It's time for this year's shad thread. Finally.

I've been out twice so far. My first trip was last Monday, it was too nice not to try but I really didn't expect anything. I stopped by Bissell about 4:30 pm. It was not fishable, the water was too high, dirty, and cold, and the wind was whipping. The handful of regulars were standing or sitting around a picnic table jawing, nobody was even trying down there, and they reported no shad sightings. So I headed over to Bart's after catching up with old friends.

At Bart's another half dozen regulars were standing around the parking lot talking. Not one line in the water, and no reports of shad. After catching up with them, I had to at least wet a line. I headed upstream above the RR Bridge, the water clear and flowing. Surface temp was 42ºF. I made a few casts over about 45 minutes or so. No Fish Today.

Important stuff, the tackle: one-piece UglyStick U/L rod, Penn 4200 SS reel spooled with 10# Power Pro. Terminal tackle: 5/8 oz drail, ~3 1/2' leader of 8# Flouro, over a chartreuse hammered silver leaf w/black dot, and an orange/red/white hammered silver leaf w/black dot.

Today I skipped Bissell all together, the water was just too high and muddy. When I arrived at Bart's about 4:30 pm, there was one regular sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot. We chatted for a bit, he had wet a line earlier but nothing was doing, and no rumors of shad. Once again, I headed upstream of the RR bridge. The water was up over 4' from last week, and looked like it had dropped a couple of feet very recently. The water was clear, and flowing well. Surface temp was 48º F! I didn't see any scales on the bank, so I didn't expect much today. After about an hour, another regular joined me on the bank. We cast for another hour when we pulled up stakes to head out, as a young regular walked up to ask how we were doing. No fish today we reported. But with the warmer temps this week, we expect to see shad, if not tomorrow, then maybe Wednesday.

Terminal tackle: 5/8 oz drail, a scant 3' leader of 8# flouro, over an orange hammered silver leaf with a black dot, and a chartreuse/red smooth silver leaf with an eye decal.

Good luck, and tight lines!