1wt Hickory Shad

 Some days I don't find quite what I set out looking for... many days, frankly. I spend a lot of exploring new water, or fishing familiar water at new times and in new conditions. I have to do this to stay on top of things. I'm trying to have a running schedule of what goes on everywhere I fish throughout the year. One evening a little while back I was looking for bonito. I was not finding said bonito though, and there weren't really bass around to pick up the slack. I did have my 1wt with me though, and that provided me an opportunity to do something a bit different when I found a school of peanuts being disturbed by hickory shad late in the day.

It seems to be a bit easier to get hickory shad feeding on very dense peanut schools than it is to get schoolie bass. If the Triple P is off, hickories are your friend. Sinking a fly under the peanuts and fishing the periphery is effective, and it doesn't seem that matching the profile of the peanuts matters at all. 

I could have just used my 5wt again, but I wanted to really test the 1wt. Anyone that has caught these shad knows they fight pretty well for their size. I figured the little rod had just enough backbone to land fish without killing them. I was right, I had no problem adequately fighting these fish. It was certainly more fun though. I have an old Ocean City reel on that rod right now and the drag is really loud. So far though I hadn't had the chance to hook a big enough fish to really make it scream. The hickories did just that. It was awesome. 

Of course, hickory shad are a delicate fish compared to most. If you aren't prepared to give them everything you've got on such light tackle, or to take them home with you, don't use a 1wt. If you utilize the strategies I highlighted in my recent fish fighting post though you'll have no problem safely catching and releasing shad on a 1 to 3wt fly rod and 4x. 

As the sky darkened more and more I realized I had to slow down my retrieve until I was hardly moving the fly at all. Most of the fish ate it as it sunk. I'd make a cast, let the fly fall, and suddenly I'd be tight. I didn't need to set the hook, the fish did it for me. Eventually though the feeding diminished too much and the bite was over. It sure was fun while it lasted, and far better than giving up after failing to find the bonito.

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

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