# St Johns River - Shad & More



## TwoKids (Jan 2, 2013)

My father in law and I went out for an action packed couple hours on the St. Johns River this evening to try to catch some crappie.  Well, no specks but what we did catch made for one of the most unique trips ever.  The Shad were thick tonight on the river bend just east of Lake Jessup. I would say not a few here and there but a large school. We caught 6 in about an hour and really weren't targeting them. Tons of fun to catch. Couple other boats around us were hooking up as well.  Then one of the trolling lines, a beetle spin tipped with a minnow doubles over and starts pulling steady drag.  After a 10 minute fight all we wanted to do is at least get a visual of what it is before it spits the hook, finally this river monster surfaces.  I know its just a gar but it was this one was huge.  Never thought I'd be taking a pic of someone holding a gar but this one was worthy.










Five minutes after landing that gar another one of the trolled lines hooks up again, the bite was on.  Whatever was coming in had some weight to it, what could a beetle spin dragging the bottom in 20' of water just snagged; maybe this was the elusive 3 lb crappie, another gar, a shad, maybe catfish, negative; this one was fighting a little different than the typical fish.... Up comes just what we expected, a .22 made by a company called Grendel Inc, full of mud and rust, been down there for years. LOL, that's what I love about fishing, you just never know....


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## Recidivists (May 9, 2011)

Looks like the gun from Videodrome.


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## Rediculous (May 5, 2012)

Are you planning on take that thing to the cops? I'm willing to bet, that it's been involved in at least one murder. It would be radical if you solved a murder, trolling for crappie.


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## RedAnt78 (Sep 20, 2012)

+1 on taking it to the cops. I doubt many people "lose" a gun in a lake by accident. What an awesome find!


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## TwoKids (Jan 2, 2013)

Absolutely. Called the seminole county sheriff office when we got home. An Oviedo cop arrived at my door within 10 min. Gave him the lat/lon and filled out a report. He says they run the #s to see if anything comes up. The officer talked about the Michelle Parker missing person case (heart wrenching case), he says they found some evidence related to that case about a mile away in Lake Jesup, I think he said it was dumped from a car off the bridge though. Most likely not related but I'm sure this weapon does have some interesting history related to it.


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## sickz284u (Mar 8, 2012)

> Absolutely. Called the seminole county sheriff office when we got home. An Oviedo cop arrived at my door within 10 min. Gave him the lat/lon and filled out a report. He says they run the #s to see if anything comes up. The officer talked about the Michelle Parker missing person case (heart wrenching case), he says they found some evidence related to that case about a mile away in Lake Jesup, I think he said it was dumped from a car off the bridge though. Most likely not related but I'm sure this weapon does have some interesting history related to it.



I was good friends with Michelle Parker. I know her ex well and her 3 kids. They found her cell phone in a lake. It was close to their home in east orlando. They found her Hummer near the Mall at Millenia. I am still hoping for the family's sake they get some closure on this one day. I still talk to her brother Dustin and sister Lauren whenever I get a chance. It's really a sad story.


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## cosgrcs (Mar 11, 2012)

I am wanting to try and fish the shad run on the fly this year, anyone have any advice on this?


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## Barbs_deep (Jul 4, 2010)

If you were east of jessup, there used to be a small piece of land there with some trailers on it before they redid the bridge a few years back. I would be willing to say that gun has some significance to it. Pretty interesting….


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## jeross (Jun 6, 2009)

Land options exist ... a boat will open more of that land and the river up to you. The narrow stretch just upstream of Lake Jessup until about Mullet Lake Park is known as "Shad Alley". Farther south one of the most popular places is just south of the SR. 46 bridge (south of Lake Harney) just downstream from the mouth of the Econlockhatchee River. Open pasture on the banks and 3 to 4 feet of water depth.


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## JaxLaxFish (Aug 23, 2010)

> I am wanting to try and fish the shad run on the fly this year, anyone have any advice on this?


First Coast Fly Fishers are going down this weekend for an outing hosted by the Orlando Club. It was a good learning experience for me last year. Feel free to PM me if you're interested


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## TwoKids (Jan 2, 2013)

Cold, windy and rainy on the river today.  Only a couple shad but the bass fishing was good.  My son caught his first striper today south of the econ.  Great fighters but never realized how much slime those stripers produce.


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## McFly (Jan 17, 2007)

Good job, never caught a striper before!  And you guys are hardcore, it rained all day, and I never left the house!   

Quality stuff right there!


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## fishicaltherapist (Mar 9, 2013)

Forever memories with kids. Keep them fishing!!! [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif]


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