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Today, it was George's turn and he had never targeted shad before.
We were on the water shortly after 8a and after a quick line tying and casting technique session, we were slingin' darts. But right before that, he showed me a box of darts that someone had given him many moons ago. Man...they were sweet! We picked out a couple of pair and tied them on.
It did not take the boy much time to take the skunk off! He learned rather quickly!
Happy, happy and he gets up 3-0 on me in no time!
I said, "I'll show him", so we headed up past the foot bridge to see if anyone was home.
They were!
I guess I got him good! He got up 10-2 and I had to get to work to try to keep it close.
We then went back down as the tide started shifting and caught some more including some doubles!
Then I saw a guy in a familiar hat. I thought he was coming down to fish the shoreline but I had not see him anywhere. Until I saw the hat and yelled out his name. It was Bruce and they were fishing in RoneyK's Bass Buggy!
We chatted a bit and then back to catching some!
We had a one hour period where neither of us got a hit. And we tried many spots during this time.
We tried back up near the falls and got nothing so we decided to go down to where John and I had the last minute flurry yesterday.
It was getting windy but I'm not sure it affected much.
During the last hour or two, I kept telling George that we needed to get to 30, and we did. Then it was forty and we reached it!
Now, it was 1:15p and George was up by a good margin (28-13) so we said, "let's hit 50 but we only have about 15 minutes to do so.
However, I did say that I had the right to add some "stoppage time" at the end, if we were close. When 1:30p hit, we were 2 down.
So we add a little stoppage time and George gets hit. We are at 49. A few seconds later, I get hit and it's a double!
That double puts us at 51 and we end up 34-17 in George's favor. I had to really fight to only get doubled up. I was way behind earlier.
If we could have taped the last few minutes it would have made for a good laugh. Every time we got a bump we would screech. It was like a WWE play by play!
Fun day!
We got back to the ramp with the wind building and went to Brickmaker's for lunch. We met up with Roney and Bruce.
I had their excellent chilly and a great BBQ Bacon salad (same one John had yesterday) that was delicious. George had a burger.
In my estimation, the shad are not in thick yet. The best days are yet to come!
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Great to see George experiencing the shad bite. Looks like some chunks and doubles were caught. Nice looking darts!
My neighbor went out in his canoe (looks like mine, but longer and had a 3 HP motor) with his daughter and got skunked. He did not go up far enough and got blown around by the wind. He did not bother to do any research I guess. He said he might go again on Saturday.
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We saw that guy! George mentioned that the canoe we saw was just like yours. George had the mojo going and we could have told them what to do to coax the picky shad. It took some work for sure!
It will be a zoo on Saturday...
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I told him. I was surprised he said it was not busy. He saw my setups from yesterday and he said he had darts and spoons. I told him it can be a cadence thing and suggested he look at tips on YouTube.
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Find the eagle and the blue heron in the waterfalls pic!
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drxfish wrote:
I was surprised he said it was not busy.
Way less busy than yesterday...some were only there for a few hours.
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Nice pics and fish....where are the food pics!
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Junger wrote:
where are the food pics!
We were chatting too much and just inhaled it!
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Shad run was fun. Banks had a bunch of people throwing a variety of things. It was nice being in a boat and although we had company, it wasn't that crowded. I did allot of research before the trip and listened to everyone. Ernie was an awesome guide. Most people weren't catching but I believe some were targeting fish other than shad. Schools would circle in a 3-400 yard area. When the schools ran by the boat, we got hookups. When they didn't it was slow. Slimy little basterds too. Got some nice air once they are hooked up and since we're fishing with two shad darts, got a couple multiple hook ups. Biggest fish I got was 16 1/2 inch and they fight like a mini-tarpon. Hot colors were white and chartreuse. Had a couple rods tied up and ready, but stuck with the same 6' Light Shikari home made with 11# Tectan (same diameter as 6# test sold in the stores) the whole time on the water. When I got home, my hands were all tore up. I send Ernie a PM saying "I don't have bass thumb, I have shad hands"
One guy was throwing a fly rod and spent more time messing with his line than fishing. I never did see him catch anything. Scenery was nice too ;-)
There was a guy taking pictures of the eagles. We talked for a while. About 10 min later, I look up river and see a bald eagle slowing down and staging over an area. Knew exactly what was going to happen next, so whistled to the camera guy and pointed up river. His camera was right on the eagle when it dove into the water and came up with a fish. The guy was so thankful I pointed that out - he got the pix! I luv raptors
Nice company too. Had lunch with Bruce and Ronnie and we all had some good laughs. Ernie kept talking about the hamburgers so much I had to get one. But I was so hungry, it was gone as soon as it was served.
Great burger! Great fun! Great people! And lotsa laughs
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I told you you would like it! Glad to hear you had a good time.
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Raptors...I forgot to tell about the one (osprey) that flew right at me, wings spread! It was a spectacular sight but I had no time to take a pic.
Glad he was just showing off and decided not to attack. He was close!
There were a lot of cormorants too! I told George the story of when Curly jigged one up above Chain Bridge in my Hydra Sport.
I think George had a good time...
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Another shad fishing cherry popped! Great report! I am with Tom though, we need the food pictures! lol
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Ernie wrote:
Raptors...I forgot to tell about the one (osprey) that flew right at me, wings spread! It was a spectacular sight but I had no time to take a pic.
Glad he was just showing off and decided not to attack. He was close!
That was awesome. I think the osprey wanted Ernie's hat. The osprey was like 5' above his head when it flared it's wing to stop the dive. Un-f'n-real!
Yeah, did have a good time
I am with Tom though, we need the food pictures! lol
OK, to make the thread complete
I keep threatening Ernie that I'm going to bring a lox, kaper, cream cheese, and red onion sandwich for him. Cured the lox myself.
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Sorry I'm so slow in commenting. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water, but the fishing was a little slow. And then Roney and I saw that a near-by boat was pulling in fish after fish. As the boat got closer, I recognized Ernie and George. Probably should have guessed who it was based upon the number of fish being hauled in. Anyway, after some conversation we got back to fishing, and using Ernie's tips, the results improved. Then it was lunch time and we all had a good lunch together at about 2pm...sorry...no food pictures as we were too hungry to wait to eat. Overall, a fun outing!
Bruce
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hookup wrote:
I keep threatening Ernie that I'm going to bring a lox, kaper, cream cheese, and red onion sandwich for him. Cured the lox myself.
Nothing better for breakfast than this!
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Ernie wrote:
Nothing better for breakfast than this!
I'll cure some salmon next month and we'll try that instead of McD's
Sorry I'm so slow in commenting
Nice to finally meet Ronnie and you on the water
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hookup wrote:
I'll cure some salmon next month and we'll try that instead of McD's
Salivating already!
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