A Tale of Three Trips

The binoculars are for "seeing trout." 

Trip #1

     Last season, my son and I had a successful trip to the Hammonasset River, targeting trout rising to Quill Gordons. The little guy caught his first trout, a brookie, as well as a rainbow trout. He was bummed that we lost a brown trout and were unable to check it off his list. 

     This season, I vowed that he would get his brown trout. The water was much higher this year, so the little guy had to fish from the bank. Another big difference from last year was that the trout would not rise this time. I suspect the high, cold water had something to do with it. No worries, we had nymphs and wet flies that did the trick. He lost the first fish hooked, an acrobatic rainbow, but I assured him there were more opportunities. A few minutes later, he had his first brown trout in the net and checked off his list! 

     He was at least as proud of himself as I was of him. He asked what the next kind of trout he will catch next. Short of flying him out west to chase cutthroats, the only thing I could come up with was tiger trout. I warned him that they are few and far between, but it was no use. A new quest has emerged. Time to distract him with sunfish! 

The elusive brown trout

Trip #2

     It had been far too long since the last time I fished with my friend Mark (Fishing Small Streams). Mark and I used to fish the Hendrickson hatch on the Farmington at least once a season, but I have been distracted by migratory fish the past two springs. I knew it was time to revisit our old haunts before Mark moves. 

     Before the hatch started, I caught my first trout of the season on a #2 Grey Ghost. I was using a 6 wt. switch rod, so it wasn't much of a battle. I soon caught another, which didn't put much of a bend in the rod. Then I lost a third, which did put a bend in the 11' Sage Z-Axis. It put a big bend in the rod before it thrashed on the surface, threw the fly, and swam back to the depths. Oh well, there was more action to come...

      The hatch materialized, but the fish weren't too keen to rise. I picked off one on a wet fly after changing pools. I didn't see many rises. The rises I saw were isolated. I went back to the streamer while we waited for a potential spinner fall. 

     I wasn't too optimistic about a good spinner fall considering how windy it was. But, low and behold, we saw a ton of spinners over the water. The popular pool we chose was too crowded for my comfort, so I moved to the next pool upstream. It's a small pool, and two anglers were already in it,  but I was able to sneak in at the tail. 

      It wound up being a good choice. It was quite a spinner fall...the most prolonged spinner fall I've fished in quite a long time. The trout were plentiful but small. I even caught some while fishing from the bank. Finally, I hooked a better fish, but lost him as he raced towards the tail of the pool. No worries, the action was far from over. 

     There was a decent trout rising in the very fast water at the extreme edge of the tail, just above the rapids. I drifted a spinner over it a few times before it ate. I got the fish close to me but, once it saw me, it bolted. I had been catching all small fish and hauling them in, so my feisty fish senses were a little dull when I hooked this one. This trout was absolutely not going to give up easily and it escaped into the fast water below. It was time to put on my running shoes. I kept tight on the trout for a good distance downstream. I thought I could land it in one of the pockets, but no dice. The fish didn't stop running until it crossed into the next pool downstream. 

Not particularly large, but full of piss and vinegar! 

     I was able to land the fiery fish in the soft water of the new pool. It was well hooked and thrashed wildly while I tried to remove my spinner from its mouth. I thought the fight was over, but this trout didn't get the memo. It wasn't a particularly large trout, maybe 17"-18" at best, but fought like a demon. I was happy I didn't break my ankle. Whatever I hooked next probably wouldn't have been that exciting, so I decided to call it a night! 

Shad fight tough, but are a delicate fish. Whenever possible, I now release shad without touching them. 

Trip #3

     Data! Data doesn't lie. I knew I could have a good day of shad fishing if the water fell below a certain level on the gauge after Mother's Day. I've been trying to fish closer to home more often and only wanted to make one trip this year, as long as it was a good enough trip. It wasn't the most spectacular day of American shad fishing I've ever had, but it was good enough to scratch the itch for the season. There were some fairly large fish in the mix too, so that was a bonus. Actually, I hooked a few real tough ones. 

     It pays to keep track of data throughout a few seasons. It can make trips successful when time is limited, as it has been for me the past year or so. I had no specific local intel on this spot, but I've fished it enough to know when it should produce. It produced as expected. It was fun. I'll go back next year, after Mother's Day, when the water is below a certain level...

