24.April, 12:30-4:30 pm, Ferry Park in Rocky Hill.
The breeze was coming down from Hartford, not too bad, nor constant. After this morning's rain, the water was surprisingly clear, and the current was strong. I think it was just about high tide, or just past. There were three people casting for shad when I arrived, no shad strung to the docks, but they said they had caught and lost a few. On my 2nd or 3rd cast I got hauled up short, but after a couple or three head-shakes, it was gone. In the meantime, another half dozen characters showed up for some of the action.

Shad were caught, or just as often lost at the dock intermittently through the day. I got a few bumps and taps, but no takers until about 2:30 pm, when I got stopped cold. It pulled drag immediately as it ran deep, I'd turn it's head, and it would make another run in a different direction trying to shake me. In the stiff current, it put up a great fight, and I finally got it near the dock. As soon as it saw the dock, it made another hard run. Once I brought it to the dock again, it flipped hard away from the net, threw the leaf, and was gone. It was a big shad, I think a buck from the looks we got of it. About an hour later, I had another good hit, and a short fight before the line went slack. The knot had failed at the willow leaf. At this point, I loosened my drag a little, as it was obviously screwed down a hair too tight. Over the next hour or so, one of the regulars sharing the dock with me, lost 6 consecutive shad at the dock. I swore off grabbing the net at that point, because every time I touched it, he immediately lost the shad! shocked That's some bad Ju-Ju...

A little before 4:pm, the sun made an appearance, triggering a late afternoon run. A couple of the merry pranksters on the dock across from me had back to back hook ups, then a double. The guy next to me hooked up about that time, but just as quickly lost it. As he was bemoaning his fate, I had a tap-tap, and RUNnnnn! After a good half dozen runs, I took it to the net--SCORE! A nice fat roe was entered into the books for my vitamin shad. After a Kodak moment, I put her back in the drink; good genes need to be allowed to go forth and multiply. By the time I got the picture, the three others with me on the dock were all hooked up for a triple. Schweet! I have rarely seen this kind of action since the 80s, or early 90s, actually IIRC 2012 and 2015 were banner years for this kind of action. However hunger called, so I packed it in when things slowed down after 4:pm. Every day fishing is a good day. Today was a very good day. Good company, good fishing, and even a little catching, LOL!

I stayed with the U/L today. Terminal tackle: 1 oz drail over a 3'-3.5', 8# flouro leader, and hammered silver willows in chartreuse/orange w/black dot, white with orange dots (reverse ladybug?), Jamaican (green/yellow/black), and blue/white w/red dot. The two lost shad hit the ever popular Jamaican, the vitamin shad hit the last leaf listed.

I'm really looking forward to heading back to Rocky Hill tomorrow after work. Tight lines!

George Darrell ...

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