One of my favourite types of fishing when I was a kid was catching American shad in the Annapolis River of Nova Scotia. I used to be on a tight budget, so I would often have just enough shad darts to keep me going on a good days fishin' - given all the large snags in the river. One time, working on my last dart, I cast and had the top half of the rod go flying out into the river. Before I was able to reel in 15' or more of line, I hooked one of the largest shad I had nailed that year. Given the snags and the strong currents, if I had my line break I would lose fish, dart, and half my rod. I took the greatest care I ever did to land that fish, and got it by walking it alongside the river edge for nearly a half mile before bringing it in, scrambling around trees and brush all along the way. By the time I had the fish in I was soaked to my belt, scratched from head to toe, but had a great grin on my face as I had brought in a 7-8 lb female shad.

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