Pacemaker Fishing Forum

I got a pass to go fishing this morning so I took full advantage of it. I haven't caught shad yet so that was my target today. I brought an extra rod to try for striper, but I had no idea what I was doing with that and it was just a bonus anyway. I first tried my normal spots upriver of the bridge but the tide was coming in and I was further away from the main current because of the higher water levels. The flow also seemed less strong than normal. I didn't have any success so I tried venturing downriver from the  bridge for the first time. Shortly after I caught my first 2016 shad!



South of the bridge was a lot calmer than what I was used to north of the bridge. I was actually able to feel the bites a lot better and know a lot sooner when a fish hit the lure. I was using a double rig and was able to figure out they wanted white today (thanks for the tip, Ernie!).




Most of them were right about 12", smaller than I'm used to but still fun. There were a few larger ones mixed in, but nothing huge. I decided to leave the bite (!?!??!) to continue venturing downstream just to check it out. I wasn't able to go too much further down before I had to head back. I had heard they were hit gold spoons so I replaced the lower dart on the tandem rig with a spoon and was getting hits every cast! It was all on the spoon. Caught a few more. On my last fish the line snapped right after the dart as I was trying to get it out of his mouth, oops. That shad has a new lip piercing to show off to his buddies, hopefully attract some of the ladies. It was a sign for me to leave, otherwise I would have stayed longer to keep catching. No striper, but lots of fun today. Can't wait until my next fishing pass