Thread: weldon hickory shad report - 3/30*

The wife, daughter and I went to Weldon to fish the afternoon of March 30, 2016. Solunar tables showed the morning to have both the major and minor periods but I knew it wouldn't fit the schedule. Sure enough friends on the river said it had been a better bite. We caught probably 30 between the 3 of us between 1:30 AND 6:30 so on most rivers that would have been a good bite but for the typical Roanoke day it was a bit slow. We found them in a small cut in the bank with slower flow and a little shallower. The fish tracked the shadow of a tree as the sun moved and earlier were keying on chartreuse but transitioned to pink later in the day. All in all it was a wonderful day on the river.

Some folks will eat them but they are an oily, bony fish so most do catch and release. They are great fighters and often times called the "poorman's tarpon." The Alabama shad and skipjack herring would probably be the closest cousins to them on the Gulf coast.