I woke up early this morning and hit the St. John’s river. I caught 6 shad, several bass, crappie, sunfish, bluegill and even a catfish. 20+ fish today. I plan on savoring every moment of the Shad run this year. With a new son or daughter on the way, I am sure free time will be at a premium next year, although I will still try to get on the water and hone my skills so that I may one day share the experience with my kids. That is neat to think about!
I spent most of my free time in December tying flies for this year’s fly box seen here…
And here is a picture of the 1st Shad of 2013…
I caught one shad on an orange and white shad dart tied on a #6 hook with a 5/32 dumbell eye. All of the rest were caught with a pink and white kip tail clouser minnow tied on a #6 with a 5/32 dumbell. The water is still high on the St. John’s River and the current relatively swift for this waterway so I fished with a 5ft fast sinking leader connected to about 5ft of 10lb level tippet. This combination seemed to work well.