American Shad Flies - Part II: Flies, Darts, and Data

Handful of shad soft hackles (sz. 8-10)

     In Part I of this short series, I demonstrated how to tie my standard, bread and butter shad fly. It is a simple, effective, and easy to tie pattern. In addition to that fly, I have a few other patterns I like to use. However, before I describe the others, let's take a look at some shard darts, the standard lure used for American shad fishing.

A seclection of Eagle Claw shad darts in common color schemes

     Shad darts and willow leaf spoons are the most widely used lures for American shad fishing. While willow leaves have no relation to flies, most darts involve a small degree of fly tying technique. Many traditional darts have a contrasting color scheme which can be easily replicated when tying shad flies. Darts, most often made with lead, can vary greatly in weight, from 1/64 oz up to 3/4 oz or more. The smallest darts can be used with a fly rod. The largest darts can put a hole in someone's head!
   

Mike Taylor shad dart

     In addition to being a great fisherman, my friend Mike Taylor ties some excellent tin (non-toxic) shad darts. The dart pictured above is tied in form of a traditional dart, but with some modern touches, such as Krystal Flash and glitter paint. Mike's darts are well constructed and very durable. Most importantly, they are excellent fish catchers. Notice how Mike's darts are tied on light wire, gold jig hooks.

Mike's "no frills" mini darts

     Mike gave me a couple of his mini darts last season when I needed to get down quickly. The red one (pictured above) caught a shad on its first cast. With no additional materials to slow down their descent, these mini darts are great sinkers. They also work well when shad nip at the back end of a traditional dart or long-tailed fly. This type of dart could easily be converted to a fly by using tungsten cone headsand tiny bit of material to hold it in place. A more esoteric option would be to use undressed bottle tubes, such as Shumakov Long Range or Skittle tubes.

My standard, bread and butter shad fly

     The pink fly above is my basic pattern. This was the pattern shown in last week's step-by-step tutorial. My favorite colors are fluorescent orange, pink, green, blue, and red. They can be tied in bulk in next to no time at all.

The bread and butter fly, tied "low water" style

     Sometimes shad get "nippy," grabbing onto the rearmost part of a fly or dart. This happens often near the end of the run. It can also happen during severe weather/pressure changes. When shad refuse to commit, I switch to a pattern tied in the Atlantic salmon "low water" style. Basically, I tie a fly one size smaller than the hook I am using. In the picture above, I tied a size 6 fly on a a size 4 hook. I usually tie a short tail. In this case, the tail doesn't even extend past the bend of the hook. I haven't tried omitting the tail entirely but, if Mike's mini darts work, I don't see why a tailless fly would not.

     Another option is to trim the tail on flies and darts. If possible, cut the material back to a point shy of the hook bend. Even if the shad doesn't grab onto the whole fly, hopefully it will get the business end of the hook in its mouth. Sometimes shad absolutely cream a fly, sometimes you'll barely know a fish is on. Be aware of those little taps.

UV resin shad fly

     When I want a tiny bit of extra weight, I use a fly coated with Solarez UV cured resin. Honestly, until I weighed the flies, I thought the resin added more weight than it actually does (refer to the table below). It's sort of like going up one size of brass eyes without actually going up one size. I'm not sure it makes that much of a difference. This fly takes about twice as long to tie as my standard pattern. Despite the extra work, the blue version of this fly was an absolute killer for me last season, so now I'm afraid not to have some with me at all times. 

    This is essentially the same fly as the one posted in last week's tutorial other than the body. Instead of wool yarn, I make a tapered underbody with Uni-Stretch, then wrap over it with Veevus holographic tinsel. The tinsel is slippery, so wrap carefully and under sufficient tension. After whip finishing, apply a coat of UV cured resin to the entire fly. I coat it all the way up to the head.

