After 1896, several changes took place in 

 the Connecticut River which affected the shad 

 fisheries. In 1900 the original Hadley Falls 

 Dann at Holyoke was replaced with a 55-ft. 

 dam. A fishway was built on the dam in 1940, 

 but this failed to pass anadromous fish. In 

 1951 a hydroelectric plant was constructed at 

 this location, and an experimental pressure- 

 lock fishway was included in the structure. 

 This method of fish passage proved feasible, 

 but in 1955 the pressure lock was replaced by 

 a trap and mechanical lift. This device has 

 been nnoderately successful; 15,076 adult shad 

 were passed above the dam in I960. In 1933 the 

 dam at Enfield was modified and a rannp in- 

 stalled in the center of the dam so that migrat- 

 ing fish had access to the river above. Obser- 

 vations at the ramp showed that fish could pass 

 freely, except at extreme low water levels. 



Shad entered the Connecticut River in mid- 

 March 1960 and remained until early June. The 

 species spawned throughout the river from 

 Windsor Locks to Turners Falls. The spawning 

 season extended from May through June and 

 reached its peak from mid-May to early June. 



Shad were taken commercially in I960 from 

 Long Island Sound to and including the Farm- 

 ington River, a distance of 48 miles. The ma- 

 jor fishing area was from the river mouth to 

 Higganum, Conn. After the middle of the 

 season, however, lower river fishermen moved 

 upstream, and fishing was concentrated be- 

 tween Hadlyme and Higganum. The catch was 

 415,905 lb. by 19,497 yd. of drift gill nets, and 

 3,906 lb. by 392 yd. of seine. Drift gill nets 

 were 200 to 300 yd. long and 35 to 50 meshes 

 deep and had 5 l/2- to 5 3/4-in. mesh. Total 

 commercial yield in I960 was 419,811 lb.; 

 3,906 lb. were taken in the Farmington River 

 by one seine fished 2 miles downstream from 

 Poquonock. Some shad also were taken in this 

 river by sportfishermen. 



Seines formerly were the only gear used for 

 taking shad in the Connecticut, but they grad- 

 ually have been superseded by gill nets. In 

 I960 only one seine was fished in the Farm- 

 ington River. In recent years, up to six seines 

 were used during the shad season, but they 

 were fished primarily for river herring. The 

 small demand for herring has almost elimi- 

 nated seines from the river. 



Sport fishing for shad has been popular on 

 the Connecticut River for years (Nichols and 

 Tagatz, 1960). It was first developed in the 

 spawning grounds of the Salmon River at Lees- 

 ville. Conn., located south of Hartford, and 

 continued there until the flood of 1938 washed 

 out the dam at Leesville. Since then the center 

 of sport fishing has shifted to the Enfield Dam 



Unpublished report. Report of the Investigation for 

 and tentative design of the fishway at Holyoke, Mass- 

 chusetts by A. D. Mugnier and A, H,Swartz, 1951, Bureau 

 of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory, Beaufort, 

 N.C., 64 p. 



area on the Connecticut River at Suffield, 

 Conn. (fig. 26). The sport fishing area in 

 I960 extended from the Farmington River to 

 Holyoke, a distance of 30 miles. The major 

 sport-fishing areas were in Farmington River 

 and at Windsor Locks, Enfield Dam, William- 

 ansett Bridge, and South Hadley Bridge. Lures 

 and angling methods used were varied. Lead- 

 bodied feathertailed jigs usually were fished 

 from boats, small metal spoons from bridges, 

 and plain hooks garnished with colored beads 

 from river banks. Estimated sport catch in 

 1960 was 24,800 fish (77,200 lb.), of which 

 17,900 were taken in Connecticut and 6,900 

 in Massachusetts. 



The Connecticut River commercial shad 

 catch has fluctuated widely over the years. 

 In 1950 the Fish and Wildlife Service began 

 an investigation of the fishery to learn causes 

 for decline in yield, to determine conditions 

 favoring recovery, and to provide information 

 for management of the fishery to obtain maxi- 

 mum sustained yields (Fredin, 1954). Results 

 indicated that over 80 percent of the fluctua- 

 tions in size of the Connecticut River shad 

 population was attributable to variations in 

 the number of fish allowed to escape the 

 fishery and spawn. On the basis of catch- 

 effort statistics, the number of shad entering 

 the river in I960 was estimated at 340,000 

 fish, fishing rate was 34 percent, and spawn- 

 ing escapement was 224,000 shad. Studies by 

 Walburg (1963) indicate that the optimum 

 escapement is between 125,000 and 175,000 

 spawners annually. Escapements in this range 

 suggest a theoretical maximum sustainable 

 yield of about 150,000 fish. 



Housatonic River 



This river originates near Pittsfield in 

 western Massachusetts and flows 123 miles 

 before entering Long Island Sound 4 miles 

 east of Bridgeport, Conn. In the early 1880's, 

 before dam construction on this river, shad 

 ascended to Falls Village, Conn., 73 miles 

 from Long Island Sound, where a natural falls 

 barred further ascent. A 22-ft.-high dam was 

 built on the Housatonic in 1870 at Birmingham, 

 1 mile above Derby, Conn., and 15 miles above 

 the river mouth (Stevenson, 1899). By 1896, the 

 river had several dams above Birminghann, The 

 most important was at Lanesville, Conn,, where 

 the fall was 12 ft. Very few fish passed above 

 the Birmingham Dam, and none went beyond 

 Lanesville, 40 miles above the mouth. Steven- 

 son reported that the largest catch in the Hou- 

 satonic was made in 1884, when about 187,000 

 lb. were landed. After that time the catch de- 

 clined and in 1896 was only 36,700 lb. No shad 

 were taken in the Housatonic in I960. Dams 

 and pollution probably eliminated this run. 



' Unpublished manuscript. Shad fishery of the Connec- 

 ticut River, 1944 by Douglas D. Moss, Connecticut State 

 Board of Fisheries and Game, Hartford, Conn. 46 p. 



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