Paddle Fish in Raritan

[DanH]

I was fishing the Raritan one evening last week for smallmouths and doing pretty well when I spotted a carcass washed ashore upstream from where I was fishing.
I thought it might be a fawn, but as I got closer I could see it was a very large fish. When I got right up on it I could see that it was a paddlefish .
I've been fishing in NJ for decades and this is the only one I've ever seen !
Is this a rare fish in NJ ? Have any of you guys ever seen one in NJ ?

[dakota560]

Don't think I've ever heard of one in NJ before. You should definitely report in to F&G. On the endangered species list, they're listed as vulnerable. Apparently they're almost in the same category as sturgeon regarding being over fished for their eggs. Would you happen to have a picture you can post? Very rare find.

[bigfishy]

Only thing I've seen close to that prehistoric
are sturgeon....I suppose no pic??

[thmyorke1]

:p
Pics or it didnt happen

or tell where this is and ill check out the spot. if it was last week, there wasnt any high water to move the fish from wherever you say it was.

[AndyS]

Where on the Raritan were you fishing ? A photo would really help, even of a carcass. The big dead fish I have seen on the river usually turn out to be White Amur, aka Grass Carp.

[DanH]

Sorry no pictures, I was fishing by the RT. 206 Bridge . Wasn't able to go back the very next morning, but did go the following day with my camera and plastic bags but it was no longer there. Im still using an old flip phone! lol.

[thmyorke1]

Sorry no pictures, I was fishing by the RT. 206 Bridge . Wasn't able to go back the very next morning, but did go the following day with my camera and plastic bags but it was no longer there. Im still using an old flip phone! lol.

Where exactly by 206. I was around there this weekend. I know the area quite well. By the powerlines? Old train bridge? Ive seen some huge ass fish around there before, once something at least 4 feet long.

[DanH]

I was south of the bridge by what I guess is a pump station ! This fish was easily 4ft. long.

[thmyorke1]

I was south of the bridge by what I guess is a pump station ! This fish was easily 4ft. long.

Yea i was literally there that weekend and would have seen it if it was still there. Guess the turtles dragged it off.

[Jigman13]

Sturgeon or big muskie...long way from the Mississippi River Basin to reach the Raritan!

[bulletbob]

I am unaware of Paddlefish ever existing in any NJ waterway, but hey, who knows these days... Personally, I would be more inclined to think perhaps a lost sturgeon found its way up the Raritan river, and they have a pretty good size snout. Is that possible?.

A paddlefish is pretty much unheard of in NJ.. There were some stocked into Pa. and NY state rivers many years ago although they don't reproduce there.. Perhaps one found its way through a maze of rivers and creeks from Pa, or NY waters and wound up in the Raritan... bob



From wiki-

Habitat and distribution


American paddlefish are highly mobile and well adapted to living in rivers.[8] They inhabit many types of riverine habitats throughout much of the Mississippi Valley and adjacent Gulf slope drainages. They occur most frequently in deeper, low current areas such as side channels, oxbows, backwater lakes, bayous, and tailwaters below dams. They have been observed to move more than 2,000 mi (3,200 km) in a river system.[8]

American paddlefish are endemic to the Mississippi River Basin, historically occurring from the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in the northwest to the Ohio and Allegheny rivers of the northeast; the headwaters of the Mississippi River south to its mouth, from the San Jacinto River in the southwest to the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers of the southeast.[23] They were extirpated from New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania, as well as from much of their peripheral range in the Great Lakes region, including Lake Huron and Lake Helen in Canada.[15][16] In 1991, Pennsylvania implemented a reintroduction program utilizing hatchery-reared American paddlefish in an effort to establish self-sustaining populations in the upper Ohio and lower Allegheny rivers. In 1998, New York initiated a stocking program upstream in the Allegheny Reservoir above Kinzua Dam, and a second stocking in 2006 in Conewango Creek, a relatively unaltered section of their historic range. Reports of free ranging adults captured by gill nets have since been documented in Pennsylvania and New York, but there is no evidence of natural reproduction.[31][32] They are currently found in 22 states in the US, and are protected under state and federal laws. There are 13 states that allow commercial or sport fishing for American paddlefish.[26]

[thmyorke1]

There were some stocked into Pa. and NY state rivers many years ago although they don't reproduce there.. Perhaps one found its way through a maze of rivers and creeks from Pa, or NY waters and wound up in the Raritan... bob

Fish from the delaware end up in the raritan via the d&r canal. So a possibility there. But i have no idea what the status of paddlefish are in the delaware.

I will also state how it's unlikely for a sturgeon to be up past the fish ladder.
But who knows. That raritan is a crazy place :cool:

[bulletbob]

Fish from the delaware end up in the raritan via the d&r canal. So a possibility there. But i have no idea what the status of paddlefish are in the delaware.

I will also state how it's unlikely for a sturgeon to be up past the fish ladder.
But who knows. That raritan is a crazy place :cool:

yeah, only problem is they were stocked in a couple rivers in western Pa, and a couple in western NY, FAR from the Delaware... Not sure how it could have even made it into the Delaware, let alone the Raritan, but as I said, who knows??.. These fish/ wild animals do what THEY want to do, NOT what we humans "expect" them to do.. I have no reason to doubt the OP ..

Many years ago I saw a pitch black Mountain Lion right on my property here in NY state, despite the NYS DEC saying they don't exist here. however they ARE spotted on occasion here in the Southern Tier even photographed, despite what the "experts" say... So a Paddlefish in the raritan??.. Just as likely as a Mountain Lion in NY state I suppose ......bob

[thmyorke1]

yeah, only problem is they were stocked in a couple rivers in western Pa, and a couple in western NY, FAR from the Delaware... Not sure how it could have even made it into the Delaware, let alone the Raritan, but as I said, who knows??.. These fish/ wild animals do what THEY want to do, NOT what we humans "expect" them to do.. I have no reason to doubt the OP ..

Many years ago I saw a pitch black Mountain Lion right on my property here in NY state, despite the NYS DEC saying they don't exist here. however they ARE spotted on occasion here in the Southern Tier even photographed, despite what the "experts" say... So a Paddlefish in the raritan??.. Just as likely as a Mountain Lion in NY state I suppose ......bob

Well in that case about where paddlefish are stocked, i dont see a route where one could swim from those stocking points to the delaware.
Maybe someone stocked their own paddlefish into the raritan for the hell of it :D

Those mountain lion reports are neat too.

[Jigman13]

Fish from the delaware end up in the raritan via the d&r canal. So a possibility there. But i have no idea what the status of paddlefish are in the delaware.

I will also state how it's unlikely for a sturgeon to be up past the fish ladder.
But who knows. That raritan is a crazy place :cool:]

Sturgeon are known jumpers and could EASILY launch itself over the fish ladder or bypass the through the opening.