Shad Fishing 2023

Back in Middleton am fish to noon. First cast on the point fish on,my words this is not good!!! I was right caught 2 more and the fish were gone. My call lets head down river past the turn. Darcy and I. Got down and 2 casts, fish on and we spent 2.5h doing hook ups at and average of 3 casts with many double as another fisher joined us. It was a Cherry Bomb am I landed another 17 there up to the point 3 more then the bend 3 more. and heard Darcy grumble about my stops and catching fish were he had just tried . He landed 20 on spinning gear, but was trying the fly rod with no success. Darcy had brought a mini stove and we had hot tea when we took a break. A very cold am with lots of warm cloths and fishing gloves.my count 27 landed with many long arm releases. The were some 4lbers brought in with a bigger female that gave me 10min battle ,what a cow 5 lber All on a cherry bomb. Will be heading down on Sun.

Last Sun was Down for all day fish. AM fish 19 landed 8 more on and lost many doubles with a fellow fisher Noah and son of a long time fisher who knows me well. Lunch then up to the point to fish the slot. The am fish they all averaged 5 fish each the group of lobster fishermen looking for bait. I started with a dart and spent 1/2 an hour setting the hook and missing constant every cast. At the same time a fly fisher came and I invited him to fish beside me and avenge my last 1/2 hour. At the same time i switched to a midge dart and fly Game on we took turns hooking up. All tiny Shad males. What fun. Landed 21 in the am with another 15 on play off in 30sec.Fly fisher the same , a lot of short hits. Planning to go down on Sun again L2F on Sat.Next week Thru thru Mon.Long, Long Weeekend

I thought I may see you when you posted but I had no idea what L2F was! I went for my first time and was happy to be the first to arrive on the point (just before 7am) with only one other couple fishing on the outside corner. Maybe 20mins or so later another two arrived including a gentleman fly fishing at the point near me (I was also fly fishing).

Anyways I was super happy to hook my first ever shad on the fly not long after arriving. I only fished about 2.5 hours but hooked 5 fish (landing 3). The fishing seemed slow with only a hand full of folks getting fish. I felt really good getting what seemed like more consistent bites on the fly until it really died around 9:30 and the crowds showed up.

It was a fun place to fish for sure but the crowds certainly aren't for me. Fishing bright and early during the week would be the best bet for sure!

Snagthis ,if you fish a weekend either Elmsdale or Middleton there will be a crowd. I;m heading down Thru to Mon to ie fish without a crowd then in the crowd later in the weekend. I received a call from friend and as I refer to him as the arch mag of the river in fly fishing and spin. He taught me in the early 80s to spin fish then fly fishing afterwards. Wanted to know would i be down like any other year this weekend ,His Grand Daughter and son would down in the pm and help the teach her spin fishing he also had some pink tiny flys. I use. Both whom I know. Fished with his son for decades. by the way L2f--Learn to Fish, province sponsored and put on by the Hants West Wildlife Assoic. for Hants West and some of Kings Co. All schools are involve even the middle school and High school .16 seasons this year,350 kids.mostly grade 4s. Spent my day casting for them yesterday.Cast out 40y pass them the rod then coach the fighting and landing of the fish.

Was back in Elmsdale on Saturday morning for a few hours. Only managed to land 4 shad and one small stripped bass. I was at the usual spot I fish on the fly i.e. where Nine Mile River meets the Shubenacadie River. I was there by myself for the majority of the morning which was unusual. Only saw 4 other fly fishermen and a couple of guys fishing with darts at this spot. I didn't see anyone else catch anything there. However, I walked to the bridge on the Elmsdale Road where there were 6-7 guys fishing with darts. I saw only two shad being caught by them during the 30 minutes I was there. This is probably the slowest I've seen the fishing in Elmsdale for many a year. I hope I have more joy when I go to Middleton next week over the long weekend. I'll be there from Sunday morning to Wednesday afternoon.

Well the sum up of the weekend slow fishing with the exception of Mon Am Most fish caught Thru Am Pm with 60 all day then 45 Fri then 25 Sat and 40 Sun Mon Am 27. Water was cold plus the air temp were below freezing both Thru am and Fri am with frost forming a dawn on my fishing rod. Water was down but have caught fish with it lower. This am Myself Noah O andGary were at the point caught 10 along side the two as they were also getting fish . Had to switch out with Gary for the Nixtau fish but his slow retrieve didn't allow me to spin fish without hooking his line .Noah and his dad had just left to go up river and i bailed to join them. They said only caught one I jumped in and fish on. and 17- 4 to 5lbers later. We had to go Noah was into them to once I showed him were to cast. At the same time I noticed a huge crown on the main river and they were start to traverse up the Nixtau. It looked like 300 persons on the main river. Sold a lot of darts and the big hits i used were the Black and white, and Cherry bomb. Sold out plus most of pinks and White and blacks. I guess they were working really well as yesterday am I had this younger gent quietly ask me ,could he buy some of my magic darts.I replied you mead the Good Stuff. Gary fishing in the slot hollered over Stephen your not selling drugs! Yes we joked and had fun thru out the weekend. Cold water and Temps sure slowed things down and the bite. Also only once yesterday and none today swallowed the dart. No feeders all weekend.

Was in Middleton for four days from Sun-Wed and had a blast despite the tricky conditions and not quite as many fish as usual. As Stephen mentioned in his post from May 22, the fishing was made a bit more difficult by the conditions. It often felt more like early April than the 3rd week of May. I think we all had fun though. My best day was the Tuesday. I fished pretty much from 5:30am to 3pm. I don't count how many fish I get but the action was really good with periods where I'd catch a fish every few casts to perhaps one every 10 casts when things slowed down. I don't think fly colour mattered as much as getting my fly into the right spot and using the correct retrieve. Sometimes they needed a slow figure of eight, at other times it was quick short pulls and at other times long slow strips. I also caught many fish as I let the fly drop for a few seconds during the retrieve. I caught lots of fish on an all pink, all chartreuse and a white/red fly. After all the action on the Tuesday, I was expecting more of the same on the Wednesday. I only fished from 5:30am - noon on the Wednesday and the fishing was very similar to the Monday morning i.e. back to being a little slower. Once the water warms up more, I think we'll be in for better days. I might not be able to make it down this coming weekend but hopefully will get back a couple of times in June. I will likely try fishing for a few hours in Enfield/Emlsdale on Saturday. Anyone have any updates from there?