Norwich Bulletin - Anadromous fisheries report

• Cool water temperatures have delayed shad, salmon and other anadromous fisheries runs throughout the state to this point. Alewives like it cold and runs are pretty much shot in this part of the state, according to reports from fishermen and the Department of Environmental Protection report from biologist Steve Gephard.
• Blueback herring are essentially non-existent in the region, with none being observed in fishways either in the Thames or Connecticut River systems so far this spring. The Connecticut River was only about 57 degrees this week, which is cool for late May.
• So far no Atlantic salmon have shown up at fish passages on Connecticut River. Historically, Memorial Day weekend is the peak of salmon runs, but due to conditions it could be a little later this spring.
  
• Shad are running with a few anglers catching them in both the Connecticut and upper Thames Rivers.
• As of the May 21 DEP report, which is not totally up-to-date because of the logistics of reporting, watching films on fish-passage windows, etc., the Greenville Dam fish elevator has passed 2,131 shad, 2,422 alewives, no bluebacks, 21 gizzard shad, a striper and six sea lamprey.
• No one was counting alewives at the Trading Cove brook fishway, but hundreds were estimated to have gone upstream to spawn, Latimer brook passed 911, Gorton Pond saw thousands and the new Tunnel Hill elevator passed four so far.
• As each dam is breached by means of fish ladders or elevators on the Thames watershed and elsewhere, populations of anadromous fish and the predators that feed on them will all benefit. That's good news for fishermen who prey (often with catch-and-release in mind) on those predators, which include stripers, bluefish and pretty much anything else that feeds on fish. (Bob Sampson)