Late report, Tuesday 25.April: Arrived at Bart's a little after 4:pm, and fished until 6:30. There were about 8 or 9 of us all together working the bank. The water was very high, and not nearly as muddy as Monday. One fella was casting from just inside the guardrail at the top of the bank. The current was strong, the surface temp was ~55ºF. Some flotsam, but not enough to trouble anyone. I switched to a 1 oz drail to get and keep at depth with the strong current. Altogether about 5 shad were caught, a couple before I arrived, and three while I was there. The three were C&R by one guy who had a nice corner spot with a couple of trees in the water, forming a choke or pinch point. The 3 shad were hooked close to the bank in about a 40 min period. Nobody else caught a thing. C'est la guerre.

Today, 26.April: I arrived at Bart's about 4:20 pm. The water was down about 2', and much clearer. The current remained stiff, surface temp had dropped to ~52ºF from all the rain, and a couple of chilly nights. The bank was crowded, a couple of more folx around than yesterday. And there were about a 1/2 dozen shad on the bank! About a 1/2 hour later, I FINALLY got the off me! After a nice little fight, I landed my vitamin shad, a decent roe at 3# 8oz. After the weigh-in, and a Kodak Moment™, I released her. The action was pretty consistent up until about 5:45 pm, when it fell off. About 6:15 pm I headed for the grocery store, and some supper.

Terminal tackle: 1 oz. drail over 2.5' of 10# flouro, Bill's spotty leaf (hammered silver, with white and 4 red dots) did the trick for my vitamin shad. After I lost it, I tossed a Jamaican, but it didn't get more than a look; certainly no takers.

Shad! They are here in the rivers, and starting to show up in numbers, and many are roes! And, we saw the first alewife caught today. It's go time--tight lines!