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Fisheries Biologists Kirk Rundle and Bill Collart sampled the Tar River twice this week — April 8 and 10 — launching their electrofishing boat at the Wildlife Commission boat ramp at Bell’s Bridge in Edgecombe County on April 8, and sampling the Tar River from the Battle Park boat ramp in Rocky Mount on April 10.

They electrofished from the mouth of Swift Creek downstream to the WRC Bell’s Bridge boat ramp on Monday and from the Rocky Mount Mill Dam downstream to the Route 64 bridge on Wednesday.

They captured 140 American shad and 20 hickory shad, with the heaviest fish being a four-pound female American shad. Largest hickory shad was 1.5-pounder. Lengths by species were 15-22 inches for American shad and 12-17 inches for hickory shad. Sex ratios for American shad were 40 percent female and 60 percent male. For hickory shad, the females and males were sampled at a 50:50 ratio.

“The hickory shad are still being observed downstream of Dunbar, yet their numbers are dwindling,” Rundle said. “American shad are at their peak now, from Battle Park to Tarboro. Particularly around the Battle Park area, they are highly abundant.”

Rundle and Collart saw two boats on Monday and several boats on Wednesday.

“Most likely they were successful if fishing for American Shad,” Rundle said. “We also observed several bank anglers at Battle Park on Wednesday catching American Shad.”

The weather was warm and sunny when Rundle and Collart did their fish-sampling work on the Tar. Water temps were 55º F on April 8 and 60º F on April 10.  

“We saw moderate river level and flows,” Rundle said. “The river was rising early in the week and now is dropping, yet no problems with launching or navigating.  Additionally, some rain is expected Thursday night which should increase river levels over the weekend.”

The fish-sampling work on the Tar River is part of the Wildlife Commission’s spawning stock monitoring done weekly every spring by Rundle and Collart.

Additional Observations

In the lower part of the Tar/Pamlico river from Greenville to Washington, anglers reported improved catches of striped bass last week, according to Doug Mumfordof the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) who shared the most recent creel survey information collected from different stretches along the Tar/Pamlico 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 Tar River.

But the biggest fishing news in the river is the speckled trout fishing, according to Mumford.

“The warm weather has the fish ‘fired up’ and catches have been excellent,” Mumford said. “The hotspots include Chocowinity Bay, Broad Creek, Goose Creek and Durham Creek. Most of the speckled trout are 16 to 18 inches.”

Likewise, the fishing also picked up in the upper region of the Tar/Pamlico river from Rocky Mount to Greenville. Creel clerks reported seeing more shad last week than during any other time this spring.

“Several anglers also landed striped bass during the report period,” Mumford said. “Overall, catch and effort increased during the report period.  The Tar-Pamlico River was the place for shad fishermen to be last week.”


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Fisheries Biologist Kirk Rundle displays an American Shad
sampled from the Tar River this week.