Shad

[jamisjockey]

Any of you yahoos know anything about fishing for Shad?  Where can I find shad darts online?

[Stone-Man]

Croaker is "Shad Daddy" .......  Check with him on this


  JT

[Trout Chaser]

I went last year for the first time.  Fished below the Rte 1 Bridge in Fredericksburg on the Rapp.  After a couple of skunks I finally hit it right and caught a few.  Here's some of the flies I tied up. 


TC

[rockroller]

JJ, you're in Northern Virginia?  I'm in Springfield.  I love to hit the Potomac in April and May before and after work for both hickory and American shad.  If you want a partner a few months hence, let me know.  I have never used a shad dart.  Far and away my best fly last year was a chartreuse over white clouser.  I also used blue over white, orange over white, and purple over orange.  I also tie up variations of a "Swope shad fly," which is a chenille body, tinsel rib, and calftail wing.  Colors are your preference.  My favorites are yellow and red (either way with the wing and body).  I fish a dropper off a blood knot.  So my point fly is typically a clouser, my dropper is usually a Swope shad fly.  I took two stripers last year off the Swope dropper.  I hooked several shad doubles last year, though never landed both.  When one jumps and the other dives, well, you get the picture.  So when fishing is fast and furious, I drop to one.  I love yellow and red combinations for shad, so I also fish Mickey Finns and conehead shad flies with a red cone head, a white chenille body and a yellow calftail tail.  Two other flies that are kind of fun to experiment with: a chartreuse soft hackle streamer and a Lefty's deceiver.

This ain't match the hatch fishing.  But I've got to tell you--I'm hooked.  You hit the river a few times, once or twice you hit it so well you feel like a genius, and then they're gone....

If you look in my fish porn post, you'll find me with an American shad taken near Fletcher's boat house.  The Americans are bigger.  And you typically have to be out in a rowboat on the Potomac to get into the Americans.  But I prefer rockhopping along the shoreline and finding those jumping hickories.  Also, the white perch run overlaps the shad and stripers.  They will take the same flies.

[jamisjockey]

Here's a few sources. If you have access to a computer, enter the words "shad darts" into the browser. You'd be surprised what you'll find.




http://www.blackpuglures.com/catalog.php?category=Shad+Darts

http://www.notjustafishstory.com/tackle/shaddarts.htm

http://search.ebay.com/dart-shad_W0QQfkrZ1QQfnuZ1QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ32

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0000591113221a.shtml

Your googlefu is strong...I didn't have shit for luck looking for stuff.

JJ, you're in Northern Virginia?  I'm in Springfield.

Si.  I'm in Woodbridge.  I'm pretty flexible, so I might be able to join you on the Potomac.  I was also thinking of the Rap down around F'burg.
I'll start looking at some of those flies and get a box built up.

[croaker]

Here's a site with a good bit of Shad info:

http://community-2.webtv.net/fishing-folks/FlyfishingforShad/

Here's a fly that has worked well down here:

http://www.southeastflyfishingforum.com/forum/streamer-croakers-shad-fly-t11898.html?t=11898

Also tie it with gold dumbell eyes and with red & yellow chenille.

Ain't Shad Grand!!!

croaker

[walt]

funky colored weighted crazy charlies always worked well for us on the St. Johns River in FL.  blue/pink, blue/chartreuse, tutti frutti, etc.

to hook 'em, it had to be on the bottom. we accomplished this with about a 5' length of cortland kerplunk as the leader with about a 2' length of 8 or 10lb tippet. this setup would keep the fly in the zone.

comically, the zone was also occupied by river clams... and if your fly happened to land in an open one, he'd clamp on down on it and you'd fight a clam back to the boat 

one of my favorite authors, John McPhee, wrote a book a few years ago about the history and importance of the shad The Founding Fish ( http://www.johnmcphee.com/foundingfish.htm )....it's well worth the read.

wally

[rockroller]

Yes, Croaker, shad are grand indeed.  Great links you shared.

And since you're further south than I am, please do regale us with stories and pics once they enter your waters.  Probably, what, six weeks or so from now?

Fish on!

[croaker]

rr, I'll start looking for 'em in a week or so.
Some years they can be caught from Jan.-May with a little driving and river hopping.

[rockroller]

Well, then, I guess that just means my jealousy will start earlier than I expected.

Get 'em!  Here in northern VA, we watch for the dogwoods to bloom.  When they do, we make any excuse to NOT mow the lawn.   

Last May, I took an out of town guest out in a rowboat on the Potomac.  He turned his nose up at both my fly rod and the thought of catching shad.  He dunked worms for catfish or perch and got zippo, not even a nibble.  I caught Americans, hickories and stripers.  Still, he refused to budge.  My extra rod went untouched.  At least he took pictures.

[Gofisher]

Here's a site with a good bit of Shad info:

http://community-2.webtv.net/fishing-folks/FlyfishingforShad/

Here's a fly that has worked well down here:

http://www.southeastflyfishingforum.com/forum/streamer-croakers-shad-fly-t11898.html?t=11898

Also tie it with gold dumbell eyes and with red & yellow chenille.

Ain't Shad Grand!!!

croaker

Croaker, Troutchaser has one of your shad flies in his box above! He pay for that?    0--0

[croaker]

Croaker, Troutchaser has one of your shad flies in his box above! He pay for that?    0--0

Naw Gordie, since we weren't streamside... TC got the reasonable pre-streamside price 

Send me yer snailer and I'll send ya one.

0--0 

[rockroller]

Well.  I've been doing a little dreaming.  And tying.  I mentioned above how I like to fish Swope shad flies off a dropper.  You can see some here.

[ditchmonkey]

midget you need shad darts...i'll tie you shad darts if you need shad darts.........hell ill only charge you a bottle of bulleit for the lot of em.......

[FT]

Get 'em!  Here in northern VA, we watch for the dogwoods to bloom.  When they do, we make any excuse to NOT mow the lawn. 

'

Grass should never be mowed when the Dogwood are in bloom.  I only got out for shad once last year, going to do better this year.  TC is the barbeque joint still there?