Originally Posted By: cat_in_the_hat
correction, that was 69 striped bass over Holyoke Dam last year, and 647 herring... still an ongoing near extinction event for upper Connecticut River herring, a 99.9% drop from the mid 1980s half million alewives per year..


That is all that made it to the lift (647 herring). I seen many thousands of them last year while shad fishing and have noticed a steady increase over the past few years. The reason they aren't making it to the dam is, there is one deep hole a few hundred feet from the lift. In that hole are many large striped bass waiting for them! We would see schools go by (upstream) and a few minutes later they are going back downstream in fear of their life. This goes on all day long. What they need to do is go out and do a survey on the water and not use the lift numbers as a stock assessment. Just because 647 herring made it over the dam doesn't mean the river isn't loaded with herring, because it is!