| May 7, 2008 |
Anglers at Rocks Village in W. Newbury and in N. Anover behind the dance studio are reporting good numbers of fish. This is good news considering the less than favorable water quality issues. So as water levels, temperature and stain levels approach more normal conditions, the shad run should become even better. If you recall, last season, the shad run was well below expectations. Best bets are wading the shoreline and casting shad darts (or egg sinkers with a barrel swivel) with a gold willow leaf spoon dropper. Fish the bait slow and close to the bottom. Best times are from the top of the tide through the drop. At present, with the continued rain and snow pack run off, very little change in water depth from the incoming tide will be noticeable. Boat anglers should set up closer to shore than they might normally do. The strong water flow is keeping the shad in tight to shore. If fly fishing, use full sink lines, 200 grain during the strong current flow and then change out to a shorter sink tip. You best bet is a tandem fly set up with a cone head at the tippet and dropped to a single un-weighed trailer and fish the rig slow and close to the bottom. When water conditions return to normal, adjustments will be necessary for success.    Last weekend brought the official start to striper season at Cape Ann. Local anglers Porter B. and Al W. took a few stripers at Candy House flat. Both anglers took fish at the bottom of the outgoing tide using weighed soft plastics. Now we are not talking numbers of fish, only one or two per angler, but look for numbers to gradually increase through this week and into next week. Steve P and I landed our first early season stripers this week as well. The stripers we landed were good sized, 24+ inches with full bellies. I took my fish on a “Trickster” pattern fished slow on an intermediate fly line and Steve took his two fish with a blueback Fiord spoon. Steve and I did note a good supply of silver sides and alewives were present in the river. This is a real good sign of better fishing to come.  |
