I have been fishing for shad for 11 years in Tarboro. I have heard about the extraordinary shad bite at the mouth of Fishing Creek since I tied on my first Tar River shad rig. I have been bugging my boating friends to take me there. As luck would have it, I get two invitations on the same day.
Wayne Harrell promised me that when he invited me to go it would be spur-of-the-
moment, and it was. I had one hour to get myself ready, and meet him at the boat landing on River Road in Tarboro. We motored 5 miles upriver to the mouth of Fishing Creek.
Wayne anchored us in his favorite place, and the fun began, by putting out six rods
with different rigs, and let the current do the work. A rod quickly doubled over with
an anxious shad on the other end. We had steady action all afternoon with White Shad numbers far out-weighing their smaller cousins, the Hickory Shad.
Wayne “called ‘em up” several times by intentionally banging something on the boat and/or rustling the water. Much to my surprise, it worked more times than not! I thought he was joking the first time he did it.
I prefer to cast and retrieve, and did so pretty much the whole time we were out there. I was slinging my green-on-green-on-green Jimmy D Custom Shad Rig. Those shad were knocking the green paint off that jig and spoon. I was in love with life! The later in the day it got, the hotter the bite became. We left biting fish in the early evening to return home.
Wayne guesstimated we caught more than 50 fish. I had 3 doubles, and we counted 4 or 5 "Whites" in the 4-pound + range. Just a fantastic, incredible, shad fishing experience is the only way I know to describe it. Thanks for the wonderful, exciting outing Wayne-O!
