A couple of late reports:

Thursday, 10th.May: The word of the day was "Alewives", that was all I caught for over two hours of casting practice. I did see a few shad caught, but few was the operative word... The water was down maybe a foot from the 9th, the current wasn't as nice, and the surface temp was about 65°. The breeze came up and gave me fits with wind knots, forcing me to use a 3/4 oz. drail. Otherwise, my terminal tackle was unchanged.

Last night, 11th.May: The water was down almost 2' from Thursday, but more turbid. However the current was strong, and I forgot to get a surface temp. I was there about 3 hours, leaving a little after 8:pm. Only a few alewives were caught, and I saw maybe a 1/2 dozen shad played. But 2 were mine, the skunk is finally off!

After 6:pm a small buck cast off the stinky kitty. He hit so lightly and tugged so gently, at first, that I thought it was another alewife until the water got skinny. Then he made a couple of feeble runs away from the net. He was beat up pretty bad, both sides were bruised, and his colors were faded and dull. He was C&R after a photo op, but I had to revive him in the current before he swam off.

About 7:15 pm I was making my "last cast". 4 cranks after dropping the bail I thought I snagged bottom, until it tugged back. Hard. No mistaking it, SHAD! She stayed low, and ran deep in the current, working the drag and stripping line. Once I turned her head, she made a brief roll at the surface mid river, and ran deep again. She had some fight in her. Eventually I worked her into the skinny water, but the first 3 times I tried to net her she ran off a couple yards of line. Have I ever mentioned here how much I love the sound of the drag? Once in the net, she didn't have much left in her. The hook was deep in the bony part of her jaw, and a little twisted from her struggles, so I had a hard time removing it. She was very beat up, more so than the buck. Both sides were really bruised, missing scales, and a little bloody. After a Kodak moment, I tried to revive her; no go. I wanted to release her, but she was too beat up, and spent. I gave her to a guy who smokes shad, so she won't go to waste. She was a small, immature roe, and maybe ran 3#, but what a scrapper.

Terminal tackle: a 5/8 oz. drail was perfect over a 3' flouro (8#) leader, and a hammered silver willow in yellow/red reflective tape with a black dot turned them on for me last night.

Tight lines!