1st Shad

The Edwards family has done it again!  Jimmy Edwards of Grifton entered the First Shad of 2005 in the Grifton Shad Festival Hickory Shad Fishing Contest on Saturday, February 5.  The contest runs until noon on Wednesday, April 13 and awards will be given after the Shad Festival parade on Saturday, April 16.

”It’s just a tradition in our family,” Jimmy said as he registered the First Shad for the tenth time that a member of his family has qualified for a trophy and $25 gift certificate.  Jimmy has won First Fish honors four other times, his brother Ronald “Buddy” Edwards has won three other times, his stepfather Richard Parker won last year and Buddy’s young son Troy won First Shad Caught by a Male Youth three years ago when he was six.  Buddy also holds the record for the earliest First Shad in the festival’s 35-year history, with a fish caught on January 28 in 2001.

On February 5 Jimmy was fishing with his stepfather Richard Parker who actually caught the first shad, but “it got away”.  As soon as Jimmy registered his shad at Stoney Creek Outfitters, sponsors of the contest, he went back out on his boat to try to catch more shad, and said he planned to take his 12-year-old son Andrew out the following day to try for the First Shad by a Male Youth.

“This is the best time of the year. We enjoy getting out on the water and catching shad and frying them on the creek bank,” Jimmy said.  Catching hickory shad has been compared to catching a “baby tarpon” by some fishermen who say the shad puts up a challenging fight.

 Jimmy’s prize-winning fish this year weighed 1.53 lb. and measured 16-1/4 inches and was caught at the mouth of Contentnea Creek. He caught it on a pink and white jighead rigged with a white grub, using a Shimano rod and reel and ultra-light line.  Additional information about fishing in the Grifton area may be had by calling David Godwin, owner of Stoney Creek Outfitters, at 252-524-9800.

Other First Shad awards will be given for the first fish entered by a Female Adult, by a Male Youth (age 12 and under) and by a Female Youth.  The fish must be weighed and registered at Stoney Creek Outfitters which is near Contentnea Creek in Lenoir County on NC Highway 11 just north of its intersection with Grifton-Hugo Road.  Awards will also be given for the largest shad entered in each of the four divisions. Fish must be taken on rod and reel (not nets) and must be hickory shad, not white or American shad. They must be taken within a 15-mile radius of Grifton, from the Neuse River or one of its tributaries.

Jimmy has enjoyed fishing all his life and also likes to watch and play sports and to play cards.  He is a millwright with Mundy at the Unifi plant near Grifton (formerly the DuPont “Dacron” plant).  He is married and in addition to his son he has a daughter.

Shad are like salmon, living most of their lives in the ocean and entering coastal creeks and rivers only when the water temperature warms to a certain point. They swim upstream to spawn in the same fresh-water stream where they hatched, so the shad coming each spring to Grifton are “Coming Home” to “The Family Town” (Grifton’s slogan is “The Family Town” and this year the Shad Festival theme is “Coming Home”.)  Tagging studies have shown that the same fish which are off Florida in the winter are off Nova Scotia in the summer, having traveled over 2000 miles in the ocean.  The “shad run” in eastern North Carolina usually starts in February, peaks in March, and slows in April when most of the fish have gone further north to the Delaware River. By May they are in the Hudson River and the Connecticut River systems.

The 35th Annual Grifton Shad Festival this year will span several weeks, with most of the 35 events being held on the weekend of April 16-17.  More information about the festival may be had by visiting www.grifton.com and clicking on the drawing of a fish.  Or write to Grifton Shad Festival, P. O. Box 928, Grifton, NC 28530, e-mail edhase@aol.com or call 252-524-4356.

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