CT River herring reports

[Jenn]

Westfield was a mess on that monday and that article came out friday. I am sceptical about the two days though. I think it went on longer than that. River smelled like poo that whole week......

[pmueller]

It would be interesting to see what the other New England states attribute the fall of herring counts.
So far, CT seems to be blaming bass, I don't by it. I think there is one source that has not come up in conversation anywhere. Think about the precipitous drop in herring numbers just in the past few years. Now think about the exponential increase in seals. Thats just on the Cape. Can you imagine how it is up in Maine? To me it makes more sense.

[zimmy]

The wethersfield cove on the CT river gets all the overflow from the Hartford MDC combined sewage. Several million gallons per year. Overflow goes into a stream that dumps into the cove. Millions of gallons a year of raw sewage dump into the cove. The cove and the stream both were spawning areas for hering. My father inlaw grew up on the cove and also owns the house he grew up in. When he was a kid the herring would line the shore of the cove by the thousands. I haven't seen a single one along the yard since maybe 2001 or 2. After a nice rain the scent of raw sewage wafts throughout the yard. Anything you can imagine being in the sewers makes a nice little tidal line along the yard when the tide drops out. Father inlaw also says when he was a kid there were always some kinda big fish attacking the herring and chasing em up on the yard. He doesn't fish so he doesn't know what they were for sure

[jimmy z]

There haven't been those big blitzes in the river in years. I don't live too far from the river. I usually fish up north a few towns, but it doesn't look too promising this year so far. I didn't see too many river herring last year.