Beadhead shad soft hackle

     When the water is low, the fish are heavily pressured, or both, I opt for a small bead head soft hackle wet fly. This fly has been very good to me. The toughest, most memorable shad I ever hooked was caught on the pink and yellow wet fly pictured above. Though I tie these on standard wet fly hooks, I would like to try the jig-style nymph hooks to keep the hook point riding up. Here is the dressing:

Bead Head Shad Soft Hackle

Hook: Mustad 3399A or equivalent (sz. 8-10)

Bead: Brass or tungsten (1/8"-5/32")

Weight: Non-toxic wire

Tail: Hackle fibers or Krystal Flash

Body: Fluorescent wool yarn

Thorax: Ice Dub (to match tail)

Hackle: Hen neck (to match tail)

Head: Ice Dub (to match tail)

Favorite color combinations (body/hackle): pink/yellow, orange/green, orange/yellow, green/darker green

Tandem rig, the top fly a variation on the basic pattern (chenille head)

     I have been using sinking Scandi heads to get my flies down and to help keep them in the zone longer. It has worked really well so far. However, there are times when I prefer to fish with a single handed rod, floating line, and mono leader. When I feel like I need more weight to get down with that rig, I use a long leader and two heavy flies. This has gotten me into the zone and into fish when one fly just wasn't cutting it. Tandem rigs are also good to see if the shad are keying in on one particular color or size of fly. I've had great success with the combo pictured above. I the larger fly seems to get the smaller fly into the strike zone. Some shad take the big fly, but most seem to grab the soft hackle. 

Size/weight chart for the flies featured in this post (click to enlarge)

     Sometimes I get curious about how much flies weigh, so I use my handy little scale. I weighed all the flies and darts featured in this post (with the exception of the Eagle Claw darts). I prefer to weigh in grams since it's easier to compare light weight flies than when using ounces. As stated above, I was surprised how little weight the UV cured resin added to the fly, though purely by coincidence, it moved proportionally with the increase in brass eye sizes. It also weighed slightly more than my heaviest dart, which also surprised me. Some flies were too light to register on my scale,  but I don't concern myself with weight when I'm fishing flies that small.

     Besides the non-toxic wire used on the soft hackles, the only metal I used was brass. Tungsten would make for much heavier flies. Heavier flies might require using heavier tackle, which might make a 2-6 lb fish less fun to catch. Overall, I am happy with the size and weights of these flies, particularly when sinking lines, heads, and tips get the flies down well enough. 

------------------------------------------------------

     I hope this post helps some of you. Shad are an often overlooked local gamefish. If you tied a fresh American shad and a comparably sized trout tail to tail, the shad would drown the trout in a heartbeat. Fighting a big, tough roe shad can be very exciting, especially on appropriately sized fly tackle. Give it a shot this spring! 

     

Looking forward to spring...

American Shad Flies - Part I: Simple Shad Fly Step-By-Step

American shad are loads of fun on light tackle. 

   

     What I enjoy most about the spring fishing season is its diversity. Spring is a time when unrelated species of anadramous game fish cross paths with each other as they travel upriver. At sea, however, they are scattered all over the Atlantic. American shad migrate to the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada. Atlantic salmon migrate to the feeding grounds around Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Striped bass head north from Chesapeake Bay. I have no idea where our alien sea-run brown trout go, but I imagine they stay fairly close to home. The one thing they all have in common is the last leg of their respective journeys. Spring is a time when an angler might not know what is on the end of his or her line but, if it is fresh from the sea, chances are it will be an exciting battle. 

     The past couple of seasons, American shad fishing has caused me to put my normal routine on hold. The Connecticut River run has been around 300,000-400,000+ shad the past couple years, which is significantly more fish than the rest of the spring gamefish run combined. After a long winter, it can be nice to catch a lot of fish. A lot of hard fighting fish, as the case may be. Enough fish to decimate a fly box if an angler isn't careful. Shad don't have teeth, but catching twenty, thirty, forty, or more, in a day will destroy flies. If the fish don't wreck them, the bottom will, since most shad like a fly presented low in the water column.

     As such, it doesn't pay to spend much time tying shad flies. The fish aren't too picky. They're not eating. Even if they were, they feed on plankton, which is much smaller than our flies. They seem to lock into certain colors at times, so I like to tie a few different flies in several different colors. When the water is low, I like to fish a small beadhead softhackle (tied in psychedelic color schemes). When I need to get down quicker, I use a fly with a UV resin body to sink quickly. My bread and butter fly, the simplest of them all, is the subject of this post. 

