Roanoke River Shad 3/24/2014

Date- 3/24/2015
Location- Weldon on the Roanoke River
Quarry - Hickory Shad
Lures used- Arkie 1/16th and 1/8 Pink headed Jigs with Chartreuse, white and pink grubs
Water Temp- 50.7 degrees
Water Flow- 20,000 cfm Dropping to 4,000.  Water dropped several feet while we fished. flow probably around 10,000 most of the time we were there.
Partners- Tony, my son Mack, and my dog Pete

Hit the Roanoke today in search of Hickory Shad.  Caught a few on Chartreuse grubs but the bite was slow for everyone except for 1 guy using a pink spoon.  Now I don't normally use spoons as they costs too much but i did have some pink grubs.  I retied Tony's, my sons, and my line with pink and the bite was on.  Tony caught his first ever Shad and my son and I caught maybe 20-25 apiece.

It also  pays attention to "spy" on other anglers sometimes.  I didn't see anyone else switch to pink so I guess they just either weren't looking or didn't have pink.

A few pictures.

A nice day on the Roanoke,

American Shad

Date 3-18-2015
Location- 1 spot in the Neuse Basin and 2 Spots in the Tar Basin
Lures used- 1/8 oz Arkie Pink headed Jigs Rigged in tandem with white and chartreuse grubs
Rod and Reel Combo-  Daiwa 1300 SS Reel on Penn Prion 6'6" w/ 8lb Trilene XL
Water Temp 50 degrees
Partner Today-  Tony

Hit several spots today in search of shad.  First spot yielded me a Big American but not any more hits.  We left and went to several others and at every spot they were biting earlier and we missed the bite. Not a bad day today as we saw a lot of nice water , but I failed to put Tony on his first shad.

Big fish of the day caught in a Contentnea Creek.  Then we  headed North to the Tar River. 

Tony with a Tar River Crappie

Stream shot of the Tar River In Tarboro, NC

Note- Shad fishing is kinda like Spot fishing on Piers. What I mean is that 99 percent of the time when you arrive at "your fishing spot" usually you dont want to see another person there. But, when shad fishing you want a crowd there as if they are not there then the fish aren't either.

#shadfishing

#contentneacreek

#tarriver

Neuse River and my first Shad of 2015

Date- 3/10/15
Location-Lower Neuse River and Creeks off the Neuse
Time-1Pm-630Pm
Water Conditions and Flow-  High(12000+cfm) and slightly stained
Water Temp- 49 Degrees
Boat- Coleman Scanoe with 2.5 Hp Mercury
Partner- Aki and "Pete"
Best Lure-  1/8 Oz Pink Headed Arkie Jig with White Grub on 8 lb test
Presentation -  Slow and deep


Whew! I finally got out for my first Shad trip and we immediately headed upstream stopping at several spots along way.  Nothing.  We then headed farther upstream and went into a creek . Right away I immediately  caught a small hickory. Nice. This is the spot!  Wrong!!!   That was the only hit we got there.
I  then decided to head back downriver and up another creek except this time we went way up it between trees and found a few open holes back in there. We immediately started picking up some shad. Not that were we slaying them but it was enough to make up happy.  A nice day on the water with Aki and my Dog Pete.  I think Pete actually had a better time than Aki and myself.  The shad evidently are not in the main river but up in the flooded forest.   Next time I hope the river is at a more normal level but I can't complain as it was an awesome day on the water.

Here are a few Pictures.

Here is the Fishing "Mo" Chine back at the ramp,

Thanks for looking.  Hopefully headed to the Tar Basin next week.

#shadfishing

#neuseriver