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Fisheries Biologists Keith Ashley and Tom Rachels sampled the Cape Fear River yesterday (March 26), surveying the Cape Fear’s fisheries immediately below each of the three locks and dams on the river at Duart, Elizabethtown and Reigelwood in Bladen County. They captured 39 American shad at lock and dam 1, and 11 American shad at lock and dam 2. They sampled one striped bass, which they returned safely to the river after tagging the fish, at lock and dam 3. The American shad ranged in length from 16-22 inches and the weights ranged from 1.3 to 5 pounds. The striped bass that they sampled, tagged and released was 21 inches long and weighed 4 pounds. The largest fish that Ashley and Rachels sampled that day was a hefty 5-pound American shad. While Ashley and Rachels normally conduct the springtime weekly electrofishing samples to monitor spawning stocks of striped bass and shad, they also multi-tasked this week to help our friends at North Carolina Aquariums. “We collected three common carp, one longnose gar, and more than a dozen suckers for the folks at the Ft. Fisher Aquarium,” Ashley said. “We also saw one very large grass carp.” Ashley and Rachels observed one commercial gill netter and numerous recreational anglers trying their luck for shad from boats below both locks and dams 1 and 2. One fisherman on the bank at lock and dam 3 was going after catfish. “The American shad are really starting to stack up below locks and dams 1 and 2,” Ashley said. “A few are starting to appear at lock and dam 3.” Weather was overcast and cool. The water in the Cape Fear was slightly muddy and flows were at 4,250 cubic feet per second (cfs). The water temperature was 52º F. The boat ramp at lock and dam 1 remains closed for maintenance.
Each week, Mumford shares creel survey information collected from different stretches along the Cape Fear River. The creel surveys are administered by the Division of Marine Fisheries through Coastal Recreational Fishing License funding, and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission assists with design and data interpretation in the upper portions of the Cape Fear.
Fisheries Biologists Keith Ashley (L) and Tom Rachels sample the Cape Fear River each spring with Ashley on the net and Rachels at the helm.