March 25th report

Hit the river again today and found spotty action. Water was very high in the morning and the temp has dropped a bit since last report. Held steady all day around 45 at the surface. Caught 3 pickerel to 24 inches and about 15 crappie. All but two were tiny, I think the breeders are staging off their spawning grounds and without sonar today was unable to locate them. Went to some fool proof spots and just picked at the small ones with a few bluegills and yellow perch thrown in. No white perch which I was hoping to get into. On the way home passed over a local creek and got out to cast around for a few minutes. Saw some splashing and thinking it was perch started fishing. Bump after bump and no hook ups until suddenly I was into a big fish. After a real tussle of five minutes or so I landed a fat shad around 3 pounds. On light tackle and 4 pound test it was a good fight. Went on to catch and release 5 shad around the same size. Funny thing none were hooked in the mouth they were all foul hooked which made the fight that much more intense. At the end I hooked into one and it was by far the biggest yet. After at least ten minutes I got it up to the bulkhead and I realized it was a huge carp of 5 plus pounds! The reason for the knock down drag out fight was the hook was not in the mouth? I had that fish hooked in the tail, lots of fun even though I didn't actually "catch" them.