How many different rivers have you caught Shad?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have caught American Shad in 6 rivers so far.


The American, Feather, Yuba, and the Sacramento Rivers in California.

The Umpqua River in Oregon.

The Saint Johns River in Florida.



I still would like to catch some 'Hickory Shad' which are in some East Coast rivers and are little smaller average size than the American Shad.

[Tony Buzolich]

I've taken Shad in 5 local rivers, the American, the Feather, the Yuba, the Sac, and the Russian. Do Threadfin Shad in the Delta count? I've taken them too when they were trying to mate with my striper fly.
Tony

[Randy Lee]

Tony, I believe that is refered to as foul hooked or incidental catch on the thread fin shad. Fantastic job on the other rivers. You probably are aware there is a run on the Klamath river, of which I can not supply you with any detailes. I have never met anybody that ever caught a shad from the Klamath. Something to shoot for.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

How many US west coast rivers have American Shad runs?

California:

Sacramento
Feather
Yuba
American
Russian
Klamath

Oregon:

Umpqua

[lee s.]

Sac.
American
Yuba
Feather
Russian
Umqua
Snake
Columbia
And the same bug will work at all these waters.....makes it EASY for an OLD, Lazy, rotund person useing fly gear. ;-)
....lee s.

[Randy Lee]

I was told that some one out of the Trinity Fly Shop caught a shad a on the Trinity river. I'm not sure if it was a guide or a client. I would assume it was by swinging a fly. What was bazar about the catch is that it happened in a off season time for normal shad runs.
Randy

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I just now called the Trinity Fly Shop and crazy thing, Herb Burton himself actually answered the phone. Herb said they get Shad in the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in the spring up to the big falls. He said they actually get some in the Eel River too.

__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Herb and I go way back because I have sent people to him for over 30 years for his great destination fly shop and guide service on the Trinity River. Herb and his crew actually promote traditional metods for fly fishing for trout and Steelhead. For Steelhead they fish dries and swing wets mostly on a floating line. For trout they use dries, swing soft hackles and throw streamers. They don't promote indicator fishing so if my customers go with Herb's guide service they learn how to fly fish the old way.

http://www.trinityflyshop.com/

.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Now we have more CA rivers that have Shad for the list:

Sacramento
Feather
Yuba
American
Russian
Eel
Klamath
Trinity

I think there are some rivers that are south of Sacramento that have Shad too.

I need to talk to my old buddy Bob Nakagawa at the Sierra Angler Fly Shop in Modesto, CA.


.

[hwchubb]

Same rivers as Bill, except remove the St. John and add the Columbia - pretty incredible run there.

I grew up in CT and never fished the great runs in the Connecticut, Hudson or Delaware. Feel a little silly now.

[ycflyfisher]

There are definitely “fishable” abundance levels of shad in both the Klamath and Trinity but nowhere near what the valley rivers experience. Other than fishing at Ishi Pishi and Grays, I’ve found the Shad fishing on both rivers to be inconsistent at best. I’ve definitely had a few decent days, but many more subpar days. There’s definitely a reason why Herb has for decades(dating back to when Randy Rigdon was guiding the Yuba) done all his shad trips on the Yuba and not the Trinity:

http://trinityflyshop.com/blog/page/7/

The problem on both rivers is that you’re much more a slave to the flow and turbidity than you would be on the Sacto Valley rivers. With the Klamath currently at 5k and the Trinity at 6k you’re definitely going to want to bring an extra spool of lead core because I doubt the heads that will get you into fish on the valley rivers will be heavy enough or long enough for the KMP excluding the falls. Fairly large glo-bugs (9-10mm) and large and dark traditional SH patterns (W. Witch, Orphan, etc.) have been the ticket for me. I’d call in advance to find out what the turbidity is like on both rivers if you must go. The scenery will be more striking in the KMP than it is on the valley rivers, but the shad fishing by my account is pretty disappointing by comparison.

[Mike O]

http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=491

[dpentoney]

I've had some 20 fish days in July on the Lower Eel back in the '70s. I've also seen shad caught there in tidewater quite late while salmon fishing in September and October. I took several shad one day while fly fishing for steelhead on the Klamath below the Hwy 101 bridge. In the valley I've taken them on the Yuba and the American. I also caught one once while fisihng for perch in Humboldt Bay.