Some action….nice

6.May: Other commitments kept me away from the river for the last 4 days, hence the radio silence. Today I was at the Wall by 4:45 pm, and found almost 20 folx lining the wall. The weather was perfect, mild, and no breeze. Reports were it was a slow day, although Cissy reportedly caught 2 stripers on willow leaves; one at 34.5", and another at 29"! The water was up a couple of feet from the rain, mostly clear, and the current was fair. Some flotsam was on the water, but not bad. So I joined the throng, and put my arm in a cast. A 1 oz weight was all I required, so I stayed with my tried and true U/L set up.

I could feel the alewives bumping my rig on most casts, and every once in a while one stuck. They weren't abundant, but they were a bit of a pest. Shad were landed or lost at intervals, one here, another there. About an hour after I started casting practice, I had a solid hit. After a little skirmish, he came to the net, where he promptly snared the hook. It took some effort to get the barb out of the netting without cutting it. A middling little buck and I had our Kodak™ moment. I wanted to throw him back, but he was out of the water so long, I didn't think he would make it, so I donated it to someone who asked if he could have it. By 6:15 about half the crowd had moved on, and I moseyed on home for supper about 6:30. At least I caught my vitamin shad. Most of the fish today, including Cissy's stripers were caught close to the Wall.

Terminal Tackle: 1 oz drail over a 3-1/2', 10# flouro leader, and hammered silver willow leaf in red and white, with a black dot. That traditional color seems to get it's fair share of attention.

Tight lines!

7.May: late report. I got out of work late, arriving at the Wall a little after 5:pm. The water was up a bit from the last trip, clear and with a fair current. I took casting practice for almost an hour before heading home. The fishing was slow. A few shad, and alewives were caught, but they were few, and far between. No fish today. Still, it was good to be out with the usual suspects.

8.May, I didn't get out Wednesday. The regulars said I didn't miss much. The water was high, current stiff, and a LOT of flotsam, including whole trees which they had to pick and thread through to reach the shad. A few shad were caught; few being the operative word.

9.May: I was at the Wall by 4:45 pm. Only about 5 shadaholics had their arms in a cast, while another 4 made chin music at the parking lot. The water was higher still, but below the top 2 courses of rocks. The current was good, water clear despite the recent rain, and the debris floating by wasn't bad. Sure we had to time our casts to miss the larger sticks, but it was very fish-able. And shad were caught at fairly regular intervals today! About 5:15 I had a hard hit, it ran deep, and stayed deep, using the current to it's advantage. Eventually, she reluctantly came to the Wall. She ran from the net a couple of times, and made us work to land her. A nice fat roe, about 3.5#. Not huge, but thick. A little while later, I caught a small white perch. A few alewives filled out the score card for a nice afternoon on the water. By 7:pm I was ready to head home to my supper.

In the morning, I'm driving down to Christmas City in PA to visit my brother, sister in law, and niece. My brother and I will take some time to fish the shad run in the Delaware River in the Easton area. While things are spinning up around hear, the run is slowing down in that area. Who knows, maybe we'll run up to the Water Gap if the weather isn't too bad. time to finish packing. Tight lines!

Terminal tackle: started with a 2 oz drail, but switched to 1.5 oz after losing it. Under that, 3.5' of 12# flouro leader (lost my 10# spool, ya take what ya can get...), and a rainbow of colors in willow leaves. Ms. Shad was caught (and released) on a hammered silver leaf, in white w/glitter and an eye.