Pretentious Snobby Bastard Fly Fishing!

March 30, 2021 #14

Gas $2.69

44 ~ 70  Sunny

Itieuglyflies (ITUF) posted up a TR saying that the James River Shad run was in full swing. Being fully vaccinated, I replied, noting that I first fished the run with him 4 years ago almost to the day and lamented the missed 2020 run.

Texts flew back and forth and soon was faced with getting up there the following day. I pushed some work out the door and loaded up the car after searching for the reel with the sink tip.

Since his boat leaves the dock at 6:15, I drove the up in the afternoon. No trains blocked the road this year and I met him shortly after he arrived as he was prepping the boat for the launch.





We were on the water by 6:15, the first to launch from this ramp. ITUF navigated in the dark, avoiding the early morning skullers already on the water.





After anchoring up, we waited for the first light of the day. ITUF caught one on his first cast and I followed a few casts later. Let the catching begin.





Other boats began lining the shore above and below us, at one point there were about 10. They were all fishing, but we were catching.









The catching was pretty much nonstop, but it did slow down to the point where we took a lunch break. Who knew Patagonia had a provisions branch? https://www.patagoniaprovisions.com/



The Lemon Caper Makerel packed in Olive Oil are damn tasty.



Then it was back to catching until we really didn't want to catch any more. Sore arms and cut fingers were the result of over 116 fish caught.





As the tide began to come it we headed back to the ramp where there was a short line of boats coming and going but it didn't take to long to get in and I was on the road home by 3:30

Fred and I were scheduled for Wednesday the 12th, but a big slug of dirty water came down from the hills and fukkered that up. Then he beached it with the kids and Gkids and I got busy.
Were we too late???
It was pronounced a go on Saturday, and I drove down to the hotel after work on Sunday. 5:30 put in and ITUF was backing the bote in when I arrived on time. Well, the water was still up and slightly stained. And the weather had gone from 60's w/AM showers, to off and on rain, cloudy, windy and low 50's.
We got anchored up, caught a few fish, got rained on and a rainbow came out.





Then the weather got really shitty.
Urban fishing at it's best. Eagles, Ospreys, Cormorants, Ducks, Geese and more entertained us.
And I-95 traffic for the background music.

I had the wrong mode on for a lot of pics. I suk.



It got windy, we got wet. No rain pants for either of us. We suk.
We did not have enough layers. We got cold. We suk.





The catching was never bang bang, but it died off appreciably. So after we had an early lunch that we shared, then we motored down towards plan B.
A fellow Fred knew was Striper fishing in a kayak up near us before we left, and was getting skunked.
"The Stripers weren't in yet.", he said.
Well, on the way down, I commented about a river feature, and Fred said that was a money Striper spot. We turned up along side, cut the engine and he hooked up with a dandy on the first cast. 3-5 casts later we had 2 more to the bote.
We anchored up and did not have the right angle. Motored up a bit higher to the right and bang. I'm not sharing the technique, but Fred was wacking em and I caught one.
I'm gonna blame my soft old glass rod.  :laugh:



"The Stripers aren't in yet."



We quit at 3PM.
45ish shad, 12-15 Stripers, a handful of white perch.
The heater in the truck felt real good.
Picked up a Banh Mi and Pho in town and was home by 6:30.  :Dance
Thanks Fred.