What a difference a week makes

[bignose]

Last week I fished the Susky, meeting John Veil there. We each caught a fish or two, but it was cold, raw and nasty. My feet got cold and I got all snotted up after an hour.
Very slow fishing.

Today, the river was filthy good, as good as I have ever seen it.
The level was good, about 16 feet at the dam, and the clarity was decent, about 24", which is pretty good for this time of the year.

I will not bore you with the number of fish I caught, because you'd think that I was lying, but just to give you an idea, in 2 1/2 hours I had 6 doubleheaders. And the catching was pretty much continuous.

I fished somewhere on the western shore between Deer Creek and Lapidum.

The hot lure a tandem rigged set of darts, bright green chartreuse. They did not want the Tony Spoons, today.
I fished a 1/8 oz. dart in a 1 foot dropper and a 1/16 oz. dart on a 3 foot trailer.
These were tied to a small split ring, and I use 10 lb. Suffix Neon Orange braid looped thru the split ring.

[daddyg]

Sounds like we missed it by a week.. Nice going..

[reel-em-in]

I'm hoping to get out Wednesday afternoon. We're there many people?

[bignose]

I was there from 9:00 till 11:30.
It was not crowded, at least where I was.

[Shady]

Awesome report! Im thinking about going tomorrow from daybreak for a couple hours, anyone else? Ive never fished up there from shore. Do you wear waders?

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[bignose]

I wear chest waders. Old habit and they help to keep me warm. (the water is only about 60 degrees right now).
Hippers just get your ass wet, but will do as well.
You could get by with knee high rubber boots, many of the locals fish that way. I have and don't like what happens when they fill up.
Hell, some guys fish barefoot or wade wet, but when you see how much junk is in the water-broken off jigs, glass etc., I don't thinks that's a good idea.
You aren't going to wade out much, just enough to get clear of the overhanging trees. Perhaps knee deep. I think I may have been all of 8 feet off of the high water line. Wading is really not a good option, between the depth and current velocity.
If you fish from the rocks at Lapidum, you won't get wet at all, as you'll be above the water.

Technique wise: if you haven't done this before, you cast out downstream at about a 45 degree angle and allow your rig to swing until it is nearly directly down stream and then retrieved. Casting upstream results in an immediate hang up.
It is all about location!
Since we are using relatively light lures, medium light to light spinning combos are the best choice. Make sure that your reel has a good, smooth drag.
These little buggers pull like freight trains and jump like miniature Tarpon!.
I use a 7 foot rod, and like I said above, 10 lb. test braid. It is more sensitive than mono is and you'll feel the hits quicker. My leaders are mono, flourocarbon isn't needed.

[sparky1423]

Awesome report! Im thinking about going tomorrow from daybreak for a couple hours, anyone else? Ive never fished up there from shore. Do you wear waders?

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Bring a walking stick in the water with you...the rocks there are treacherous! Extremely slimy and slippery, nothing like deer creek or the Gunpowder. I actually take one of my ski poles, I may look dumb....but I took a few spills taking my first step in the water.

[bignose]

I have a wading staff, but with the river at 16 feet I seldom need to wade that far out.

Yeah, it is slippery and the current is fast. And the bottom drops off pretty quickly.

If the river drops to 12 feet or less ( happens sometimes on Sunday mornings) i may wade out near the Rock Run Mill riffles. But not these days, I was a lot braver when I was young! If you chose to do this, in addition to a staff, please wear a pfd.! And a belt if you are wearing chest waders.

[J.A. Veil]

bignose briefly mentioned a spot in Lapidum -- let me expand a bit. You can avoid wading and dealing with overhanging tree branches by standing on the rocks next to the boat ramp at Lapidum and casting out into the current. You don't get the same sense of being "one with the river" as you do wading up to your waist, but it can be productive. I caught 17" hickory shad there twice this spring already. It was not fishable there last Friday with the high and fast water, but on other more normal flow days, you can pick up some shad there. Last year, it was my most productive location.

[Shady]

Thanks for the info guys! I went for a couple hours this morning and caught quite a few Hickories. Do the American Shad show up later, or are they just not very common?

[reel-em-in]

Thanks for the info guys! I went for a couple hours this morning and caught quite a few Hickories. Do the American Shad show up later, or are they just not very common?

They are not as common. From what I've heard you have a better chance at them up near the dam. Hopefully they stay until tomorrow

[Yak Fish]

I didn't go this past weekend, but I did the previous two and big females were there. When the action gets hot and heavy (literally) I think you tend to catch more small males. Sound like they're still there so go get 'em. I'm not sure I can exactly tell the difference between the american or the hickory but I snagged what i believe to be an american while trolling at lapidum. It was big and had an overbite. Hickories have an underbite. I've snagged enough mud/gizzard shad to know it wasn't one of them. I was marking a lot of fish on Good Friday off lapidum but couldn't get any to bite my deep diver...after i snagged one, I figured them to be shad.

[bignose]

The American/White Shad generally show up later, and are less common.
I have done much better on the Potomac above Fletcher's for those.

[Shawn L]

Fished near the mouth of Deer Creek last night and did well with the chartreuse darts on a tandem rig. Found a quiet spot and I just got the technique down and started really banging them when the storm moved in and chased me off. Can't wait to get back up there.

[HJS]

I didn't go this past weekend, but I did the previous two and big females were there. When the action gets hot and heavy (literally) I think you tend to catch more small males. Sound like they're still there so go get 'em. I'm not sure I can exactly tell the difference between the american or the hickory but I snagged what i believe to be an american while trolling at lapidum. It was big and had an overbite. Hickories have an underbite. I've snagged enough mud/gizzard shad to know it wasn't one of them. I was marking a lot of fish on Good Friday off lapidum but couldn't get any to bite my deep diver...after i snagged one, I figured them to be shad.

Alan - The hickory does indeed have a pronounced under-bite. Another way of saying it is that the lower jaw protrude noticeably farther forward than does the upper jaw. American's top & bottom jaws are exactly even when the mouth is pushed completely closed, so much so that if an American swam face-first into a brick wall that both top and bottom jaws would hit the wall at the same instant. But you have to push the 2 jaws fully closed to see that they are even. Gizzard shad have somewhat of an over-bite such that the mouth is somewhat under and in back of it's nose. Plus the gizzard has that 4X extra long last ray of the dorsal fin. Check out the shad on the MD_DNR websire, "Fish Fact".

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...acts/index.asp