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I fished Fletchers today from shore, Monday, 4-6-15, 10:30am-2:00pm. I caught 11 shad; 5 were nice-sized hickories and to my surprise the other 6 were young buck American shad (aka: white shad). They weren’t exactly big Americans, maybe ~17”+, similar in size to really big female hickories. No doubt all 6 were first year spawning bucks, the young bucks are the first to arrive of this year’s spawning run of Americans. All fish hit the same rig I used on 4-1-15, 1.5”red/chart crappie tubes on 1/8oz head.
Conditions appeared good but there were a few issues that may have reduced my catch of hichory shad. Flow was 3.77’ (unusually low, maybe too low), skies were sunny bright (maybe too bright for mid-day shad fishing), and water was unusually clear ~6'+ (maybe too clear for mid-day bright sun.)
BTW, I knew they were American shad because both upper and low jaws were the same length. See pictures. The female American shad shouldn't be too far behind. When you catch your first big American female, then you’ll forget about the puny size of the hickory.
I think this was my biggest American shad
Fletchers, 4-6-15 A.jpgFletchers, 4-6-15 B.jpg
Another head of an earlier American clearly showing to even alignment of their lips.
Fletchers, 4-6-15 C.jpg
Conditions appeared good but there were a few issues that may have reduced my catch of hichory shad. Flow was 3.77’ (unusually low, maybe too low), skies were sunny bright (maybe too bright for mid-day shad fishing), and water was unusually clear ~6'+ (maybe too clear for mid-day bright sun.)
BTW, I knew they were American shad because both upper and low jaws were the same length. See pictures. The female American shad shouldn't be too far behind. When you catch your first big American female, then you’ll forget about the puny size of the hickory.
I think this was my biggest American shad
Fletchers, 4-6-15 A.jpgFletchers, 4-6-15 B.jpg
Another head of an earlier American clearly showing to even alignment of their lips.
Fletchers, 4-6-15 C.jpg
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