American River Thur 6-19

[LE0]

We had a light cloud cover this evening. I thought the bite might pick up. But the bite was even slower than yesterday until late in the evening. Very few fish were caught until 15 minutes after the sun went down (8:30 pm!). Then things blew up. Shad were boiling (spawning) everywhere. There were double hook ups for a short time. For the few of us that stuck it out, it paid off. Over all I have to say there are not a lot fish in the river. The word must have gotten out from Wed to Thur because there were ½ as many fisherman Thur than Wed.

Lets keep our fingers crossed more fish will come in…

[Jet]

My son and I went out on our first trip for Shad on Thurs too. We were skunked. Went to Goethe Park and had the whole place to our selves. Got lost when we first arrived. I thought since there were no fisherman we were in the wrong place. So we headed to Sunrise and ran into a few fisherman we could ask some tips. My son was still wadered up so he fished the late bite and siad he had a lot of grabs but no fish landed. Not sure what the crownd will be like on a Sat but we may give it another shot tonight.

Tight Lines,

Jet

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Be sure to keep you rod tip pointed down to the water and at the fish so when they hit you will get hooked up.

Fish right up till dark.

I like AM and PM best.

Twitch the fly as it swings down and across.

Smaller flies seem to be good.

I would use a 7'6" leader to 2x tippet.

Shad are usually shallow morning and evening in the low light and deep mid-day.

[Jet]

Thanks Bill. I'll let you know how it goes tonight.

Joe

[Bob Laskodi]

Good advice from Bill. But he forgot the most important one of all! Fish a Wet Pinky as your fly!!! :D

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Right on Bob,

Dave Howard's 'Wet Pinky' in a small size it pretty hot.........

[Jet]

Joey and I hit the American in search of Shad. It was well over 100+ on the drive to the river and we arrived early 3:30pm to claim a spot. There were very few fisherman. We fished for a while and hid in the shade waiting for the sun to set. We ran into Jeff C and Bruce on the river. They gave us some tips and showed us some new patterns. The bite turned on once the sun set and I was able to hook and land 2. Joey how ever did not get any hook-ups and lost several flies on the bottom. Jeff and Bruce did much better with their switch rods and small flies. We saw AndyG from Kienes but did not get to talk with him. I guess we'll be back after we tie up some new flies and we may need to get a single handed Spey casting lession/refersher.

Tight Lines,

Joe

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks for the report JET

I would go out really early, (5-9am) or late (6-9pm).

In this heat early and late is best for most fisheries.

[Jeff C.]

Thursday evening was a bust for me. Got skunked along with a lot of other people. Friday I went snowboarding and fished for brookies in the evening. Got over 60 in 3 hours. Saturday evening it wasn't very crowded since guess the word got out that it's been really slow. Sunday evening I was the only one out and only got one.

Jeff C.

P.S. Jet, It was nice to finally meet you and Joey. It must be nice to have a son that is so stoked on fly fishing.

[Jgoding]

I saw a lot of rafters yesterday evening and some of them mentioned seeing shad and that most people fishing had caught some. We forgot to check the bridge to see if any where there too but I didn't see any surface activity but I wouldn't expect any shad to be where I was fishing anyways.

[Finsane]

Don't give up on Shad. 2 of us hooked way too many fish last nite at Goethe. Lots of small fresh males. Flows are dropping fast, so wading is getting easier. They opened the gates yesterday at Nimbus, which in turn adds oxygen, which turns on the bite. This may be my last Shad report of the season as I'm off to the South Fork of the Snake. Maybe they will still be around when I get back.