17.May: a very late report.
The shad fishing remains spotty and slow. Arrived at the Wall about 10:30am, to find a half dozen shadaholics. Don't those people work? As I set up, a shad was C&R. Over the next few hours, I saw about 6 shad caught, and a couple lost.

About 12:30 pm my retrieve was stopped cold. It put up a good fight in the current, staying deep, and running out, up and down river. It was very net shy, and took some wrangling, and time to let it tire, to finally get it to the net. A nice fat, long shad, we first thought to be a roe, but was in fact, a buck. Great fight!

I broke for lunch after that, and spent a few more hours taking casting practice. The remaining shadaholics weren't having much better luck than was I. Still, it was a great day to be out.

I had taken the week off from work, and this past weekend from the shad run (other plans, long made), but tomorrow I punch in again at the salt mine. Oh well, all good things must end...

Terminal tackle: 1.5 oz drail, over 3' of 12# flouro, and willows in most of the skittles colors. Traditional red/white scored my vitaming shad.

Tight lines!

21.May: Ferry Park, Rocky Hill. I arrived at 4:20 pm after work, and found 5 people working the docks. No reports of shad, but that some alewives were being caught. The water was mostly clear, some oak flowers, maple seeds, and the first hints of cotton on the water. The wind was blustery, and coming up from Cromwell/Middletown.

Just before 6:pm, as I packing it in to get some supper, a young lady fishing with her father hooked into what turned out to be a nice roe. She promptly released it, and then beat feet out of there. She got her vitamin shad, and quit while she was ahead, LOL. I had a lot of hits from alewives, but only one stuck to the leaf long enough to be caught.

I'll try it again tomorrow down by the Ferry. Reports from the Wall were disappointing. No fish today, and not many yesterday, either.

Tight lines!

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!