Fletchers, 4-12-12

[HJS]

You've heard it before, but I say it again. What a difference a day makes, especially when conditions changed overnight. I fished fletchers again today from shore, 4-12-12, 10:30am-1:00pm, trying to duplicate yesterday's outstanding hickory action. Today I eked out 9 tiny buck hickories (12”-13”) and one herring. What was different??? Yesterday was heavy overcast, today was bright sunny; yesterday water temp was 57.5F, today was 54F (big drop in temp overnight).

I had to switch down to ¾” chartreuse twistertails with a ½ oz inline sinker and let it sink to an 8-10 count before retrieving ever so slowly. Only then did I get into a limited bit of action from small hickories. So they were really down deep. Nothing else I tried worked.

On the other hand, guys leaving as I was arriving said action early in the morning was pretty fast. So I’m guessing the bright sun shine may have had more to do with the slooow fishing. But the cooler temps certainly didn't help either. I had walked well upstream of Fletchers trying to find fish before I finally gave up early. On my way back to the car, maybe ½ mile away, there wasn’t a single shore-based shad fishermen left on the river… that’s how bad it was.

I suggest you guys wait a bit for water to warm some plus fish the early morning hours.

[ictalurus]

Thanks for the additional report, Howard. I've never had much luck with shad when it was sunny unless the water was stained/muddy. Looks like it's going to be bright and sunny on Saturday.

[HJS]

Thanks for the additional report, Howard. I've never had much luck with shad when it was sunny unless the water was stained/muddy. Looks like it's going to be bright and sunny on Saturday.

I believe you are right about the bright sun and clear water. I shoulda mentioned that the Potomac continues to be very clear... at least very clear for the Potomac at Fletchers. I'm sure I was seeing rocks that were 6' down and deeper.