     There are many step-by-step fly tying tutorials out there. What I want to focus on here is the reasons why I have made the decision to use certain materials or techniques. Some of the reasons may be obvious, some may not. Since this generic fly template is an easy tie for all skill levels, I hope the reader will key in on why decisions were made in addition to how the fly is constructed.

The killer fly, tied in Chinese Red
This is why it pays to use easy, inexpensive flies.  

Simple Shad Fly

Hook: Crappie/panfish hook- light wire, gold, Aberdeen bend (i.e. Mustad 3260B or Eagle Claw equivalent);    sizes 4-8

Thread: Danville Flymaster 3/0 (210 denier)

Eyes: Dumbbell or bead chain eyes 

Tail: Pearlescent Crystal Mirror/Electra Flash

Body: Danville flourescent nylon wool (blue, green, pink, & orange) or Uni-Yarn (Chinese red)

Fig. I: Gold panfish/crappie hooks

Fig. I:  When it comes to hook choice, I take my cue from those who tie shad darts. Darts are often tied on light wire, gold, crappie/panfish hooks with an Aberdeen bend. Shad often lie close to the bottom and/or in rocky areas. When a very light wire hooks hangs up, a tug or two will usually bend the hook and free it from the snag. With a pair of pliers or hemostats, the hook can be bent back very easily. Another reason to use these hooks is the "flex factor." Shad have very thin, fragile mouths. When they pull on a tight line, the hook flexes a bit with the tension. 

Fig. II: Making a thread bump

Fig. II:  I like a heavy thread with which to lock down the thick brass dumbbell eyes. Making a little ant-shaped thread bump helps keep the eyes seated correctly when tying them in.

Fig. III: Adding brass dumbbell eyes

Fig. III:   Similar to the Clouser Deep Minnow, dumbbell or bead chain eyes are added to the top of the hook shank to force the point to ride upwards, thus helping to avoid snags. These heavy eyes also help to sinker a fly quicker. On a size 4 hook, I use either 3/16" or 5/32" eyes. On a size 6 hook, I use 1/8" eyes. On a size 8 hook, I use either 3/32" brass eyes or small bead chain eyes.

     When tying in the eyes, use a figure eight motion to lock them in. After they are seated, I like to use a lot of thread tension to keep them in place (hence the 3/0 thread). I pull as hard as I can without breaking the thread. After the eyes are tied in, I add a drop of super glue to the thread. After catching a ton of fish, the eyes will eventually move around. The goal is to keep them firmly in place for as long as possible. 

     If you are tying a lot of shad flies at one time, it makes sense to tie up to this step, then place the hook aside and wait for the glue to dry. I usually pre-tie a bunch of eyes and keep them in a compartment-style fly box. When I need a certain color fly in a certain size, I take the eyed hook out and the rest of the fly can be finished in a minute or so. 

Fig. IV: Laying down a thread base

Fig. IV:  Lay down a base of thread for your tail material. If I am tying on pre-assembled eyed hooks, I usually switch to a smaller size thread to finish off the fly.

Fig. V: Adding a short tail of flash

Fig. V:  Color contrast is a staple in many shad darts. Often times, a bright color is offset with a white tail. For the tail of this fly, I like to use pearlescent Crystal Mirror/Electra flash. The pearl color contrasts well with the body of fluorescent wool. Crystal Mirror flash is like Krystal Flash on steroids. It's thicker, shinier, and really throws off a lot of light. 

     Since it is common for American shad to nip at the rear end of a fly, I like to keep my tails short. I don't tie them any longer than in the fly pictured above, and often times I tie the whole fly shorter. To tie it "low water style," start the body just above the hook point and cut the tail flush with the bend of the hook. As much as possible, I try to avoid the shad grabbing the rearmost part of the fly without grabbing any of the hook. A fly tied a bit undersized for the hook helps prevent the nipping.

Fig. VI: Tying in wool for the body

Fig. VI:  I like to use wool yarn for the body of this fly. It absorbs water and tends to get buggier looking as the fly gets chewed on. My favorite yarn is Danville's fluorescent nylon wool. The colors are spectacular for shad flies. I like their fire orange, green, blue, and fluorescent red (pictured here, which is really more like fuchsia than actual red). Since Danville doesn't make a real red color, I use Chinese red Uni-Yarn instead. It is a truly deadly color.

