Snow Squal Shad

Frtiz tied this gig-head hybrid which worked great

With Jenny and Liz headed to UVA to watch Conor play water polo and Emma still soundly asleep I rigged up in my warm garage and headed to the fall line of the Rappahanock in Fredricksberg to get a taste of fish after having been skunked on the Gunpowder yesterday. I was lucky to get one of the four prime spots at the tail of the island so late in the morning.

The lower 40s temp, 25 mph wind and snow squalls kept many of the locals away, thank goodness. I was in the least effective downstream position, I had alot of action but probably caught only 60% of the Shad as they fellow two spots upstream from me.

I had equal success on both a red and silver shad dart and a small weighted golden retriever, each trailing a 6-foot sink tip section which was needed in the fast flow. The formula is easy here, find the shad, present them something small and shiny at the right depth and hold on!   Geez this is fun fishing.

The Osprey and eagles agreed as 16 of them (hard to count) kept us company and provided an exciting aerial show.  Your mind kind of tunes them out as they soar and glide and then when they stop in mid-air and hover for a second your brain reads ' pattern disruption' and you pick them up as they dive 100 feet straight down and slam into the water talons first.  A thrashing of their wings and they beat back into the air with a herring or shad fighting to escape their clutches.   It's awesome.

Thanks for looking