Late update, Friday, 21.April:

I fished behind Bart's from about 4:30-7:30 pm. The water was clear, flowing, down about a foot from Thursday, and with a surface temp about 56º F. A buddy met me, his first time out for shad. A half dozen or so of the usual suspects joined us over the course of the afternoon. The shad were generally cooperative. I had a couple of hits but only one stuck to give me my vitamin shad for a photo op prior to release, and the rogues' gallery landed another 7 or 8, including a double.

Terminal tackle: 5/8 oz drail over 2' flouro leader, chartreuse/orange hammered leaf w/black dot, and red/white hammered silver w/black dot. The red/white worked for me.


Today I was there from about 3-6:30 pm. The water was down about 6" from yesterday, clear, flowing well, and with a surface temp about 54º F. A half dozen of the regulars were plying their trade in shad, and reported some scattered success, and near misses prior to my arrival. Another half dozen rogues came and went, too.

The action was pretty good today! Within the hour, I lost 2 middlin' bucks when they spit the hook literally at my feet. I must have bumped my drag up too high, somehow. After I reset the drag, I easily landed 2 nice bucks on back to back casts. One was easily over 3#, fought like hell, and made some nice long runs. He was so fat that we all thought it had to be a roe, until I gave it a squeeze. The 2nd was a little dinky runt but he had a lot of fight in him; he was hard to handle, LOL! Both were C&R after their Kodak moment. And the regulars were pretty busy, too, about 9 other shad were caught, and a few others were lost. They were all were bucks today, and some of them had shadows, shad that followed them almost to the nets. If I didn't need to get home, I'd have stayed until dark.

Terminal tackle: I changed the drail to 3/8 oz over 2-1/2' flouro leader, and red/white hammered silver willow w/black dot. The back to back shad hit a green/white hammered silver willow w/black dot.

Tight lines!

Stopped at Bissel launch on the way home from Farmington River, a guy in waders reported landing two shad and losing a third, maybe a half dozen regulars plying their trade. Farmington water is reasonably clear and fishable after the rain.

Late update, yesterday 4:30-7 pm at Bissell/East Barber St. The water was down below the upper cleat on the ramp, so there was some room to cast. The banks were muddy but the ramp was mostly clear. Water was clear, not much current, and I forgot to get a surface temp. There were about a dozen people at the launch but not quite half were fishing. I only saw 4 shad caught in the 2.5 hours I was taking casting practice, and I got the skunk. I should have gone to Bart's, no fish yesterday...

Terminal tackle: I had no problem finding the bottom with a 1/2 oz drail with a 4 or 5 count before retrieving. I tried hammered silver leaves with a couple of colors, and even tossed a hammered gold leaf under a leader that varied from 2-1/2' to 5' as I tried to find the magic. All for naught.


Today:
The wind was whipping up from the South at Bissell, and as I had no luck there yesterday, I figured I would go to where I've been successful, so I headed out back of Bart's from 4:30-6:30 pm. The water was down, the lowest I've seen it this year. Still plenty of water, mostly clear, but with a LOT of maple tree flowers & seed pods floating on the surface. Flow was fair, surface temp was 62º F. Two fellas were casting when I arrived, and one reported that he had C&R a couple of shad before I arrived. Angler #2 C&R an alewife shortly after I got there. Within the hour, 4 more folx had shown up.
About 5:30 I hooked a nice shad, and played it in to my feet, where it promptly rolled and threw the willow leaf. Except for that lone shad, a few alewives, and one small yellow perch, that was all anyone caught before I left after 2 hours. At least I got the skunk off...

Terminal tackle: 1/2 oz drail over 3' flouro leader, and a yellow/red hammered silver w/black dot.

I'll head over to Bart's again tomorrow after work. Tight lines!

I hit the Farm'y by the RR bridge from about 1:30-4 pm, there were 3 other fellas on the bank when I arrived, and no shad but reports of alewives aplenty. The water was about the same (high) level as yesterday, maybe down a couple of inches, clear, flowing, and with a surface temp of a hair under 60º F.
Before I threw my first cast, the guy next to me landed a middlin' buck with a lamprey attached to it's side. By 2 pm, he landed a nice roe. After 3 pm, another guy C&R a shad, and the alewives made a run for a good half hour. Morons. On. Damn. Near. Every. Cast. I got tired of catching alewives, so I packed it in just before 4 pm.

Terminal tackle: 1/2 oz drail over a leader I adjusted often trying to find a sweet spot: 2'-4', over almost every color and combo of willow I had in my tackle box: silver, gold, copper, and pick a color, any color or combo thereof. The damned alewives love every one; the shad, not so much...

And I shuffled off to Bissell.
On the CT River, there were about a half dozen regulars, most of them actually with their arms in a cast. Reports were that shad were being caught. And, again, as at the Farm'y earlier, a nice shad was landed before I made my first cast. The water was MUCH higher than Monday, coffee colored, choppy with a breeze blustering up from Hartford, and the current was just fair, as I had no problem hitting bottom with a 1/2 oz drail, and a 5-count; lots of snagging weeds, and bumping bottom. On my third cast I hooked what I thought was an alewife, a couple of head-shakes, and an easy reel-in. Until the water got skinny, and then it tried to run deep. SHAD! A decent buck, about 3#. It's been slow this week, as I saw only one more shad landed before I left about 5:30 pm.

Terminal tackle: 1/2 oz drail over 5' flouro leader, and a hammered silver leaf colored w/yellow paint & red reflective tape w/black dot.

I'm telling myself that I'm taking tomorrow off, due to the weather forecast. I'm still bringing my tackle to work, and my rain gear--just in case...

If you've entered the Shad Derby this weekend--GOOD LUCK, and TIGHT LINES!

As I did yesterday, I fished behind Bart's from 4:30-7 pm. The water quality and temp (55º F) was about the same as, and down only a couple of inches from yesterday. There were a few more people plying the bank than yesterday, and it wasn't long before a couple of more joined the small crowd. There were reports that it had been busy all day, and there were a number of shad on the bank, in buckets, on stringers, and in bags.

A couple of shad were caught by the time that I finally hooked a small buck a little past 5 pm. As I reached for my net, it threw the hook at my feet--c'est la guerre. By 5:45 I landed a middlin' buck, and a half hour later I landed another. Other than a few bumps, that was it for me. A couple of other shad were caught but the action was certainly slower, and less consistent than last night. By all accounts, the better shad fishing had been earlier in the day.

Terminal tackle: 1/2 oz drail over a 2-1/2' flouro leader, and I almost emptied the tackle box to find willows that worked. Silver (orange/red or green/blue) seemed to get more bumps than gold or copper anything, the shad I played tonight, all hit on silver willows.

Tight lines!