Fig. VII: The completed shad fly

Fig. VII:  Wrap the yarn up the hook shank and figure eight the yarn around the eyes several times. Tie it off, whip finish, and add head cement. Sometimes I tie two whip finishes and skip the cement. If desired, a contrasting fluorescent color can be used for the head. Just make sure the thread color lighter than the color of the body material so it doesn't show through when the fly gets wet.

---------------------------------------------

     Well, that's about as easy to tie as it gets. They are cheap, easy, durable, and very effective. If you live near a shad run, give it a try. In an upcoming post, I will explain the other two pattern templates I use. For lots of good information about fly fishing for American shad, click here to check out my buddy Sonny's blog! 

Releasing a fresh one back into the Connecticut River
(photo by M. Taylor)

Last Blast of Shad...And A Nasty Surprise!

My last fresh shad of the season

     Forgive the tardiness of this post. I haven't had much time to devote to anything computer-related lately. This report deals with three separate trips: May 25, 27, and 30. I devoted all of my time to a Connecticut River tributary on these three trips. The water had quickly warmed up and the run was on. 

     On May 25, my favorite spot was loaded with fresh shad and the occasional colored fish. Fishing was hot that afternoon. There was a two hour stretch of non-stop action. Fishing cooled a bit that evening, but my friend Sonny and I were still into enough fresh shad to keep us happy. A #4 fly tied with Chinese red Uni-Yarn caught all of my fish but one. That one fish happened to be my largest for the day, a chunky 4 lb. female, who took a #4 fluorescent pink fly. 

     May 27 was more good fishing. I met up with Sonny and his friend Frank at the aforementioned spot. We were all into fish that morning. In my estimation, we caught one fresh shad for every one-to-three colored ones that day. Clearly, the run had peaked, though the fishing was still good. The Chinese red fly was the only one I used that day. Once again, it racked up double digit numbers. 

     The noteworthy event on the 27th happened at the end of the day. I decided to move and fish a pool upstream. I hooked a few small males, but nothing memorable. When I got to the hotspot of the pool, I felt some taps on my line. I cast again, but no dice. I made another cast of the same distance and...WHAM!! Save for one particular Kola River Atlantic salmon, it was the hardest take I've ever had from a fish, pound-for-pound. The shad absolutely creamed my fly and bolted downriver. My favorite shad reel, and Islander IR4, backlashed and I had to clear the birds nest before I could fight and land the fish. It was another plump, fresh roe shad. It would have been a great way to end the day, except that the feisty female shad was the last nail in the coffin for the pawl on my reel. My drag was shot and the reel would have to be retired until I could get a replacement pawl from Islander. Oh well, it's a good story...

My fly and my reel were toast by the end of the day.

     May 30 was my best numbers day of the year, but the lack of fresh fish was sort of a letdown. I would guess that I hooked one fresh shad for every eight-to-ten colored ones. I knew this would be my last day of American shad fishing in 2016. The colored fish were mostly lethargic, though they were definitely willing to take a Chinese red shad fly. My buddy Doug came up for a few hours and caught some shad. It was fun, but the shad weren't the reason why I will always remember this day. 

     At one point in the afternoon, I got a series of text messages. After swinging my fly through the run, I let it settle on the sandy river bottom while I checked my phone. The messages wound up being unimportant, so I put my phone back into my waders pocket and began to strip in my running line. During the first pull, I felt the weight of a small fish on my line. I stripped all my line in and prepared to remove the hook from what was probably a small chub or baby walleye. It was neither of those things. It was a sea lamprey! Gross! It was wiggling all over with my fly in its mouth. The fly must have dropped right into its nest and the lamprey attacked it. Not wanting to put my fingers near its mouth, I wrestled my fly away from it with my forceps. It wasn't easy to get my fly back. The lamprey wiggled around like crazy. It's the only time I've heard of a lamprey being caught on a fly. It's a nasty fish, but sort of a cool experience. 

Yuck! 

