St. Johns River Shad Fishing Report
I’ve been getting ready for salmon fishing.
Upcoming Events
Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar March 14
Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar March 15
Sunday I went solo, in the Bang-O-Craft, scouting on the St. Johns River. Since the CS Lee ramp is closed I used the one at SR 50. All I found was a single shad, not very encouraging. But I saw Brian Eastman out there, and Mark Thomas, and Dave Lear, and Mark Benson. So the excursion was hardly a waste, quite the opposite. It was good to see all those guys. It had been years since I saw MT and Dave.
Monday Mr. Joe Xu of Beijing was my fisherman for a St. Johns shad trip. After Sunday I had my doubts, but we hit them right away, using small crappie jigs and the 1/8th ounce Pixie. After getting more than a dozen we went catfishing. What I don’t know about catfishing would fill lots of books, but Joe managed to get a six pound channel cat and a big bluegill, too. We also hooked and lost another catfish. Fishing was very good, and the day was gorgeous.
Mr. Xu, proud owner of a six pound channel cat.
Tuesday long-time friend Rodney Smith met me at the St. Johns boat ramp and we went off shad fishing in the Bang-O-Craft. Again, we hit them right away. After a dozen or so we tried catfishing for almost two hours with but a bullhead to show for our efforts. So we went back to shad fishing for our last half hour and got five or six more. I even got a double. So the shad are still a going concern.
Rockin’ Rodney with a St. Johns River American shad.
Friday I had an afternoon half day booked with Joel Sanders and his buddy Dave. It was about 55 degrees when they showed up. The flags were snapping and the lagoon looked like a washing machine. Dave was wearing shorts. Since he had just got here from Maine he said it felt like a heat wave. It did not feel like a heat wave to me- I was freezing.
Since the weather was obvious when I left home I had brought the shad tackle and suggested that we shad fish instead of trying the lagoon. They opined that might be a good idea so we did.
The fish were biting. It was not spectacular but it was very steady. We were using 1/16th ounce crapping jigs with tiny twisty tails in hot pink and chartreuse. We probably got close to 20 in just under four hours.
Son Alex wants to go today. The weather is again looking pretty iffy so I guess we’ll see…
And that is this week’s St. John’s River shad fishing report from Spotted Tail.
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short- Go Fishing!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
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All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2015. All rights are reserved.
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