May Day, 1 May (not mayday! :p), 12:40-ish pm, Ferry Park at Rocky Hill.
On arrival, nobody, not one body on the docks. The wind was whipping down out of Hartford, and the current was ripping as fast as I've seen it in RH this year. The water was way up from yesterday, coffee colored, with lots of small flotsam in the drift, and the surface water temp was down to 52º F. With a 1 oz drail I couldn't reach the bottom, however hard I tried to work it. Even in spite of casting upstream, it wouldn't sink down far in the current. If I had my med-heavy tackle, I'd have thrown 1.5 oz of lead, but I only had my U/L tackle. One of the regulars showed up right behind my 2nd or 3rd cast, and he threw a 1.5 oz drail. And he couldn't grab the bottom either, and left after maybe 5 minutes. I packed it a few minutes later, and headed to the Wall. I wasn't in RH for 20 minutes.

The Wall, Cromwell, 1:20-ish pm-3:30 pm.
On arrival, a small group was dead-sticking chunks on their meat-sticks down at the far South end of the wall, I had the place pretty much to myself. For all of about 5 minutes, when a regular rolled up and joined me. The water was still turbid, but the current wasn't nearly as strong as it was in RH. And the wind was MUCH less, more like a light breeze. By 2:pm, there were another 7 or 8 anglers plying the wall for shad.

With a 1 oz drail, I had no problem bumping along the bottom, and holding it there. I switched to a 3/4 oz drail because it was too easy to hold the bottom with the extra 1/4 oz of lead, go figure. After about 2 hours casting practice, and no hits, I had witnessed 4 shad hooked, and two landed. No Fish Today for me, however it was a beautiful, warm day, and being on the Wall beat all hell out of mowing the lawn. I'll be out again tomorrow afternoon following my Jeep club meeting nearby.

Terminal tackle: 1 oz drail downsized to 3/4 oz, over 3' of 8# flouro leader, and willows in hammered silver, white w/orange dots, Jamaican, and a smooth-finish silver leaf in chartreuse/orange w/black dot.

Tight lines!

George Darrell ...

I support "PETA",
"People Eating Tasty Animals"