My First Shad Run 2014

As the American and Hickory shad make their annual run up river, I decided I would give it a go to see what the fuss was all about. So I went on on my first chase on April 12, 2014. I managed to catch 8 shad that day. They certainly put up a good fight on light tackle.

Then chased after crappie after lunch.

Then after some largemouths, but blue cats decided to play.

I certainly had a great time out on the Occoquan River. I'll be hitting it again tomorrow. Hopefully the greenies will come out and play.

Winter Fishing at Bull Run

As December approached, I focused on crappie. I really never targeted crappie, I mainly caught them while chasing largemouth bass. One of those "oh, hey, look what I've got here", kind of things. I believe Robert Altman said it best: "I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what's on the other end. Your imagination is under there."

I began researching the best approach to keeping your lure in the target area during the winter season. Since my favorite winter hole is known to have some huge giant timber laying underneath brought down the creek from the rushing water. I wanted to minimize hang-ups, but get the lure down to the those fish in deeper water.

First, I decided to look into the slip bobber approach coupled with a dual jig rig. Since I am fishing fairly deep water, I wanted a setup that allowed me to adjust accordingly.

Second, I went with Strike King Crappie Tubes coupled with Road Runner jigs. Additionally, I filled the tubes with Berkley Crappie Nibbles. Here is the method I used to inject crappie nibbles into the tubes. The method works as you can see here.



It's been a great December and a great year of fishing. Hopefully, next year I'll be able to get a couple fresh water citations.