Nice day thought... Caught the biggest shad I ever saw. Had to be 4 pounds. The scurge of the North River has followed me south.... Never saw such aggressive shad. These things would hit anything. The herring were going nuts - scared to death! Some of the "big" ones actually do look like small Tarpon!! Boy do they smell....
The Blue I lost (I assume it was as I never really saw it!) was the strongest fish I ever had on a fly rod. This thing took off and before I new it had striped off 1/2 my backing - I had visions of an empty reel. Only reason I didn't think it was an Albie was that it was slow moving. Clean cut of leader was the other!! Definately maxed out my 8wt. What fun. Made the fatal mistake of putting too much palm pressure on the reel when the thing was nearing the Azores <g>...
We did watch some nice blitz action off shore and closer to Newport (on the way down...), and again near Bristol (Mike D. knows were!!).