for over 30 years i've lived near the tar river, in pitt county,
greenville, nc. the name of the river dates back centuries to the pine
forest pitch trade in this area. it's a long river that bleeds its brown
flow into the pamlico river, which goes to the pamlico sound.

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/ncflood/maps.html
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/melody...iverbank12.jpg
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/melody...owncommon3.jpg
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/melody...iverbluff8.JPG


once an inland water highway frequented by commercial barges,
steamboats, and paddlewheels, the tar is becoming a backyard to
riverfront developments and recreation along its lower stretches.
still, there are spots of low wetlands secure from any growth except
cypress, tupelo poplar, birch, gum, deer, squirrel, turkey, racoon,
otter, beaver, duck, osprey, a few eagles...and fish.

i've rarely flirted with it because of the abundance of other waters
that i thought more productive, remote, serene. In the 60s, several of
us youthful idiots canoed it around the grimesland area (yeah, i know,
"tar", "pitt" "grime" aint a pretty image) to collect snakes - poisonous
and non-poisonous - that sunned in trees and on logs along the river. 20
years ago, i participated in a catfishing rodeo on the river and did a
bit of bass fishing in one of its tribs. 3 years ago, i launched my
gheenoe at the city town common and puttered about in february,
unexpectedly catching a large striped bass near a 4-lane concrete
bridge. still, it's never been of much interest to me as a fisherman.
i've ignored it, lured instead by the more pleasant mountain streams,
the bass in hyde county's backcountry impoundments, the speckled trout,
puppy drum and flounder in the sound and salt marshes, and, more
recently, the bigguns in offshore sal****er.

that changed yesterday. the tar will be among my annual fishing venues
from now on.

during the annual shad runs between late february and early april, jim
(my friend and fishing mentor) and i have focused our fishing on the
neuse river and the roanoke river. shad are a great game fish, even
though not difficult to catch once a productive seam is located. when
the water warms and the spawn is on, they attack a lure, leap, and fight
as well as any fish their size, imo. the roanoke, about 35 minutes to
the north, is world-renown and well-visited for shad and rock. the
neuse, especially its tribs, pitch kettle and contentnea, are also
popular for shad. these rivers are easier to navigate than the tar, and,
until yesterday, i thought more productive. i should have known better,
since i knew the far upriver stretch of the tar was the site of the
state white/american shad record. so, yesterday, jim and i decided to
give the tar a try. it was a good decision.

we launched at a local landing east of greenville and headed upstream,
stopping first at small creek entering the river's north side by the
remnants of an abandoned landing that was probably more than a century
old. the old wood poles used to construct the outer edge of the
landing, too small to be called pilings, had rooted and sprouted a
bansai form of cypress trunk and branches. we caught 10 or 15 healthy
shad in less than an hour. we were both a bit surprised...especially by
the size and fight of the fish. they were much gamier than the shad we
had been catching in the neuse tribs.

we are impatient fishermen. not necessarily impatient about the
catching, but always impatient in our surroundings. we like to move a
lot and to see what might be around the next bend or over the horizon.
the river is a bit more treacherous upstream of greenville, with
shallows suddenly appearing in its middle sections along with floating
and fallen timber and hull-jarring, propeller-bending snags. i'd not
been upstream of greenville before, so we idled along, finding the
deepest channels while sometime hitting bottom or a snag. we stopped
once at a deep hole by a railroad bridge, hooking a couple more before
picking up and moving again. all along the river at the few accessible
points on the banks were solitary fishermen, primarily
african-americans, though we did encounter a young mexican and his two
children at the railroad bridge. there were a lot of folks at the
greenville town common, doing the asshole-to-elbow fisherman's dance.
all seeking shad, some also hoping for catfish or striped bass. we saw
only 4 or 5 other boats during our travel upriver, west of greenville.

we finally settled into a spot at a bend in the river with a deep hole.
in about an hour or two, we caught more than 40 shad, hickory and a few
american. we probably lost that same number. they were healthy and
strong. jim caught 2 huge whites on his ultra-light spinning rig, and i
caught a couple on my light tackle, that made the drag sing on several
short runs. at times, the fish leap and shake their head like a tarpon,
and i had one come out of the water on the take. these fish were more
plentiful, more fun on the hook, stronger and bigger, than those we had
been catching in the neuse...and we were catching more "roe" shad than
bucks. i'll post a couple pics on abpf.

it was as fine a day of catching fish as any normal soul could hope for,
better than most would expect, and it certainly proved my error in
disparaging and neglecting the tar. shaddin-freud indeed...i oughta have
my id examined.

jeff