I hear you MikeV. 1.5-2 oz weights are hefty, but when the current is strong, it's required to get to the bottom. And when a shad hits, they fight plenty hard in that current!

Ghinoke, I appreciate your offer, and I'd love to take you up on it. Unfortunately, I'm a working man and can't spare the time during the week. Most of my fishing is done after work, and on the weekend when I can squeeze in a few hours.

29.May-2.June: the Wall in Cromwell. No Fish Today. Or yesterday, the day before, and the day before that, except for the odd alewife. The run has wound down for this year. Sure, a few shad are still being caught here and there by the retirees who have all day to wear out their rotator cuffs. I'll give it a try after work every chance I get through the rest of the week before I put up the gear for the year.

Today was a 2 oz weight kind of day. The water was up 3' over yesterday, up to the lowest capstones of the wall, and still rising. Very turbid, but surprisingly little flotsam, and cotton. The current, as noted, was very stiff, and it was tough to hold the bottom even with 2 oz of weight.

Terminal tackle: 2 oz drail over a 4' flouro 10# leader, and I threw the rainbow at 'em for naught.

Tight lines!

MikeV, I'm not ready to switch gears, yet...
3.June: Bart's after work. There were only a couple of us working the bank. The water was better than the CT river, clear, not much debris, but the current was lackluster. Except for an alewife to keep the off, nada. Nobody else got into shad either. C'est la vie.

4th & 5th.June I didn't get out for casting practice. Some chores needed my tender affections.

Today, 6.June would have been my late wife's 60th birthday. It was a little rough getting out of bed this morning, but I soldiered off to work. After getting out of work a bit late, I headed down to the Wall in Cromwell, arriving about 4:50 pm. The water was down about 4' from Monday, turbid but not chocolate milk, only a little flotsam and cotton drifting by in a fair current.

Only one regular was in attendance on arrival, and he wasn't targeting shad. He was chunking for striper with another 1/2 dozen folx of like mind. About 5:pm a semi-regular showed up, just in time for me to hook into a middling shad. After a short tussle, my compatriot netted it. We had our Kodak™ moment, and net-man asked if he could have it for striper bait. Sure, why not, it was a middling buck. If it was a roe fat with eggs, I'd have thrown it back.

About 5:15 another shadaholic joined us. My net-man got onto a shad, and brought it to the net. He added it to his bait box. I then had a good hit, and a short tussle with another shad, but it dropped the hook after a couple of runs. By 5:30 I was on shad #2 for a decent fight in the current. After getting it into the net, it turned out to be a spawned out roe. She had done what she came into the river to do. Excellent! Net-man caught another shad about 5:45. It was a decent buck, long but thin. About 5:50, I got onto another shad, and was able to bring it to the net, my 3rd of the day. After a Kodak™ moment, back into the drink it went, a fair buck, not too long, but thick. A 4th shadaholic joined us after we called and taunted him. The banter kept us busy and entertained despite the lack of more shad action. By 7:pm, the rumbly in my tumbly sent me packing for home. Today was a good day!

Terminal tackle: 2 oz drail over a 4' flouro 10# leader, and a hammered silver leaf in white with 4 red dots (Bill C's "Spotty" pattern).

It ain't over til it's over. And it ain't over. Tight lines!