A Successful Shad Run

I spent the last two days in the Newburyport area. I did quite a bit and never stopped "playing" from 5:30 am till dark both days. I have a lot to write about, but I'll break it down into topics in individual posts.

One thing I was hoping to make time for was shad fishing the Merrimack River.  I used to fish for American Shad in the Indianhead River in Hanover. I haven't gone in almost a decade. The drive is long and I'm usually playing for a fish or two. I had never fished the Merrimack for shad. I know there is a large run. I had read some OTW articles about where to fish.

I found out that high tide was about 3 pm yesterday and the spot I planned on fishing is best from high to two hours down. I got to the spot I wanted (a spot within a spot) and thankfully no one was there. I casted out my 1/8 oz. lime green shad dart. AS with any new type of fishing, although I had a game plan, I really didn't expect to score. Luckily for my confidence level, I hooked into a shad right away. I got him in (it was a male) and took some pictures. I was happy to get my first shad in a decade. Only ten minutes later I had another. I thought how much easier this was than fishing the Indianhead. Then for the next 90 minutes...nothing. That was okay, I was more than thrilled to catch even one shad.

So of course I went back today, after sleeping overnight at Salisbury Beach and birding Plum Island in the morning. I landed three in the 90 minutes that I fished after high tide. I got there early to snag my spot long before the tide was high, only to find it occupied by four bottom fishermen. They left right at high tide and I was in that spot before they had drove away. Catching five shad in my brief time fishing for them was very unexpected. At the Indianhead River I used to HOPE for one hit an hour, never mind land them. So in my book the last two days fishing were outstanding!