Shad: We've Only Just Begun

[Khalil Minor]

Was out on the Potomac and getting consistent hickories on Shad Busters and Shad Puffs. ... I will be out almost daily, so let me know if you want to hit the water with me.

 - Khalil

[Forrest Allen]

I plan to be out between Chain and Key bridges Friday from 1 til dark.. would love to meet up and maybe get some pointers as a novice shad fisherman! Glad to hear the river is still fishing well after yesterdays downpour... 

Any suggestions before hand are welcome too, of course! Workin for the weekend...

Forrest

[Bob Sivinski]

Hey Forrest, I'm planning on getting to Fletcher's around 1:00 on Friday also, but I was planning on taking my kayak.  Are you going to get a boat or fish from shore?  Fly fishing?

[Forrest Allen]

Bob, 

I have a kayak, but expect to go from the shore... I will keep waders in my truck in case I need to get a bit closer to the current seam than shore fishing allows. [Anyone reading this - do you have any advice for shore fishing this stretch??]

And yes, 6wt fly rod. Hoping for some hard hits. 

Forrest

[Mike]

Be careful!  The recent rain and chill has changed the character of the neighborhood. The current is very strong.  Especially on a moving tide. Should be much better by the weekend.

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[Brendan]

Wading this section of the river is a very bad idea. 

[Forrest Allen]

Thanks for the heads up. I dont anticipate wading unless I observe its possible/reasonable. I intend to fish from the shore - I expect most of the current seams should be accessible from there with this narrower portion of the river, right? 

[Seth]

With the wind being none too friendly for fly fishing lately.  I just came across this article that has some points about spin fishing in windy conditions as well as some good fly fishing advice.  Plus the write up gives a shout out to Rob Snowhite.  Double Plus - it includes a video of a double shad being reeled in https://www.capitolcityfishing.com/march-madness--potomac-shad-fishing.html

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 12:57:52 PM UTC-4, Khalil Minor wrote:

[Khalil Minor]

I should be able to see you on the river this Friday, Forrest. ... Aaron and I tore it up today! The shore will be fine for fishing. Even yesterday was. Unfortunately, the water is NOT as warm as it could be, and the Americans were out of scope in regards to catching. Either way, Aaron started 8:00a.m. this morning and must of had a 50 plus day with the hickories. I landed around 19 to 22 hickories after starting at 1:00p.m. and fishing without a sinking line. We literally got surrounded by boats trying to get into our groove; casting Shad Puffs and Shad Busters.

Gotta stop by the Clarendon shop and get my sinking line spun onto one of my reels. ... and Aaron should be posting some pics soon.

[Daniel Davala]

Misha and I got out and hit them from the rocks this morning with our two-handed rods.  We got there at 6am and it was COLD, but we still managed a few each in spite of the high, muddy water before heading to the shop.  Always a great way to start the morning!

Dan Davala

On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 7:38 PM, Khalil Minor <for1s...@gmail.com> wrote:

I should be able to see you on the river this Friday, Forrest. ... Aaron and I tore it up today! The shore will be fine for fishing. Even yesterday was. Unfortunately, the water is NOT as warm as it could be, and the Americans were out of scope in regards to catching. Either way, Aaron started 8:00a.m. this morning and must of had a 50 plus day with the hickories. I landed around 19 to 22 hickories after starting at 1:00p.m. and fishing without a sinking line. We literally got surrounded by boats trying to get into our groove; casting Shad Puffs and Shad Busters.

Gotta stop by the Clarendon shop and get my sinking line spun onto one of my reels. ... and Aaron should be posting some pics soon.

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[Misha Gill]

That fish definitely took something that had chartreuse in it. It was also definitely pink. 

Weekend should be great as the water clears and warms. Good luck everybody!

[Khalil Minor]

Awesome guys. Great news for this morning.

[Forrest Allen]

Yeah thanks for the heads up Dan and Misha! Looking forward to warmer air and water soon!

And Khalil, I will keep an eye out for you too.. Ill be the tall dude fumbling around on the rocks. 

[Forrest Allen]

Good afternoon out there. The wind died down around 330 and then it was really on! Caught several Hshad in the 15-18" range from the shore. Kept getting the shad darts stuck on rocks though...

The people on spin reels were killing it. Probably catching about 15 an hour after 4 (at least in the area I was fishing). Pretty crowded shoreline.. But managed to get good position with some constant roll casting.

Hope to be back about ASAP!

[Jeffrey Silvan]

I had a great time out there today from about 2 til 5. I went through an hour period where I kept getting bites, but couldn't stick a fish between 230-330. It was the first time chartreuse out-produced pink for me. Like Forrest said, the bite really picked up around 330-4 until I left. It seemed like the majority were hitting my chartreuse dropper, but the biggest fish were hitting the pink fly. I got my biggest shad ever today - around 22" and 4-5 lbs. 

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[Khalil Minor]

Oh. ... We've only just begun!

[Lane Smith]

First off apologies to anyone fishing yesterday around my boat. My dog was going ape whenever I caught a fish. He wasn't as bad last year. Lesson learned. Slow start yesterday but once I got settled in and recovered from three separate anchor losses it got really good. I even landed a rogue channel catfish. I was using one larger 1 1/2 ounce dart and getting huge hickories fun day

[Adam Soller]

John Bilotta and I had consistent action the last two mornings (7-9am) on our two handed rods - healthy and feisty AShad as well as Hickories. Both of us only used a pink head / chartreuse body Binsted shad puff both times out. Challenge is to see if we can get to the end of the run on just this fly.

Today they seemed to be moving higher in the water column but still had a fairly soft bite.

Separately, I also foul hooked a smallish carp today.

[Patrick Kearns]

Finally got my first taste of Shad run action!  Fished just upriver from Fletcher's about 2-6 this Saturday.  Hooked into a nice Hickory Shad on my first cast, and that set the tone for the day.  I landed 14, and hooked and lost about a half dozen more, plus one foul-hooked gizzard shad.  

Chartreuse with a green tip got most of the bites, the vast majority in the first 90 minutes.  The action slowed down for a bit around 4-5, then picked back up towards evening.  The evening hours produced fewer bites & hookups for me, but the couple who set up shop next to me were hauling the shad in like clockwork on spoons, so I know the fish were biting.  With the sun setting, they must have been responding better to the flashier lure.  This seemed to bear out when I managed to catch my final few fish after switching to pearl and pink. 

All in all, a fantastic day out - my only complaint is that I might not get out for two more weekends!  Darn cousins getting married during the shad run ...

[Jeffrey Silvan]

Good report. I went out Sunday with my fiance, and things had slowed way down. We were on the river from about 1-5, and got about 7 or 8 between the two of us. Two of them were absolute hogs, though. It was extremely sporadic action with only one or two times where I got bites/hookups within a few casts of each other. The spin fishers seemed to be having slightly better luck, but still way slower than any other day I've been out yet this year. The guys on the dock said it was generally like that all morning too. Hopefully things kick back up a little bit. 

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[Rob Snowhite]

[Rob Snowhite]