This is just a quick post as it was slow going last time out. Last Saturday I fished again on Ray’s boat out of C.S. Lee, but with a cold front that moved in the night before that dropped temperatures down in to the low 40’s, high temps in the 50’s, and a 15-20mph north wind, the fish had lock jaw. We fished the heck out of the east bank near the mouth of the Econ, then down to the channel split, hit the creek mouths, then made a run up the Econ a bit to try our luck and did not find shad.
There is still a ton of water in the river which makes things challenging. The gage height remained above 5.0 feet and it was flowing at 3000cfs, so we spent the day dredging with switch rods and heavy T-11 and T-14 tips with weighted flies. We also spent a fair amount of time working all of the water column with spinning tackle. While the shad were elusive, we did find some nice eating sized specks though which saved the day. I enjoyed my consolation prize fried with a micro green salad, avocado, and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc! 😉
It seems like the rains have finally slowed (for now,) so I am looking forward to what I hope to be a strong February of catching shad. Until then, keep the specks coming!
Thanks for the repirt, Chad
I always like hearing everything about shad on the St John’s. I live in Gainesville and started fishing for shad with my dad in the middle 50’s and still try to get down a couple times a year. Waiting on a good report, I’m ready to head down to any of the shad ally boat ramp armed with spin and fly tackle to give it a try and enjoy that beautiful part of Florida.