fri May 03, 2013 7:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not what I've heard but I'll take your word for it.
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willie17



Joined: 23 Mar 2013
Posts: 4
Location: farmington ct

PostPosted: Sun May 05, 2013 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

does anyone have the phone number or link to when the dam is running (times) i lost the number
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