Hey Larry I'm a long time fan from Goldsboro nc. I have fished the Upper Roanoke river spring spawning run for over a decade now, fishing for hickory and white shad as well as striped bass. Our shad and Stripier catch numbers have declined by over 200% within the past five years. The reason for this decline is the irresponsibility of the ACOE and NCWRC and their handling of the water flow from RR(Roanoke river) Reservoir. In an attempt to protect the stripers the NCWRC control's the water flow from RR Reservoir from April first through mid may. Unfortunately this has caused the ACOE to dump huge, un-natural amounts of water in may and april(over 20ft in 24hours). This causes water temps to drop, which kills any eggs that were laid.
Here is the Problem: The herring and shad eggs are being killed on a yearly basis because they spawn first and the Bureaucrats aren't smart enough to realize the the river herring(now deemed depleted), and the shad are the keystone species of the river. So as the herring(already depleted), and shad are depleted the fishing continues to get worse.
Now for the second cutting edge of this problem. Not only are the eggs killed by the water temps, the entire spawning process is lengthened by the un-natural water flow. Ex= This year We had an extremely warm winter, shad were already spawning and stripers were running early, fishing was good. Last week of march 22ft. released from RR Reservoir, water temperatures drop 12degrees. Eggs that were laid are killed, AND fish in the process of coming up-river, now stage downriver waiting for proper temps. This means fish schools in spawning grounds are smaller and spread thinner, reducing the spawning rate even more.
If you could do a show on the Roanoke next spring I'm sure you could bring a lot of attention to a fishery that won't last another 10years. Please do some research or contact me. P.S. I'm Not the best writer, on skype or phone I could explain situation in 5 minutes.