I arrived at Bissell about 4:30 pm today (28.April), and it wasn't looking good, as the wind was already blowing up, and cold, from Hartford. There were no shad on the bank from what I could see. A few regulars were working the river but with the wind, it wasn't panning out. I made a couple of forlorn casts as I waited for a friend to arrive, and it just wasn't worth the effort in the cold wind, and chop. As soon as he showed up about 4:45, we headed over to Bart's.

At Bart's we headed up above the RR bridge. The water was as low as we've seen it, thus far, this year, and we were alone on the bank. The bridge's footings were exposed but the water was clear, clean, and flowing fairly well. Less than a dozen casts in, I C & R a large, fat blue back herring, for what I thought would keep the skunk off. It was the first blue back I've seen this year, and I wasn't expecting, even, this fish. A few folx joined us, off and, on but the action was slow. My buddy played, and lost a couple over the next few hours, including one that looked like a roe. (He needs to work on his knots, that's all I'm saying...)
I had three good takes: a couple of head-shakes, and gone; a couple of runs in the current, and gone..and I finally got one in the net. A middlin' buck, ~3# sometime after 6:30 pm, C & R after a Kodak moment. I had to beat feet for a couple of items on my "Honey-do" list before 8 O'clock, and headed out ~7:15 pm.

Terminal tackle:
At Bissell: 3/4 oz drail over 3' flouro leader, and a hammered silver willow, red/yellow w/black dot, and the wind played havoc with casts.
At Bart's: 3/8 oz drail over 3' flouro leader; started with the same willow (as at Bissell) but switched to hammered silver, chartreuse w/black dot. Chartreuse had the most hits, and the score.

Tight lines!