Took my little boat (12 foot Gregor) out on the AR for the first time Sunday morning. My friend Wayne and I launched at Upper Sunrise at 6:00 a.m.--first one's on the water there. Saw a few shad rolling right in front of us as we were launching, then foolishly motored up a couple of hundred yards to Wayne's favorite spot, where we had no action.

A short time later, a guy launched a drift boat and set up out in front of the launch site, where he quickly hooked two shad.

We tried a couple of different spots over four hours. Wayne LDR'd one and landed one hen that was followed to the boat by three bucks that hovered around her until she popped off as Wayne reached down to unhook her.

No hits for me, but with the T-11 head on a 7-wt, I at least felt my fly ticking bottom.

Saw some speycasters on shore pick up a couple, but the "success story" of the morning was a young girl fishing conventional with her dad and a conventional guide. The drifted past us around 8:30, spotted a big school off to our side, then circled around and anchored above the school, where they quickly started hooking fish. She landed 8 or so in the next 45 minutes (some on rods handed to her after the hookup), to her great joy and our entertainment.

Definitely have to get out in the evening this week. The guide told us he thought the bite was very slow for the number of fish he had seen in the school.

Mike