Delaware River Seasonal Cycles

Local fishing practices and how they’ve changed over time

By Chesa Wang, Devon Bruzzone, Junyi Yang and Mariya Lupandina

The Lenni Lenape, who were traditionally inhabitants of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, practiced fishing methods tied to the natural cycles of both the Delaware River and the surrounding land. The fishing season for the Lenni Lenape followed the seasonal patterns of native fish such as Atlantic Sturgeon, Shewanamekw Shad, and Brook Trout as well as that of plants like trout lily and dogbane. Other aspects of life, such as the celebration of the Shad Festival and the yearly gathering and dispersal of different bands of the Lenni Lenape, were also practiced in tandem to the seasonal fishing cycle.

The Lenni Lenape used several different methods to fish, often combined for effectiveness. This included the use of nets, spears, harpoons, and fish weirs. To create fish weirs, the Lenape constructed stone walls in a V formation within the river. As fish swam downstream, Lenape men would use a large net to direct fish toward the weir. These nets were constructed of dogbane fibers, with squash attached at the top for flotation and rocks attached at the bottom to act as “sinkers”. As the fish swam into the enclosed weir, men would be ready with spears, harpoons, and sometimes bare hands to collect the fish. It is also suspected, but not confirmed, that the Lenape used plants such as horse chestnuts and dogbane to stupefy and confuse fish for easier capture.

Today, the fishing practices in the Delaware River are largely recreational, and the traditional methods of the Lenni Lenape people have faded over time. The fish species associated with those traditional methods, particularly shad, have also declined largely due to environmental factors like climate change and pollution. The presence of invasive species, such as snakehead, crayfish, and catfish, have also added to the issue. These species clear out the Delaware riverbed by feeding on eggs and juveniles of native species and altering ecosystems necessary for the shad’s survival.

Although not native to the Lenni Lenape Lands the Horse Chestnut has proven to be a helpful asset for the Lenape. The tree’s nuts are harvested in September through November Later, they are ground up and put in the water. It’s nerotoxic properties stupify fish. To humans, the nuts are a tasty snack.

In September through October Brook Trout travel to warmer water to spawn.

Up to the late the 19 th c., when the Lenape caught more fish than they could eat, they dried them in the sun, or smoked them over a wood fire. This preserved the fish so that they could be stored and eaten at a later time.

In 1981, the Lambertville Shad Festival was organized to celebrate cleaner water, the return of the shad & the area’s arts. March is the “Month of the Shad.”

The Yellow Trout Lily blooms from late March to May, it signals to the Lenni Lenape that the trout will return in the coming spring.

The Brook Trout travel back up to the Delaware in late spring, this is the best time to catch them.

Atlantic Sturgeon head back to the Atlantic in late-August through September.

This coincides with the Sturgeon Moon, which signals the best time to catch sturgeon.

Dogbane grows throughout the summer months. Its fibers were used by the Lenape to weave nets and fish weirs. This plant also has properties that are poisonous to fish, making them easier to catch.

Individual bands would aggregate into larger social and economic units for the warm months along the summer fishing stations.

Up to the late 19th c., fresh fish were cooked over a fire. The women also wrapped fish in clay and baked them in hot ashes. The clay would act like an oven. When the fish was ready to eat, the clay was broken away and all the skin and scales came off with it.

In late spring, the Atlantic Sturgeon travels up the Delaware from the Atlantic Ocean to spawn.

Fish eggs or roe were a special treat for the Lenni Lenape.

Shëwanamèkw Shad swim up the major rivers by the millions in March and April to spawn in freshwater streams.

Dogbane (Apocynaceae)

Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

Sources

Becker, M. J. “Anadromous Fish and the Lenape.” Pennsylvania Archaeologist 76, no. 2 (2006): 28-40.

Belardo, Carolyn. “River of the People, Part 2.” The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, December 10, 2020.

Brodhead Watershed Association. “Nature at Risk: This Dinosaur-Era Fish of the Delaware River Is on the Brink.” Pocono Record, July 8, 2022.

Camp, Annabelle Fichtner. “Tying it Together: Examining Native Mid-Atlantic Fishing Nets in Collaboration with the Lenape Tribe of Delaware.” Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle (2018) 88-89, 79–90.

Atlanic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus)

Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) Shad (Shëwanamèkw) (Alosa sapidissima)

Shadbush (Amelanchier) Lenni Lenape

Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Csebestyen. “Delaware River Basin Commission: Living Resources: American Shad.” Delaware River Basin Commission | Living Resources: American Shad. Accessed 2022.

“Lenape Fishing.” Official Site of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, June 27, 2013.

LenapeLifewaysVideos. The Lenape CultureCatching Fish. YouTube, 2009.

Rementer, Jim. Lenape Names of Fish & Water Creatures. Lenape Language Project.

Schmidt, Sophia. “Lenape Group and UD Student Travel to Study Traditional Fishing Nets.” Delaware Public Media, October 20, 2021.