Thursday and Friday I went down to the Wall for a couple of hours after work. All I got was casting practice and a few alewives to keep the off. Not one shad. To be sure, a few shad were caught by others, few being the operative word.

Today, not having work dictate my obsession--um, er--shad hobby schedule.. I decided to fish the outgoing tide at the Wall. High tide was forecast for 12:25 pm in Cromwell, so I timed my arrival for a bit past 1:pm. The water was up a good 8"-10" higher than yesterday, but the current was still very slow. Nobody had caught anything for the last few hours, and by all accounts it was a very poor, slow morning. I sat around jawing with the regulars, some of whom had already been there a good 5-6 hours until the current was moving better, and I wet my first line around 2:pm. Finally, a little past 3:pm I was tossing my U/L (3/4 oz drail, hammered silver leaf in pink w/white dots) and got a good, hard hit. She put her head down, and stayed deep. Every time I turned her and got her close to the wall, she flipped around, ran out a bit of line, digging deep trying to head downstream. She made a few runs, but I knew she was done when she turned upstream. She was a middling, spawned out roe, weighing about 3#. She went back into the drink after a Kodak Moment™.

It remained slow for the next hour, a few hits and a miss, here and there, and an alewife or two kept things interesting until about 4:pm. I was throwing my big-boy set up (med-heavy 6' rod, Penn 4300SS, 1.5 oz drail, hammered silver leaf in white w/4 red dots) when the train hit me. Stopped. Me. Dead. She ran deep, and started down for Middletown. I was glad I wasn't using the U/L, because she made a few good, long runs and gave my drag a workout. I don't think I could have stopped her with the U/L in the current. Eventually I got her to the net. She wasn't too long, but she was FAT with roe, and close to 3.5#. I gave her away for a friend who hasn't been able to get out as much as he would like. By this time, a small pod of shad was running through, and 5-6 more were hooked, and played. Most self-released, and only a couple were landed.

All in all, it was a good afternoon. Even with the fishing being slow, the company and cameraderie was very good. Bill C showed up and shared some of the smoked shad he makes. It was de-f'n-licious! There is a sense of community among the shore-bound shadaholics, and these guys and ladies are almost like family. At one point, an older guy's reel failed; a broken bail spring. A young guy offered to let him borrow a spare reel he had in his truck. It's not just about the shad...

Tight lines!