I took the day off from work on Friday, 3/30, and drove from Chapel Hill to Weldon, NC, to fish for Hickory Shad on the Roanoke River.  It’s about a 2 hour drive; left home at 8AM and pulled into the parking lot just before 10AM.  Rigged up, carried the pontoon boat to the river, and headed out to a spot right at the “big rapid” where the shad bunch up  before they continue upstream.  The morning was crisp; there was frost in my neighborhood as I left, but it was about 50F when I reached Weldon.  I rowed across the river and anchored in the eddy.  I first tried a yellow/orange fly, as my nearest neighbor was catching fish on a gold spoon on his spinning outfit.  However, I didn’t get a hookup, so I changed to the hot pink fly that’s served me well at Weldon in the past (pink ice chenile body, pink bucktail wing, and pink kyrstal flash on a size 6 or 8 hook, with bead chain eyes).  I was soon catching fish!  The fish varied in size today, from about 14″ to 18+”.  The larger fish were very thick and strong, and jumped and dove when hooked.  I managed about 20 fish in 3 hours.  The bite tapered off after 1PM, so I rowed back across the river and headed home.  A beautiful, bluebird day…light wind, clear skies, spring greens in the trees, fish, and a cold beer at the end of the day.  Damn, I need to do this more often 😉