Wolfgang wrote:

Standing on the stoop a couple of minutes ago (while waiting for the oven to
heat up and the water on the stove to boil) I heard that old familiar
song........the first robin of the (impending) spring!

Wolfgang
yippee!



....indeed...and, yesterday at daybreak i set out for pitch kettle creek
to take the measure of the shad run. while my efforts over half a day
established that at least 6 shad were returning to their spawning area,
a fella who most certainly had made a pact with the devil (i mean, why
wasn't the ******* in church on a sunday morning?) caught more than 40
in my presence. while i always thought shad weren't very discriminating
in what they reflexively struck (since they aren't eating), apparently
they do have some things that trigger the response more than others. he
was using a different spoon size and rig than everyone else in the area.
water is still hovering around 50 degrees, but the run has definitely
started in the neuse/pitch kettle area. haven't heard much about the
roanoke yet.

jeff