Shad Dart Feedback

[Dave Marcus]

I've been starting to get excited about the shad run and have been tying some darts with the materials I have on hand. I don't have any chartreuse, pink, or orange chenille so I went with as much flash as I could get. These are tied on a bunch of 1/32 oz jig head hooks I got on ebay. The tail is tinsel I got from a craft shop and hte body is just wrapped flashibou. On some of them I have this orange flashy stuff I tied in as a collar. They don't look like the one i've seen others use and the only way I'll find out if they work is if I try them but I wondered if anyone has tied anything simliar and had success? If so I'll keep batching them out, otherwise I may go out an buy some of the bright flashy chenille I see on most shad darts...

Thanks,

David

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Dave, I haven't fished anything similar, but like you said, can't hurt to try! My go-to pattern is stolen from Rob Snowhite, and doesn't require any chenille at all. It's simply silver flash for the tail, bright pink thread for the body, clear "gimp" like material over the thread to give it some profile, and dumbell eyes. I tied up a bunch with a chartreuse body as well, but really haven't used them much since pink tends to be so productive.

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[Mike]

Dave,

Most anything will work when the shad are thick.  Looks like Jeff's fly is a go to Ashad pattern with the perfect hook. You may want to find chartreuse or green to work into your dart body. My experience has been the flashabou like tail is a must.  

Mike

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[Terry C]

Dave,  Those will do the job; however, if I had only one color to fish for shad with, I would use chartreuse Estez as the body material.  Over the pase 4 years I have caught more shad than I can count,  on a # 6 1xl hook, chartreuse  estez body, white dumbell eyes, short white marabou tail.  I will post a picture later.    

[Terry C]

[Barnett Williams]

What are the dates of the shad run and what time of day is best? I went last year early in the AM (6am) and caught 7 or 8, but I can't remember the date I went!

Thanks!

On Thursday, February 27, 2014 12:21:52 PM UTC-5, Dave Marcus wrote:

[Danny Barrett]

I normally have a line in the water before sun up and have a head lamp.  I try to get there about half hour before sun rise and am off around 11am.

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

 dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

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[Barnett Williams]

Dan, Thanks! My main question was around the date ranges the shad run is. When does it being and end?

Thanks

On Tuesday, March 4, 2014 3:53:22 PM UTC-5, Danny Barrett wrote:

I normally have a line in the water before sun up and have a head lamp.  I try to get there about half hour before sun rise and am off around 11am.

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

 dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 3:32 PM, Barnett Williams <hbwill...@gmail.com> wrote:

What are the dates of the shad run and what time of day is best? I went last year early in the AM (6am) and caught 7 or 8, but I can't remember the date I went!

Thanks!

On Thursday, February 27, 2014 12:21:52 PM UTC-5, Dave Marcus wrote:

I've been starting to get excited about the shad run and have been tying some darts with the materials I have on hand. I don't have any chartreuse, pink, or orange chenille so I went with as much flash as I could get. These are tied on a bunch of 1/32 oz jig head hooks I got on ebay. The tail is tinsel I got from a craft shop and hte body is just wrapped flashibou. On some of them I have this orange flashy stuff I tied in as a collar. They don't look like the one i've seen others use and the only way I'll find out if they work is if I try them but I wondered if anyone has tied anything simliar and had success? If so I'll keep batching them out, otherwise I may go out an buy some of the bright flashy chenille I see on most shad darts...

Thanks,

David

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[Danny Barrett]

I want to say it was around Easter last year. I normally start watching the VDGIF shad cam when I'm tying trout and bass flies or doing homework in the evenings and hit the river once I start seeing pods of fish in the cam.

Thanks,

Dan Barrett

 dannyt...@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

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[david marcus]

I've found the tides to be the most important factor. I have particular success during rising tides. I've actually been meaning to try and figure out the date ranges when the shad are most productive also. I have a friend who wants to visit and I want to try and plan it for when the run is in full swing. I'd love to tap into the collective wisdom and memory of this group to try and figure out the beginning, middle, and end of the run based on personal experience. If I remember correctly from the last few years it usually starts sometime in early April, get into full swing late April and starts to taper off mid May but it's been a year so....

David

On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 3:32 PM, Barnett Williams <hbwill...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Terry C]

I also agree on a moving tide , keep an eye on the tide charts. As far as when it starts I keep an eye on water temps. When it gets into the 50's it usually starts. Typically last week in March, but this year it may be a little later. All the snow melt and cold temps could push it back. Once it starts you will know because it will be announced on this forum and others.

[Rob Snowhite]

Contest for first of each shad landed via fly in tidal Potomac and posted here?



Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 4, 2014, at 7:56 PM, Terry C <flycs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I also agree on a moving tide , keep an eye on the tide charts. As far as when it starts I keep an eye on water temps. When it gets into the 50's it usually starts. Typically last week in March, but this year it may be a little later. All the snow melt and cold temps could push it back. Once it starts you will know because it will be announced on this forum and others.
>

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> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
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[Dave Marcus]

Digging this thread out of the archives to report back on these flies. They all worked well, in particular, the leftmost fly with the greenish body, tinsel tail, and orange flash collar worked the best. I had a 20+ fish morning from my kayak last sunday. I also went for an awesome Nantucket sleigh ride with the biggest american shad I've ever hooked into (poor mans tarpon!).

I had the good fortune to meet and have a great conversation with Justin (or jason?) who was an orvis endorsed guide out of the Richmond store. He was taking his new jackson kayak out on it's maiden voyage. Really nice day on the water last sunday, a little windy and cold, but overall a good time.

I'll be tying up more of these tinsel and flash flies, they come together very quickly.

David

On Tuesday, March 4, 2014 8:23:43 PM UTC-5, Rob Snowhite wrote:

Contest for first of each shad landed via fly in tidal Potomac and posted here?



Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 4, 2014, at 7:56 PM, Terry C <flycs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I also agree on a moving tide , keep an eye on the tide charts. As far as when it starts I keep an eye on water temps. When it gets into the 50's it usually starts. Typically last week in March, but this year it may be a little later. All the snow melt and cold temps could push it back.  Once it starts you will know because it will be announced on this forum and others.
>
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> http://www.tpfr.org
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> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[tom]

Hey all, 

I very rarely post, but am an avid reader.  Thanks for all your contributions.  I am the guy who originally put together the Google Doc that shows the Tidal Potomac fishing seasons (everyone else who knows a lot more than I do actually filled it in).  

It looks like there's another opportunity for a Google Doc to help gather our collective wisdom about the shad fishing season, when they're thickest, what works when, etc.  Year over year we can gather some pretty interesting data, I'm sure.  To that end, I have put together a Shad Fishing Chart Google document that anyone can edit.  Please take a look and fill in with your data.

Best,

Tom

[Dave Marcus]

This is a cool idea, and I didn't know about the other google doc. TPFR admins, are these links you can include in the "links" section of the TPFR page?