Tailrace Tarpon

American Shad fishing in the Tailrace Canal below the Lake Moultrie dam is something that we look forward to every year.  It’s a different kind of fishing.  Usually when inshore fishing we aim to pattern and find the fish – but in the case of Shad fishing we already know where they are, and it’s just plain fun to catch them.  On it’s worst day you may catch a skunk or one or two for several hours of effort.  On it’s best day you can catch one almost every cast.  Many folks, especially the old timers, keep the females for shad roe.  Others keep them for cut bait.  They are an oily fish and not often eaten.  We simply catch and release all of them.

Shad Colors

Yesterday, Ralph and I made our yearly pilgrimage along with Gregg, one of Ralph’s business vendors (and friend).

Heading Out

Fishing for them is not rocket-science.  Use any artificial lure as long as it’s 1.5 inches long and chartreuse and has an auger tail!  Surely other lures will work, but why mess with success?

Boats in Fog

When the run is on, you will not be alone.  Weekends will have 70-80 boats in a small area, and this can make for entertainment value that is worth the price of admission, so long as you are not caught up in the drama.

Ralph Hooked Up

A shad’s bite is very subtle and if you have a good feel (and proper equipment) you will out-fish your friends.  It’s actually very good practice for speckled trout fishing.  Shad also have a paper thin mouth and you will lose them if you pull too hard – another parallel to trout fishing.

Scale Colors

Pound for pound they are a very strong fish and will often pull drag and even jump like their namesake “Tailrace Tarpon”.

Bent Rod

For equipment, use the lightest gear you own to increase the fun and challenge.  We often use crappie rods that will literally bend 180 degrees, paired with size 1000 reels and 6 to 8 lb fluoro or mono line.  This makes the fight very fun!

Dave Shad Greg Shad

It’s not too late to go enjoy the run before it ends for another year.  Give it a try, its a lot of fun.

Dave and Ralph Dave and Gregg

 

Oceans East Bait and Tackle in Virginia Beach

Oceans East Virginia Beach

We are now stocking Trout Eye jig heads to Ocean’s East Bait and Tackle in Virginia Beach, VA!

Oceans East is not your average big box store. Our staff have passion and experience.  Oceans East is a Hampton Roads landmark, located off of Northbound Route 13 (Northampton Blvd) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Oceans East started as a small tackle shop no bigger than a 2 car garage in 1982. Since then it has grown to become a popular destination for fisherman, hunters and sportsman. Oceans East has over 10,000 sqft of inshore and offshore, freshwater and saltwater  fishing merchandise and apparel as well as a knowledgeable staff of experts.

March Fishing

If I had to pick a least favorite month to fish in Charleston, it would be March. The rapidly fluctuation, and mostly warming, water temps seem to have the fish in between patterns. The trout are not quite yet getting ready to spawn so they are not super aggressive. I seem to struggle more in March than any month.

I’ve had a lot going on recently and can’t fish this coming weekend, so I decided to play hooky and fish yesterday. Forecast 80F and windy: 15 kts and gusty. You can always hide in the creeks and that was my plan. I had low expectations and hit the water with a plan to enjoy the warm air and catch just one fish.

My first 2 hrs on the water resulting in not even one bite. I kept moving and trying to find a pattern, and eventually caught a rat-red. From there on, things improved. Shortly thereafter I caught a 22″ red and after that I got a nice ‘tick’ and a screaming run. It turned out to be the fattest striper I have ever seen (or caught). It was 24″ and 7 lbs, now that’s a football! Turns out it was not a full belly as I had originally thought, but rather it’s a male fat with sperm (thanks to my friends who striper fish the lakes for this information). He hit a gold TroutEye jig on a Gulp jerk shad.

Striper1 Striper2 Striper with Jig

I threw a bucktail tied on a TroutEye jig in this same hole and caught a 25″ red on it. We have been experimenting with the classic bucktail tied on our jig heads and they seem to work really well! We are not sure if we are going to make this a product or not – we’ll see.

IMG_20150304_124438219 IMG_20150304_130710051

Around another corner I had 3 strikes and misses on trout. I tried a variety of baits and guess what sealed the deal? Yep- a bucktail. Ended up catching 6 trout – all keeper size. I kept one and released the rest.

IMG_20150304_131704029
This has proven to be a “killer combo” – our Gold TroutEye paired with a Z-Man 3.75 StreakZ in Ralphs Shad color

Totals for the day:

  • 5 reds (to 26″)  4 reds tagged and released.
  • 6 trout (to 17.5″)
  • 1 football striper (24″, 7lbs) fin-clipped and released.

Needless to say, my expectations were far exceeded!  It was a fun day despite the strong winds and dirty water.

 

In other news, we have delivered our first order to Z-Man and you should start seeing Z-Man branded TroutEye jigs in stores and media soon.

Joey from Z-Man spent a day fishing in Tampa with C.A. Richardson from Flats Class TV recently, and they had some good things to say about our jigs.

flats class

Tight Lines Everyone
-Dave

No way!

As if catching a sheepshead on our gold TroutEye jighead last week wasn’t surprising enough, this weekend our friend Martin caught an even rarer catch while fishing with Captain Willy Le of Native Fly Charters in the Mosquito Lagoon. Martin was fishing a Z-Man MinnowZ rigged on a gold Trout Eye jighead and hooked a 4 lb Mullet! It was hooked clean in the mouth meaning he was eating it. Crazy stuff! Great catch Martin!

MulletGoldEye

 

Here is a list of species that we have caught on our jigheads

  • Spotted Seatrout
  • Southern Flounder
  • Red Drum
  • Striper
  • Spanish Mackerel
  • Sheepshead
  • Gar
  • Arkansas Blue Catfish
  • Largemouth Bass
  • Mullet
  • Pinfish
  • Ladyfish
  • Spot
  • Oyster Toadfish
  • Black Sea Bass
  • Bluefish
  • Jack Crevalle

I may be forgetting some, but needless to say they have wide appeal.  Let us know if you have a notable species catch not listed!