26.April: The Wall, Cromwell. I arrived about 12:30 pm in a light rain, and 10-12 people with their arms in a cast. The water was up a bit with a decent current, turbid but not opaque; not that you could see far into the river. Flotsam was few and far between. The rain persisted on and off through the afternoon. The breeze came up with the approaching cold front around 2:pm give or take.

There was ample evidence of shad caught today. The 411 was they were being caught fairly regularly. About a half hour into my casting practice, I had a hit close to the wall. It put it's head down, and tugged hard, and then it did it again. I turned it in to the wall, and it dug deep, stripping line as it ran out, more than I had taken in. When I gained line, it dug-in again, and ran off what I had gained, and it did this a few more times. It was net shy, and tried to run deep up, and down the river. When we finally got it to the net, it was a fat buck. He weighed in at 2.6#, and had fought well above his weight class. Other than a few weak hits, and bumps, he turned out to be my vitamin shad for the day.

By the time I left at 3:pm, several more people had joined the party. I wasn't really counting, but saw about a dozen shad landed, and a few more lost. At times there were doubles on, and I saw one triple. Today was the busiest I've seen on the river since last year. Life is good.

Tackle:
Rod: 7' one-piece Ugly Stik GX2, med-heavy action
Reel: Penn 4400SS spooled with 15# hi-viz yellow Power Pro.

Terminal tackle: 1-1/2 oz drail over a 4'+ flouro 10# leader, and hammered silver leaves in red/purple/black (Steve's Leaves), Bill's stop light pattern, and Bill's Jamaican pattern. Steve's leaf was the answer for me today.

I will be back down to the Wall tomorrow. We'll see how the coming cold front affects the run. Tight lines!