I caught a break in the weather last Sunday and had almost three hours of fishing rain free and before the river really started to rise and muddy up. I was right above the fall line on the Fredericksburg side using an ultra light and a chartreuse jig head / grub. The fish seemed to want it reeled rather fast to get any hits but once I figured it out I probably ended up catching about 18 fish. One of them was 19 inches and a heck of a lot of fun to catch. Here's some pictures.. O and for anyone that's been shad fishing a lot, you know how you always have to catch at lest one random other species while your out.. On my second cast I tail hooked a catfish.. talk about a fight.  

Here's some other pic's

Another..

wow, nice. I wish I could get in on that action.

How far down the Rappahannock do you think the shad are right now? I have access to part of the river from a friends property but not sure what to expect from it. It's south of fredricksburg.

It looks like so much fun, I'd hate to miss it.

They were def. in force around the Fredericksburg area, I suspect the rain from last weekend will cause some high muddy water for a while making fishing a bit difficult.  But with the removal of the dam in Fredericksburg they should be found further up the river as time goes by.

Great fish! Those shad sure do fight... Any American/White shad or were they all hickories?

All Hickory

Probably be a couple more years before the fry the VDGIF stocked get big enough to return up the Rapp. They did the same in the Occoquan a year after the Rapp, I can't wait to fish for Americans in the Rapp and Occoquan. They are a blast in the Potomac.

Where is the best place to catch shad? I have been wanting to go after them to have some good catfish bait but I have never known where to fish or what to use.