     I'm pretty happy with how this season went. I really enjoyed fishing the Connecticut River, especially when the big roe shad were in. I'm looking forward to doing it again next spring. In the meantime, I have to get into Atlantic salmon mode. In about two weeks, I'll be on the Grand Cascapedia...hopefully catching big salmon and not lampreys!

Spring So Far...

One of the few fish pics I have of this season

     My heaviest work seasons are spring and fall which, unfortunately for me, are the best fishing seasons in this area. Work was unusually slow for me last spring, so I had a lot of time to fish. This spring's workload is back to normal. In fact, I'm typing this backstage at a concert hall during a tedious soundcheck. 

     With a busy work schedule, I haven't been fishing as much as I would like to. Though, the few times I've fished this spring have been very educational. My usual springtime routine is to target sea run brown trout, with striped bass as a welcome by-catch. My fishery is a very fickle one. It produces very little most days, so ample water time (or good timing luck) is a must for any positive results. I'm beginning to realize that my schedule as a musician and a parent isn't giving me enough time to focus on this fishery as it requires. It's okay though. I'm really enjoying fishing for American shad and it is allowing me to hone some skills I might not have a chance to use otherwise. 

     Last spring, I spent most of my shad time on a tributary of the Connecticut River. This spring, most of my time thus far has been spent fishing the Connecticut itself. I described  my first trip the Connecticut in a previous post. This post deals with two trips, a week apart from one another, and some of the lessons I learned from both. 

     The first Friday trip was cold and very wet. I started at the tributary to see if it was worth staying there for the evening. I caught one big roe shad right away, but the action died soon after. I decided to move to the big river. The flow was heavier than my previous trip, so I swapped a F/I/S2 Scandi head for one with a faster sink rate, I/S3/S4. I hooked shad every so often, but the bite wasn't exactly on fire. Still, I had about a half dozen to hand before they really turned on. After that, it was about two and a half hours of non-stop action, with most of the fish being big females. I didn't stop to take fish pictures. I wanted to keep my fly in the water. The highlight of the evening was a shad who tried to take my fly back to the Bay of Fundy. Line was screaming from my reel as she passed by a line of spin fishermen. She jumped as high as I've ever seen a shad jump and I knew I had hooked a really large fish. Sadly, the hook pulled upon reentry. The decision to switch to a fast sinking head had paid off big time. 

     Then, during a lapse in good judgement and self control, I decided to cut my fly off so I could get out before dark. Shad had been nailing my blue fly and I figured that unstrinting the rod was the only way I could force myself to leave. I usually leave it strung up on the hike out. Wrong move. On the hike out, the top section of my rod fell off. I didn't notice until I was back at the car, then panic ensued. A team of gracious fishermen helped me look for it, but it was too dark. Gah!! I use this rod a good part of the year and it's no longer made.

The Blue one has been the top fly for me this season so far.
The green is a distant second. 

     Fortunately, an eagle-eyed fisherman found it the next day and my friend Mike took possession of it. Phew!! The Scandi head sink rate lesson was a big one, but this one was much bigger! Now, when it's time to leave, it's time to leave, and I'll either leave my rod strung up or bring the tube.

     The next Friday was colder and even wetter, however, the river was lower. I was reunited with my rod tip, thank goodness. The shad were lying in the main current of a very wide river. Even with a two handed rod, I couldn't reach most of them. They were just too far away. I knew I could nail a few stragglers traveling on the inside edge of the current, so I went to work. I got a couple on the same setup, but then I had a long stretch with no activity. After trying different fly colors and retrieves, I wondered if I should be fishing higher in the water column and with a smaller fly. I took a break and switched back to my F/I/S2 head and tied in my lucky blue fly, tied smaller and lighter than the original. That was the ticket. I didn't rack up big numbers like the previous week, but I had decent action until sunset. It made me realize that I should have two rods that use heads in the same grain window. It would make switching rigs much easier and quicker. I'll be ordering one in the near future. 

     There have been other trips since these two. Each trip to the Connecticut is getting a little less productive than the last. The water finally warmed up, causing the fish to run upriver. I think it's time to concentrate on the tributaries.  At first, I was sort of bummed that I couldn't fish the tribs. Then, I began to enjoy fishing the big river. It's challenging and it's making me a better sunk line fisherman, which will come in handy when Atlantic salmon fishing in challenging conditions. 

