Ran the Neuse up from Goldsboro today around Ferry bridge. The river is up a couple feet here. Holes are a bit blown out and the fish are not holding like they normally would. Shad fishing makes me feel like I'm back home in Alaska. They really are not much, if any different than a salmon or steelhead run and run a river the same way.
Last week the river was actually quite low, about 2-3ft in the straight stretches and its now showing 5.6-7ft on the fish finder in the same spots. With the low water it was pretty easy, it made them hold up in holes and rest and move when they wanted (usually less movement on sunny days and hold longer). Now with the higher water they seem to be just blasting through and are scattered. I saw the Wildlife boat come through with the shocking system and in all the river I could see them working, about 3/4-1 mile from the bend I was on, I only saw them pull one shad as they shocked the holes they normally do.
I'm no shad expert but I'm feeling pretty confident in saying that I think what we were seeing was just the tip of the run and the low water conditions just made it seem like more than it was as it caused them to hold longer. If they were in as thick as I've heard on some sites then they should still be found in some concentrations even with the high water. I'm sure they get thicker down stream a ways but up here they are just not here in numbers yet. I'm sure the high water will help and as it goes down they will start holding up again but I'm gonna give it a week before attempting it again.
Last week the river was actually quite low, about 2-3ft in the straight stretches and its now showing 5.6-7ft on the fish finder in the same spots. With the low water it was pretty easy, it made them hold up in holes and rest and move when they wanted (usually less movement on sunny days and hold longer). Now with the higher water they seem to be just blasting through and are scattered. I saw the Wildlife boat come through with the shocking system and in all the river I could see them working, about 3/4-1 mile from the bend I was on, I only saw them pull one shad as they shocked the holes they normally do.
I'm no shad expert but I'm feeling pretty confident in saying that I think what we were seeing was just the tip of the run and the low water conditions just made it seem like more than it was as it caused them to hold longer. If they were in as thick as I've heard on some sites then they should still be found in some concentrations even with the high water. I'm sure they get thicker down stream a ways but up here they are just not here in numbers yet. I'm sure the high water will help and as it goes down they will start holding up again but I'm gonna give it a week before attempting it again.