Shad on the Fly 2010

Wow, check out this picture. Sure glad I took a minute to tie up some pink and gold flies.

My friend Aaron and I hit the Nine Mile after work the other day and had the whole place to ourselves.

We looked over a few of the higher pools but decided to walk the mile or so to the spot where I had been fishing with some success the last few times I'd been out.

It turned out to be a good decision.

The technique in these long deep pools without too much current is to cast across and down stream about 45 degrees. Let the fly sink and the line straighten out. Then, let the fly dangle on the straight line for a few seconds before starting a medium fast stripping retrieve.

Sometimes the fish will take on the swing, sometimes on the dangle but most often they will take on the first strip or two. They will of course surprise you often enough to make the above not really very good advice.

Here is the good advice: Be ready for a take any time your fly is in the water.

You gotta' love shad fishing on the fly!

Shad Fishing

You know, Shad fishing is funny business. Sunday I stood within sight of a guy who was hooking fish every ten minutes for at least an hour. Know how many I hooked? Zero, Nada, Nothing, None.

We both seemed to be doing the same thing as to technique, casting across and down, letting the fly swing until it straightened out and then retrieving with short strips every five seconds or so.


The day before I had done the same thing in the same place with good results but on this day I was having no luck.

The one big difference was that I had been using pink flies the day before. He was using one today but
I had lost my last pink to a log just before leaving the night before.

The funny thing is that as I was gathering my gear to go out again Sunday morning I thought about tying up a few pink and golds but decided that I'd rather be fishing than fly tying.

Well, that is what I ended up doing- a lot of fishing and not much catching. I'm not certain that was the problem but I've seen enough days when certain colours were all the fish would touch that I've been tying up a handful of pink and golds this evening just in case.

Here is what they look like. You can add a bit of lead wire for high water conditions but usually the bead eyes are sufficient. When they work they can't be beat. When they don't...well, you know.

The Shad Are In- Shad Run 2010 is Underway

Went out to check on the Shubenacadie River and the Nine Mile today. Figured I'd get some trout fishing in on the Nine Mile which I did, lots of trout around. As I got farther downstream towards the Shubenacadie I started seeing the tell-tale swirls of Shad moving in the river. I fished hard for an hour then decided to walk down to the junction with the big river. That is where I hit the fish.

I met this fellow, Greg Lovely, and we fished across the brook from each other for an hour or two. He is a good fisherman and tells a good story too.


 Between us we touched about twenty Shad this afternoon. Landed a few, lost a few and had lots of action and even a few double headers.

As I type this my arm is still a little sore from what my buddy Brad calls "Arm aching action". Get out there boys the fish are starting to move up the rivers.

Nova Scotia Shad Run 2010

With everyone's favourite Nova Scotia Fishing dot com website shut down for a little while how about putting updates here in the comments section for those other Shad fishing fanatics out there. With the price of gas, it is expensive to run up to the Valley or out to Shubenacadie on a hope.

If you have any information on when the Valley runs are starting or the Shubenacadie run, let us know please.