Thursday, May 9, 2013

Shad to Be Had


I was able to get out two weekends ago with my buddy Tyler Nonn, from Tidewater Charters for some morning shad fishing. Needless to say, but my first shad fishing experience out on the river was pretty lights out. We fished fly and spin gear and caught perch, hickory shad, and even some American shad for two straight hours. For the most part, I used a Loop 6wt. switch rod with a 420 gr. Airflo skagit switch with a 10 ft. type 6 sink tip. I threw double shad darts and worked my flies down and across. Several times, I caught two shad at once. In the low flows, they were a lot of fun. When they raised the water level some 70,000 cfs. it was incredibly fun. After fishing Great Lakes tributaries and local streams for trout on the swing, it was refreshing to simply know and anticipate a pull on virtually every cast. 

Looking forward to next year.











3 comments:

mike doughty said...

i've heard that shad fishing can be lights out sometimes. looks like a blast to me.

Unknown said...

Nice shots, I love this fish ;)

Mark Kautz said...

Shad is a blast. We're still waiting for the run, but it's going to be sparse because the American is running at 1054cfs and should be around 5000. One can still hope though.