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Fletchers, shad, 5-8-14

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  • Fletchers, shad, 5-8-14

    I’ve been waiting a full week for flows to subside and water to clear on the Potomac at Fletchers. Took freaking forever it seemed. Finally I got the word from a friend that conditions should be good enough for shad fishing. So I fished Fletchers today, 5-8-14, 11:00am to 1:30pm. Flow was good but I had hoped the clarity would have been a little better than the 14” I encountered.

    I started catching hickories with the first cast. I guess I caught at least 2 dozen hickories or more in 2 hours. I also caught 3 herring, 2 very small wperch, snagged a gizzard, and finally one 16” striper that I thought sure was a very nice American shad. Around 1:00pm the action died a sudden death. I’m guessing the blazing bright sun turned them off. I caught no Americans. Not that many boats out either. I forgot my sun screen and my lily-white winter arms were going to take a beating if I stayed any longer. So I headed for home.

    Vast majority of the hickories were small bucks in the 13”-15”. Young bucks don’t exactly float my boat when I know there might be bigger ones out there. Only caught a handful of medium-sized hickories and one large hickory. None of them appeared to be carrying eggs. As far as the hickory action goes, I think the fat lady is about to sing. There might be another week left for American shad action. I did well there this year for hickories. I had several very productive trips to Fletchers. Unfortunately, I pretty much missed out on a brief spurt of decent American action, best action in a couple years. If I had only zigged instead of zagged I’da gotten into them too… such is fishing sometimes.
    Howard

    16' Oldtown Camper Canoe with a side-mount 40# thrust trolling motor.
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