7.May: I arrived at the Wall just before noon. The river had fallen over the last couple of days to about 4' below the top course of the Wall. The water was clear, occasional flotsam dislodged by passing water craft was sporadic, and the current was good. Many of the usual suspects were plying the river, as I expected on such a nice day. They reported shad were being caught with regularity. Schweet! And there were a few shad on the bank, or in coolers.

About 12:30 or so I thought I got snagged in some line. I pulled, it gave a little, but didn't budge, then I pulled harder. It gave a little more, but it still didn't budge. I thought I was snagged, so I figured to break it off, and pulled harder still, gripping the reel to stay the drag. A head shake or two, and the fight was on! It was out there, deep, and used the current to strip line off the drag, headed to Middletown or Portland; and it sang my favorite song. After 4-5 minutes, I was able to turn it's head upstream, and I figured it was foul-hooked from the weight and trouble it gave me. It made a few more short runs, but eventually she got into water skinny enough to get a few glimpses, and into a net. Sure enough, she was foul-hooked in the bony, joint area of a pectoral fin. Little wonder she had so much leverage. She was a nice fatty, and I wanted to get a weight on her so I kept her in the net in the water as Bill set up his scale. She came in at 3.4#. In my haste to release her, I forgot to get my obligatory Kodak Moment™. Ah, well--I have the witnesses, and memory. About 1:30 pm I C&R a little buck. You can be sure I got my Kodak Moment™, LOL.

Things slowed down after 1:30, and the last of the folx fishing the Derby had left for their last call weigh-ins before they shuttered the doors. A few more folx showed up, but the catching was slow, and sporadic. I C&R one more small buck, and after another dozen--just one more cast!--I headed out at about 4:pm. Three for the day, my PB this year. And that roe! Today was a good day for me.

Terminal tackle: 1.5 oz drail, over 3'-4'of 10# flouro. A hammered silver willow "Spotty" got my first 2 shad, a pink w/black dot and white stripe got nada, and my last shad was taken with a hammered silver "Candy Corn" willow.

I'll be back to the Wall tomorrow after work. Whatever you're chasing, tight lines!