     There is something to be said about going outside of one's comfort zone, even if it means temporarily catching fewer fish. I thought of it as a good investment of my time. It definitely paid off. Now that I figured out the "how" a bit better, my next goal is to start nailing the "when." That comes with time on the water and seeing specific situations repeat themselves. I don't know when I will find myself in situations like these again, but I will be a little more prepared, as well as ready to make the leap more quickly.  

Shad Time on the Big River

Experimenting finally paid off
(picture by M. Taylor)

     I met up with my friend Mike yesterday to do a little shad fishing. I went out once already, at the first mention of a run starting, but struck out. Instead of fishing a favorite tributary, Mike asked me to join him on the Connecticut River. It's big water. I didn't know what to expect, so I brought a lot of gear. 

     I hooked up within the first few minutes, which was actually sort of a curse. I figured I had my rig all dialed in, which was not the case at all. I was the only fly fisherman there. The spin fishermen were nailing shad left and right. I switched rigs and hooked up again, but it was another lucky take. I tried messing around with leader length, fly weight, and different density tips, but none of it worked. I had the proper distance covered, but I wasn't getting the flies down enough and the floating line/Versileader combo seemed to be sweeping my flies over the lies too quickly. 

     It's easy to get frustrated in a situation like that, but I felt determined to figure out this puzzle. I hiked back to the car and picked up a triple density scandi head. The only one I had with me was a F/I/S2. I crossed my fingers, put it in my pack, and hiked back to the river. Then I realized I forgot the reel in the car, so I had to go back. Now I was frustrated! 

Releasing a nice roe shad
(picture by M. Taylor)

     I added a 10' Rio Versileader (7.0 i.p.s.), 3' of fluorocarbon tippet, and a heavy fly. I crossed my fingers and went back to it. I was hooked up within a few casts. It wasn't just luck this time, either. The new setup was the right move. It slowed my fly down enough to let it sink and to let the shad see it. I had pretty steady action from that point on. I wasn't putting up numbers like the spinning guys, but it was about as good as it could get on a fly rod on this particular day. Eventually, I realized I didn't need a very heavy fly. The line and leader combo took care of it and casting became a lot more pleasant. 

     Experimenting with lines definitely paid off. Sure, it took a couple of hours to get it all figured out, but I was still able to enjoy plenty of action. More importantly, it's another lesson to keep stored away until it's needed again. 

Crazy Paulie

Little did I know what this monstrosity had in store for me

A few years ago, I tied a bunch of bonefish and permit flies for a day or two of fishing during a family vacation to Belize. Tying a ton of flats flies got sort of tedious after a while, so I tied a little "diversion fly" for fun. It was a bonefish fly in form, but tied in the style of a "classic" salmon fly. My former dog, Paulie, was in the room when I tied it. He was a crazy lab x chow mix, so I named the fly after him.

Originally, I planned on tying the fly on when the guide wasn't looking, then showing it to him right before I cast into a school of wary bonefish. You know...just for a few laughs. Unfortunately, cold fronts never made that a reality and bonefishing has pretty much been a bust for me.

This morning, before I left the house to go shad fishing, I put a backup fly box in the car. When I looked in the box, I noticed Crazy Paulie, still pristine and unfished after five years. I did pretty well today, so I thought I'd have a little fun on my last pass through the pool.

Crazy Paulie, in action! 

I tied Crazy Paulie on and caught a shad on my first cast! After landing a small male, I promptly hooked and landed my biggest shad of the day, a 5lb. female. I landed a third in short order, then lost a fourth. What started as a gag turned out to be a great decision. I have a fly box "scrapbook" that, as of tonight, has a new addition!

The original...I sure miss this guy

Crazy Paulie

Hook: Daiichi 2546 (sz. 4)
Eyes: Small bead chain
Tag: Pearl flashabou
Tail: Green macaw
Butt: Orange Berlin wool
Rib: Pearl flashabou
Body: Fluorescent green floss
Underwing: Pearl krystal flash
Wing: Green macaw, bustard, golden pheasant tail and bronze mallard
Sides: Wood duck
Horns: Scarlet macaw
Head: Orange Berlin wool