A few days ago, Dennis Covert of Columbia was carefully dismantling his fly-fishing gear alongside Deer Creek in Harford County and wondering about the shad fishing. Was he too early? He was also ...

—and even then, the action can get so crazy that I forget if I’ve landed four and lost three or vice versa or some equation that only approximates that. And then I forget that I’m trying to keep count ...

The questions usually begin in late January: "Heard anything about the shad? Anybody catching them?" Every spring American shad make their way from the ocean and head up Lowcountry rivers to spawn.