This shad mistook Muddler for a minnows.

I’m into catch-and-release but if a female shad dies on the hook, I eat the roe. My wife, who can’t stand the smell of it, leaves home for the occasion (success at last!). Anyway, I’m alone in the kitchen with a skillet full of hot bacon grease when the phone rings. It’s Phil again with news of the run.

“Two of my friends just caught 60. Come again if you’d like.”

I enjoy fishing with Phil, and with an offer like that? Did he mind if I brought a friend?

I called Dave Hunt, who’d “shadded” before, albeit with disappointing results. This time would be different.

It was indeed. We ended up catching several dozen on minnow imitations, including one I kept for dinner. When I opened her up, out popped a 2-inch-long sailfin molly minnow.

I returned a week later, determined to finally prove my point. This time, I’d carry the waking business to its conclusion by combining the properties of buoyant deer hair and marabou, in pink for maximum visibility. The result was a tiny cigar-shaped fly that I affectionately dubbed Little Richard. Remember the late, flamboyant 1950s rock and roller? (For instructions on tying this fly, see At the Vise in this issue.)

The results were incredible. If uncooperative shad had occasionally risen to my Muddler, they slammed Richard with a vengeance. I was getting three and four strikes a cast from fish that were skyrocketing like miniature kingfish. Somersaulting shad? You bet. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t get much better than this.

After years of wondering, I consider the case closed. The plain truth (and there’s enough of it to go around) is that a couple of good ol’ Florida boys succeeded in de-bunking a hundred years worth of Yankee wisdom. I like the sound of that.

It isn’t the first time that’s happened, which just goes to show that even during periods of increased fishing pressure and diminished resources, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Shad were always considered “fun” or “entertaining.” Now they’ll be “hot” or “thrilling.”

Phil and I can hardly wait.

FS