Rain

[spc06]

Lots of it, and nothing else. We are getting it for about 4 or 5 days. Hopefully it'll be gone by Sunday for my haddock trip. Stripers are still being caught late at night. What's it like for all of you?

[bulletbob]

Miserable for months up here in NY state.. Rain started in April, and just never stopped... I haven't been able to fish the Susquehanna all year long... It will just start to recover, and then get blasted with rain again again, and its chocolate milk for 2 weeks and simply can't recover. Then it rains again, Rinse and repeat. Been that way all year,,, Lakes too..
They all have tributaries that dump muddy torrents into them, including trees, nail studded boards and dock parts, making it extremely dangerous to take a boat out... Worst year I have ever had as far as fishing is concerned, and by far the most rain I have seen in 30 years here... bob

[dakota560]

As we continue the cycle we're in of larger, more frequent and stronger storms, the pressures on these systems are intensifying. The attached article discusses the impacts not only on the Susquehanna, but since it empties into the Chesapeake Bay, the impacts it's having downstream on the Bay's water quality, habitat and fisheries including the all important blue claw crab.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145849/susquehanna-sediment-in-the-chesapeake-bay

Look at the sediment flowing in from the Susquehanna in the attached aerial image. Reality is all these big systems when we get the kind of rains we've been getting for the past so many years, they all turn the color of coffee and are being filled with urban runoff, increased farmland runoff filled with herbicides, pesticides and urban sediment.

The impacts are changing the ecological factors in the systems and introducing risk factors many of these fisheries never before encountered. As Bob pointed out, the Susquehanna in high weather flows is a turbulent coffee colored river of mud, debris and sediment carrying who knows what toxins into the system. If agriculture, increased urbanization and weather patterns don't change, the challenges facing these great rivers will only intensify and the bodies of water they feed into will face the same challenges.

No different than the Delaware middle to lower sections, Schuylkill, Allegheny etc, any big system surrounded by farming and urban development. Don't know what the answers are but greed, more mouths to feed on this planet and continued destruction of habitat due to urban development are posing serious threats to these great rivers and bodies of water. Combine that with changes in weather patterns most likely driven by climate change and these systems and the species calling them home are being pushed to the brink.

[Detour66]

We are seeing this here also in Raritan Bay. All the heavy rain storms have been making the bay water like chocolate milk and the fish really turn off! But I am sure that's not the only affect its having on the bay and its ecosystem.

[bulletbob]

As we continue the cycle we're in of larger, more frequent and stronger storms, the pressures on these systems are intensifying. The attached article discusses the impacts not only on the Susquehanna, but since it empties into the Chesapeake Bay, the impacts it's having downstream on the Bay's water quality, habitat and fisheries including the all important blue claw crab.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145849/susquehanna-sediment-in-the-chesapeake-bay

Look at the sediment flowing in fron the Susquehanna in the attaced aerial image. Reality is all these big systems when we get the kind of rains we've been getting for the past so many years, they all turn the color of coffee and are being filled with urban runoff, increased farmland runoff filled with herbicides, pesticides and urban sediment.

The impacts are changing the ecological factors in the systems and introducing risk factors many of these fisheries never before encountered. As Bob pointed out, the Susquehanna in high weather flows is a turbulent coffee colored river of mud, debris and sediment carrying who knows what toxins into the system. If agriculture, increased urbanization and weather patterns don't change, the challenges facing these great rivers will only intensify and the bodies of water they feed into will face the same challenges.

No different than the Delaware middle to lower sections, Schuylkill, Allegheny etc, any big system surrounded by farming and urban development. Don't know what the answers are but greed, more mouths to feed on this planet and continued destruction of habitat due to urban development are posing serious threats to these great rivers and bodies of water. Combine that with changes in weather patterns most likely driven by climate change and these systems and the species calling them home are being pushed to the brink.

For decades, it was nothing to stand on the same rock and catch 5 or 6 ,even up to a dozen or more Walleyes on a good early evening of casting from shore.. Caught 26 one sunny afternoon in september around 1993-94, all keeper size between 15-19 inches. Then they were gone.. I caught ONE walleye in the past year, and only a few a year in the previous 4 or 5 years...

SMB, same story.. about 3 years ago I was catching 20 or 30 on jigs on a good 2-3 hour afternoon session .. This year??. Maybe 3 or 4 bass for the entire YEAR...
the weather is NOT helping at all.. This river fishes better with clearer water, which it only has in oct -nov,, and maybe an odd week or two some spring seasons, but something is horribly wrong with the weather here these days...
The fishermen are gone.. almost non existent in my area of the southern tier of NY... Even in good weather when the river has a chance to clean up a bit... When I do see a guy I know thats been fishing here all his life, I get the same story... No Walleyes, a bass here and there, and maybe a story about a Musky that broke them off... Something has changed in the ecosystem of this river... The life is gone.. No perch, no sunnies, no rock bass, no walleyes, and the smb that were everywhere are becoming more scarce each year... NYSDEC has teir head in the sand, saying "our last survey showed no problems".. Until OOOPSS, they sheepishly told me "Oh yeah, our last electrofishing survey was in 2004"... Terrific.... bob