Haven't been out to the Jewel in a month or two so I wanted to see if the shad bite was in full swing. I was 8th car in line and the gates promptly opened at 540 am. Felt bad for the guy first in line at the gate that needed a jump...lol. Everyone just went blowing by him.
I just wanted to fish a few hours before the sun overwhelmed me. Fished the first point and cove looking down from the marina to the right. This is the first time I've shore fished....kinda fun actually. I normally do the Bass Taxi on the rentals but all my friends were tied up and I had the bug. Got the new Punker in the mail yesterday and I wanted to dial it in.
Too make a long story short, saw a few fish busting shad in the cove. Started chucking the Punker all over the place for nada. Then a small hook up on the Plunker. An LMB the size of the Plunker. I think he wanted to play. Thought I saw a small striper boil out by the buoy line about 400 yards out that lasted about 30 seconds. Obviously couldn't cast anywhere near it. Threw the Punker until about 9am...then switched over to my shad reps. No takers on my secret shad baits.....lots of followers though. Switched to the nail rig and started hammering them. Biggest was 3 pounds......lost about a 4 pounder in the weeds. Really tough to fish light gear from the shore over there. The bigger ones head straight for the weeds when you hook set. Caught 7 more on the nail rig. Oh well it was fun.
Saw a few asian guys running around with dip nets. I did see a few schools of shad cruising around and the fish are def feeding on them.....just not wide open yet. I kept watching them swing the nets into the water.......I think they picked up a few here and there. Didn't see them catch anything with the bait though.
You guys that shore fish.........PM me will ya and give me the 411 on where to go. I think I should have went to the left.....but I didn't want to walk for miles. I only live 15 minutes from the lake so I'm going to shore it more often until my wife lets me buy my boat. Thanks for reading and here's a few pictures....................
What the hell is this?
Until next time...thanks for reading!
