A glimmer of hope for herring...

[Brother Brian]

FWIW, I've seen more herring being smacked out of the water this year than the last three together on both major CT rivers, the CT and the Thames. Friends also report the same on the Housatonic. Here's hoping.

[JohnR]

I had a conversation last year with one of the RI DEM people and he stated the scariest thing is the drop off between year class 4 fish coming back to the runs and year class 5...

Hope that changes

[Skitterpop]

I hope they go beyond the three years moratorium.

When I started fishing the salt in 1997 I remember one obscure run in my home area that for a few weeks had 5 to 6 Bald Eagles, about 9 Ospreys, and over 12 Great Blue Herons along with a ton of gulls and crows working the herring. Only saw that for 98 and 99 if I rememeber correctly.

[Mike P]

From what I've seen, the Canal run is in tough shape. Other than the first scouts I saw a week ago, it's been very sparse, at least during the day. One guy on FFSW says he's seeing tons of them coming thru at night and thinks they've adapted to avoid daylight predation from birds. I hope he's right, because without a good strong run, the bass won't stick around very long.

There are very few dead ones along the bottom, and that also isn't cause for hope--unless the gulls and herons are picking them as fast as they die.