Shad fishing

[Monello]

Before you know it shad fishing will be upon us. The closest place to southern MD for shad is Fletcher's cove in DC. There is a small run in PG county off of rt. 301. The best shad fishing can be found below the conowingo dam at the head of the bay.

When the shad are running timing is crucial. They are temperature dependent spawners. A gradual warming of the water is more advantageous to anglers as the fish come in small waves. A quick and drastic rise in water temperatures and they will all move to spawn at once.

Shad fishing in DC & MD is catch & release only. It's great sport as these are feisty battling fish.

Anyone interested in knowing more on catching shad can go to the trout unlimited meeting on Wednesday, March 9th to hear fro local experts on all you need to know.

This year the theme for Shad Night is: Potomac Shad: What's Old is New Again. Over the last decade the rebounding runs of hickory and American shad have drawn an ever-increasing number of anglers to the river from Fletcher's Cove to Chain Bridge. The excitement over the shad run is a new experience for many but actually continues a long tradition going back to the earliest days of our country. Our first speaker, Jim Cummins, of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, led the successful effort to restore American shad and is an expert on the natural history and abundance of American shad in the Potomac. Following Jim's look at the history behind our fascination with shad, we will hear from Mike Alper, himself a colorful piece of that history, shown in the picture above from 1967. In over sixty-five years of shad fishing at Fletcher's Cove Mike has seen it all, improved upon every technique he ever observed and invented numerous creative ways to fish from a boat in any river condition. Better still, Mike loves to pass on what he knows and share amazing stories with anyone that drops anchor nearby.

[h=1] For Shad Night, we plan to start the special program early at 6:30 (1830), and continue past 9:00 (2100). At our regular Chapter meetings, the social hour is at 7:30, and the speaker program begins at 8:00.
Chapter meetings are held at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Services Building, 4805 Edgmoor Lane, downtown Bethesda, MD (right behind the Bethesda Metro station). Public parking at 75 cents per hour is available in the County parking garage below the building.[/h]

shad video