Fletchers, shad, 4-10-14

[HJS]

With the weekend coming up, I just had to go back to Fletchers today (Thursday) for some more shad action, 4-10-14, 10:45am to 2:00pm. Friday is a bummer day at Fletchers. Seems like afternoon rush-hour starts early afternoon… and that cuts into my mid-day fishing time. And the weekend will be a major zoo at Fletcher’s with all the people going to see the Cherry blossoms then going to Fletchers for a major family picnic.
I had yet another good day at Fletchers fishing from shore. I caught 44 hickory shad and a surprise biggie fish. The shad were noticeable smaller today… less nice females (~15”-16”) and more smaller first-timer males (~13”-14”). Most standard shad lures worked well. Favorite seemed to be the 1.5” charteuse/silver-glitter twistertail on a silver 1/8oz head with 1/4oz bullet weight.

Then it happened. On one cast I hooked what felt like the “Mother of all American Shad”. After a lengthy battle I landed a striper (see pic). So as not draw attention, I didn’t remove it from the water to unhook it … so no measurements were taken. I’d guess he was 23”-24”. He hit the same 1.5” chartreuse/glitter twistertail that I had been using for shad. You can still see the lure in the corner of his mouth. I immediately put on a 4” white twistertail to try and catch a few more. No more stripers after 15 minutes of casting. And the weird thing was I caught 2 shad on the 4” twistertail. Sometimes I think hickories will hit anything.

striper, Flet, 4-10-14.jpg

Water vis is getting nice at nearly 4', water temp 55.5F

[DanMarino]

Very cool Howard!

[Shady]

Very nice! How long does the run usually last?

[HJS]

Ryan - Generally the hickory shad run until late April depending on water temperature. Some years the American shad make a modest showing at Fletchers and they should start in another week or so and run into May a week or two. Sometimes unseasonably warm weather will prompt the shad to wrap-up their spawning fairly quickly. On the Susky, the shad run about a week later than they do on the Potomac.

[J.A. Veil]

Here is a report from the lower Susquehanna. I made my first trip of the year to the lower Susquehanna yesterday morning. I fished from the shoreline at three spots from Lapidum to Deer Creek. There were a few fish caught here and there, but the bite was slow. I caught a 17" hickory shad 10 minutes after starting at the first spot -- that was it for the day. Bignose (Stu) fished with me at one of the three spots and had similar catching success. The water in the river was fairly high and cool.

There was a very clearly defined color change between Deer Creek (cleaner) and the river (dirtier).

[bignose]

The Susky is usually about 1-2 weeks or so behind the Potomac, as Howard said above.
Dogwoods blooming is the key and with this cold winter they are running late.
There is a pretty good amount of runoff still to work it's way down from PA which doesn't help. Colors up the main stem a bit more. But when the fish are running your lures are just smacking them in the face anyway.

As we were fishing the river level dropped by about 1 foot (confirmed by the USGS gauge). Dropping river levels is generally not good for the shad hitting. Deer Creek maintains a steadier flow.

Why do Shad strike?

You are a fish.
You get to have sex once a year.
You have swum the gauntlet of bigger fish, birds, predators of all sorts for thousands of miles.
You are in a river with about 1 million of your fellow fish. And all of the females look exactly the same.
The water temperature is 50 degrees or so.
Something irritating appears in front of your face.
You have no hands to swat it away.
You have a brain the size of a BB.
So what do you do?

[J.A. Veil]

Why do Shad strike?

You are a fish.
You get to have sex once a year.
You have swum the gauntlet of bigger fish, birds, predators of all sorts for thousands of miles.
You are in a river with about 1 million of your fellow fish. And all of the females look exactly the same.
The water temperature is 50 degrees or so.
Something irritating appears in front of your face.
You have no hands to swat it away.
You have a brain the size of a BB.
So what do you do?

This sounds like the trailer/soundbite for a new R-rated movie. You may have a future as a screenplay writer.