Jeff's 2017 AR Shad Reports

[Jeff C.]

Fished after work. Found a spot for one wader and figured out where the shad were hanging. First one I caught with only half my head out (they don't like the fast water and are in close). Ended up with over 20 and a small striper that hit my Red Headlight fly!

[Jeff C.]

Very slow start after work yesterday. Only 1 an hour for the first couple of hours. It picked up a little before sunset. Ended up with almost 10 but two were large hens. The biggest was at least 5 lbs. I was on the wrong side of the river because Earle Sloan got over 30 across and a little upriver.

[Jeff C.]

Very slow for me. Only 4 last night but again Earle got over 20 at another spot. Reggie from the Bay Area was leaving when I showed up and he only got 5 fishing all day. A drift boat came by and the two gentlemen in it said they only got one above me and I saw them land one across from me before they pulled anchor. The drop in flows will allow more areas to be fished and I expect big crowds this weekend.

[Jeff C.]

11 last night so things are picking up a little for me after moving to another spot. The dropping flow has made the shad rearrange and places that were good slow down and others get better. Lots of boats and some did good (like Andy and Joe from the shop) while others didn't faire so well.

[Jeff C.]

50 shad to the boat on a float with Earle Sloan. It was tough for the first 3 hours. Not many fish caught by most except for Andy. He was in a real bucket with his clients. He gave it up and we slid into it and got 30 in the last hour! Lost a 28 ft. LC13 head when the running line broke in a big fish! As I said in my previous post, when the flow changes it takes a day or two for the shad figure out where they want to hang

[hwchubb]

Seeing any surface action? Haven't made it out in the evening yet this season.

[Jeff C.]

No surface action or spawning action seen in the evenings. Seen a few busting the surface during the day! It was a slow day for everyone. Got 10 today most midday and an 8 lb pike minnow that took me almost to my backing in 2 seconds.

[Jeff C.]

Floated with Earle Sloan yesterday. It was very slow with no boats and hardly any bank anglers. We had a tough time for the couple of hours because the change in flow really caused the shad to move. We only got one here and there before we found a bucket and didn't move. We ended up with over 70 to the boat. Lots of strong fresh shad but quite a few of them had striper bite marks on them.

[Jeff C.]

It was super slow this evening. Only a handful of anglers and 4 boats. I only got 3 but Andy was in the only bucket and was hooking up on a regular basis. Even Tony who has caught over a thousand using gear left early. Ran into Smitty (Jeff Smith) at the car and he got about 20 fishing another spot.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Is that Tony Fomitchez? Russian/Italian gear guy who talks a lot?