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Me and a buddy went out to catch shad today at Fletcher's Boat House. We wanted to try to fly fish but it was too windy and there really isn't much room for a back cast along the banks up there.
We had a heck of a time catching fish at first. We fished some of those little shad darts for a while with no takers, even though people were catching shad all around us. It was getting very frustrating because we could see the fish surfacing!
Anyway, we switched to some little shad spoons with like 4 split shots above them and started getting fish when we fished them slower. We ended up with around 10 shad between the both of us. It was tough because of all the wind but it was still fun. Shad are really fun to catch! They fight WAY harder than bass.
Last edited by Dominion Dan (Apr-18-10 4:51PM)
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Nice job....those may have been herring that you say near the surface since the shad hand out in deeper water.
They are fighters!
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Ahhh, gotcha. Are herring worth catching? If so, how can they be caught?
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Herring like to fight too but they make the BEST striper bait in the river. Plain small gold hooks will catch 'em, need some weight though.....
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how about sabiki rigs?
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dude I did some googling and these guys get big! And delicious? Did you take any home?
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can't keep them.
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there is a moratorium on them. You aren't allowed to keep them from any waters around here from what I hear.
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Dominion Dan wrote:
how about sabiki rigs?
Yep.....
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cool, thanks for the tips Ernie!
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I forgot to mention that I also caught a couple of mini-sized white perch and I also saw what I am 90% sure was a snakehead cruising in the shallows.
Last edited by Dominion Dan (Apr-19-10 12:42PM)
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Seems kinda fast and deep for snakeheads. you sure it wasn't a bowfin?
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i've seen numerous reports of NSH being caught in that area. It seemed really bizarre to me too!
Check the most recent fishing report: http://www.fletcherscove.com/fishing_report.htm
Here's a pic of a guy who caught a NSH near Chain Bridge!!!
Last edited by Dominion Dan (Apr-19-10 12:49PM)
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That's kinda scurry!
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There is a lot of shallow shore water for them to travel by.
NSH sightings at Chain Bridge and Fletchers are on the rise! Here is one that was caught on a spey rod a couple of weeks ago....
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but they would make a beautiful wallet!
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That's a good sized nsh!
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Thai wrote:
That's a good sized nsh!
sure is! He said he caught it on a shad dart or fly if I remember correctly.
Last edited by Dominion Dan (Apr-19-10 3:02PM)
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When are we going
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BTW....Carl and I both think that you have already caught a blueback herring (as depicted by the pictures). Just sayin'!
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yeah, I really don't know how to tell the difference yet...any tips?
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Dominion Dan wrote:
yeah, I really don't know how to tell the difference yet...any tips?
Go to Carl's and lok in his McClanes Fishing Encyclopedia.
The America shad is bigger, sometimes called the white shad.
The Hickory shad is a little smaller and has more markings than an American.
And the smaller and sleeker one is the herring.
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