By James Friend Dickerson
On a visit to see some North Carolina cousins, two of us slipped away from the family visit, heading to a small coastal river. The Hickory Shad were beginning their annual spawning run so we planned to catch a few. I’d never fished for Hickory Shad and was excited to be included in the adventure.
We found a great spot in Windsor, NC and fished along side several folks who were playing hooky from work, plus a few retired gentlemen of leisure. My first catch produced a double herring hook up! We ended up catching and releasing over 30 herring since they were protected. I had wanted to compare herring and shad roe, but it wasn’t meant to be this trip.
After catching several herring doubles, I landed my first Hickory Shad. Fun fishing on light line. We ended up catching quite a few shad and releasing most, but keeping three for the roe and dinner.
Prior to dinner, my fishing partner baked the shad roe to perfection. He’s given me permission to share this recipe:
Bacon Wrapped Shad Roe
Shad Roe Sacks
Bacon
Salt & Pepper
Lemon Juice
No Stick Spray
Clean and rinse the roe sacks. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each roe sack, then drizzle with lemon juice. Wrap each sack in a piece of bacon. Use two pieces of bacon if the roe sack is really big – you never can have too much bacon! Put a piece of tin foil on a baking pan and spray it with no stick spray. Place the bacon wrapped roe sacks on the foil and sprinkle with more pepper to garnish. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes or until the bacon is done.
Another great fishing trip in the books! When fishing, don’t forget to make memories with children and grandchildren!