MikeV, the shadaholics caught stripers almost every day down at the Wall the first 2 weeks or so of May. Mostly schoolies, to be sure, but a couple of larger bass (28"-34" range), also. Yes, the bass fishing is improving.

22.May: I left work later than I wanted and didn't get down to Rocky Hill until after a quarter to five. There were 3 people on the "fisherman's" dock, no one was fishing the police/fire dock, or boaters' dock. I took up a post on the boaters' dock, as I've done well there before. Within minutes, John from the Wall joined me, followed by Miguel, and shortly after that, Bill C. 411 from John, was that Bill had caught 5 shad this morning in RH, which Bill confirmed. They were also visited by DEEP personnel who checked licenses. Reports from the Wall were disappointing, again.

The alewives kept us entertained fairly frequently. Until 5:30, when I got hit hard, and it was definitely not an alewife. It hit far out, stayed and ran deep. It gave a good fight, working the drag a few times for good measure. When it eventually came to the net, we were surprised by it's size, long but thin, a decent buck that fought above it's weight class in the current. Just before 6, I got another good hit, and it tried to use the current to its advantage, it didn't have the fight of the first shad. As it came within net range, it was longer than the first one, it rolled over, and slipped the leaf, despite my keeping tension on the line. So 2 hook ups, one C & R after a Kodak™ moment, and one long distance release. Shortly after than, Miguel caught a nice roe, which he kindly donated to someone who offered to buy it so they could eat it. I headed home to get my supper, as it was after 6:30 by then. All in all, it was a good day to be out.

I won't be out again until Monday at the earliest. On Friday I'm taking my MIL back to her hometown in Maine for the weekend to attend her brother's funeral services.

Terminal tackle: 1.5 oz drail, over a 3'+ 10# flouro leader, and that hammered silver willow leaf in red/white w/black dot. Recently, that leaf has been working better for me than other colors. YMMV, and invariably will...

Tight lines!