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December 2024 Shad Fishing Report

Last Shad of 2024

I am going to try something different this season and consolidate posts rather than trying to write about each time I am on the water. After a long search, I am starting a new job, and spare time will be at a premium for a while. I would rather focus first on fishing, then on writing, and I want to eliminate the internal pressure on myself to publish a post every week. If you tend to wait around for posts here before venturing out, don’t, just get out and fish. This year the BLOG will likely be retrospective each month. I will however continue to post pics, shorts, videos, etc. to the social media platforms along the way as I see fit.

December Scouting

I managed to get out on the water a handful of times with good friends in December to do some snipe hunting and shad fishing. While the shad fishing was slow, the hunting helped pass the time. One scouting mission Ray and I did midmonth was from 520 to Possum Bluff. Even with water levels at SR50 at 5.7ft, there was a surprising number of places to get out and fish.

The elevation on this section of river is just slightly higher than the bowl of the basin closer to SR50. That said, places like Danagher Point were still too wet to really fish the full run. Ray opted to stay in the boat. While we did not find shad, we caught red bellies, small crappie, and bluegill. I would like to explore this section of river again once the water levels drop some more, and the fish are thicker. However, I would probably put in at the James G. Bourbeau Memorial Park Boat Ramp versus the Leroy Wright Boat Ramp, as the latter is not setup really well for canoes/ kayaks. There is a steep drop off that makes loading and unloading the boat precarious.

Also, I would probably not run all the way to Possum, as it is LONG way back with the six-horse. Possum is definitely easier to reach from Toso, IF you are willing to brave the dirt roads. Powerline Road is closed indefinitely, Fish Hole Road has multiple muddy water crossings, and Long Bluff Road has deteriorated at an alarming rate. You can see at least a dozen sections of road where hogs have dug up the road under the oak trees looking for acorns and using muddy sections as wallows. We saw a lot of hogs on the way back in at dusk. Hopefully the quota hunts in the next few weeks will thin them out, but the road is going to need some work.

New Year’s Eve 2024

On New Years Eve, Todd, Ray and I continued the tradition of getting together to shad fish. We usually have the river basically to ourselves, but there was a surprising number of people out this year. Must have been the warmer weather. With the gage upstream of Lake Harney at 3.3ft, the water was still on the high side for wading, but doable. The shad fishing was slow, so Todd and I killed some time snipe hunting. We ran into two other hunters that had similar ideas. However, they clearly misidentified the bird and were shooting at a group of dowitchers… on the ground… in a mud puddle… almost dead across from each other. SMH. I did not stick around to see how it ended!

Ray and I did manage to get a December Shad each this day, but on the conventional rods. The shad seemed to like a jigged presentation and would not take a fly. However, plenty of other species were caught on the fly, and it was an outstanding way to end 2024! I am looking forward to a positive 2025 both on and off of the water!

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