-Plug casting for shad is a growing sport in the East. 



Florida Shad Run 



by W. D. Kennedy . . . photographs by Charles O'Rork 



THE STRANGEST character among our fresh-water game fishes 

 is the shad. 



His permanent home is not in fresh water at all, but deep in 

 the ocean. To enable him to withstand the pressure of the water 

 at the great depth where he lives, his bone structure contains an 

 amazing assortment of arches, struts, cantilevers, spreader-bars, 

 angle irons, and I-beams. He's the best engineered of all fishes. 

 And the bones may be responsible for the shad's renown among 

 epicures, for it is well known that the best meat is nearer the 

 bone. 



For some reason, shad parents find the bottom of the sea 

 unsuitable for bringing up their young. Therefore, early in the 

 spring, millions of them run up our Eastern rivers to spawn. 

 Thereupon begins a feast which, in some localities like Chesa- 

 peake Bay, rivals Thanksgiving in importance. 



After placidly devouring thousands of tons of net-caught shad 

 during the last three hundred years, the sporting world was 

 electrified a few years ago to discover that a shad would strike 

 a fly or a spoon. More than that, he is a tough, stubborn fighter 

 when hooked. 



One recent January, while we were in Orlando, Florida, the 

 news broke that the shad were running in the St. Johns River, a 

 2oo-mile swim upriver from the ocean. Thereupon the aroused 

 citizenry assembled rods, reels, outboard motors, and fish boxes 

 and took off for the fishing grounds, a few miles to the east. 



We sent Charley O'Rork, local photographer, out in a bor- 

 rowed float-plane to cover the event in color. Late the same after- 

 noon we drove over to get the story. The method was simply 



Casting from bontoons reauires techniaue and eauilibrium. 85 



