Today was a beautiful day to be out, and the shad didn't disappoint. I spent from 4:30-7:30 pm above the RR bridge behind Bart's. The water was clear, flowing well, and smooth as glass. Surface temp was a nice 57-58º F, and the water had dropped about a foot from yesterday.

There was one person already fishing there when I arrived, and he had 2 shad in his bucket. Within 5 minutes of arriving, I C&R 2 alewives. About 4:50, I hooked up hard, and Mr. Shad jumped once, then made a mad dash for the deeper water. He stripped some line, and made the drag sing, I thought it might be a decent roe. Nope, a skinny middlin' buck with a lot of fight!

By 6:pm 3 other anglers joined us. And a little while later, 2 of them hooked up one after the other, and landed middlin' bucks almost simultaneously. About 6:20, I landed another buck, a little fatter than the first. A few more shad, and alewives were caught but after 7 pm things got quiet. I fought one last shad to my feet, got a good look at it, but the leader parted at the leaf and it was gone. C'est la guerre... The few remaining rogues and I cleared out at 7:30. We were still in shirtsleeves, it was so mild, even then.

Terminal tackle: I started with the same set I've been using the last few days. I did replace the leader, finally, as it was showing wear and tear. I finished the day with a 2-1/2' flouro leader under the 5/8 oz drail, and a chartreuse/orange hammered silver leaf w/black dot.

Tight lines!