Neuse river rock fish..

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
THis link has one of my favorite references to runs of shad as a great great great great uncle signed this petition - https://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.php/document/csr09-0064. THe report I was looking for was done by a guy named Stevenson in 1897. A interesting read is "The Common Rights of Mankind": Subsistence, Shad and Commerce in the EArly Repulican South" by Harry Watson which discusses the conflicts between dam owners and others. Another good shad read is "The Founding Fish" by John McPhee which discusses the importance of shad during the birth of our nation.

I have "The Founding Fish" and it truly is a great book on Shad and it's history of the country.
Fact- we may not of ever been the USA if not for the Shad Run.
 

la angler

Six Pointer
Going back to the stripers is the spawning question the reason we can't harvest any on the lower Neuse as of now?
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
How so? I ask cause i dont know; Not to argue.

I didnt really say that right as we were already the USA but that could have changed real quick.

We had only been the Usa for a 1 and a half but that could of been destroyed. The soldiers at Valley forge were starving , dying and were on the brink of deserting. Washington kept them together and insisted on staying on the banks of the river because Washington new the Shad run would happen any day. Food was in very very short supply and Washington had for years been and entrepreneur and commercially fished for shad. so he knew the shad run was getting ready to happen. The shad run came and the fed the soldiers where they went on to win the next battle. Lots of historians say if they would have disbanded or lost that battle we could have lost the war. It was a pivotal point in the war. Some historians discount the shad run but most agree with it.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
Striped bass and shad still run up Fishing Creek, a tributary of the Tar River. It branches off in Tarboro. The fish come all the way up to Bellamy's Mill in near Enfield and just east of I-95. There are fish traps on Fishing Creek near the Warren County line. I would think that some fish historically migrated that far. So, I could see some fish making it all the way to Falls.
 

HookHunter

Button Buck
Kinda new and messing around posting because I’m home... I caught a small 12-14” striper on Neuse in wake county about 8 years back (compared to what I caught on Roanoke and James rivers) I was fly fishing early spring around Easter. Shocked me. Thought it was a white bass at first but something about the shape and fight made me take a look at the eyes and stripes. Only one, Maybe just one of those things that happens. This was less than a mile below the falls of the Neuse bridge. Water was a little high and was using a white cone head bigger with a little Silver and a gold cone. Great place to fish anytime before about mid June. After that people actually sit in the creek and run dogs down the center....
 
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