Tons of American Shad in the Lower American River.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Here is an email from an old friend:

"On Wednesday morning I was walking my dog along the the American river and crossed back across the old Fair Oaks bridge. I always look down scouting for fish and noticed a few people on the upstream side of the bridge looking down in the water and pointing. I walked on over, looked down and saw the biggest school of Shad that I've ever seen. There were literally thousands of Shad! The school was about 50' wide and a long as I could see. Amazing sight.
Mike W"



**Flows will be perfect for wading or boat fishing on July 3, 2017.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Unfortunately, that's what downrunner shad do...
They form massive balls to protect themselves from cormorants and stripers...
That usually happens in late July through August.
In high water years, the shad leave sooner and faster,
I would say that with the flows we saw this year, the exodus is already happening in June.
There's still tons of shad all up and down the river but they likely won't be for long...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Many dead ones yet?



Looks like Andy Guibord is guiding 7 days a week now for Shad.

[winxp_man]

I have not seen one spent hen yet. I know the temps the hens let their eggs go is between 58-62. But here on the American is seems to be 60-62.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Many dead ones yet?



Lots of spawned out fish.

This year is kind of an unknown. Shad vacate earlier and faster in high water years but this year, water was/is so high, there could be a second wave of up-runners and thus a sustained shad run.

My gut is that it will come to an end early.

Nature takes full advantage of optimal breeding conditions. Nature also takes advantage to ensure optimal survival of parents (and especially females) as well as offspring.

That's why males of anadromous fish populations usually enter the spawning grounds of a river first and out-migrate to the ocean last. Nature has set up males to be more expendable than females... so they come upriver early and set up territories so that when the girls get in, they optimize their chances at spreading their progeny. The females carry the eggs and have a limited number of them so must make them count (compared to males who have unlimited seed, sperm, milt and can fertilize the eggs of multiple hens).

It is not in the best interest of a female shad to prolong her stay in the river once her eggs have been fertilized since she is iteroparous (spawns more than once in a lifetime) carrying eggs/genes for future generations.

That's why the females usually leave the river before the males do.

The same thing happens in bars for the most part... Early on, there's guys everywhere.... then the 'honeys' show up, some pair up and leave together, a lady will talk to a select guy or two, the guys will flirt with anyone and everyone with boobs and try to get lots of numbers or a lucky trip somewhere... By 1:30 am, you're hard-pressed to find a gal but there's still 100 guys at the bar, drinking their sorrows away....

Yes, somewhat sexist generalization but I mean no harm and I'm actually quite far removed from that scene and/or mentality....

But I digress...

In a low water year, the exodus is a bit slower for a couple of reasons. Less water equals less habitat and so individuals try more desperately and for a longer period of time... to successfully spawn. After spawning, the low water condition leaves the adults far more vulnerable to predation so the fish school up in tight balls (looks like a black cloud in the water) and count on the 'safety-in-numbers' dynamic to reduce their losses from predation.

The females are mostly gone by the end of July. The clouds of males will remain through August until they're eaten or make their way back out to sea.

This year, production is peak and predation is diminished. Numbers of spawning individuals, and surface-acres of suitable aquatic habitat are exponentially increased and it's much harder for a striper, cormorant, heron, egret, otter or raccoon to kill and eat a shad in these higher flows. These factors SHOULD dictate an early, mass-exodus of the shad this year.

If three sweet, beautiful ladies walk up to you in a bar at 9:00 pm and say, Hey there... would you like to get out of here with US?

Would you stay at the bar?

CARPE DIEM ;)

PS, You and many others probably already knew this stuff so the post is for those who may not have. I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence. There's also a LOT more to the story as with any biological/ecological dynamic but that's the boiled-down version... I think I'll go fishin' ;)

[STEELIES/26c3]

From Goethe down, lots of em...
Sunrise up, not so much...

[STEELIES/26c3]

I have not seen one spent hen yet. I know the temps the hens let their eggs go is between 58-62. But here on the American is seems to be 60-62.

Hey good point Aron... I forgot that aspect of it... with the sustained snow melt this year, the water temps have remained colder longer and shad didn't REALLY start spawning hot and heavy until 2 weeks or so ago which is a bit later than usual... That should keep the shad coming and staying a while...

Earlier in the run and in the higher flows, the majority of the shad kept moving upriver to Rossmoor and higher. Now that the flows are much lower, the water is not just warmer but also easier to spawn in as they tend to like to play grab-ass in the shallower, softer water near shore.

Also, the water is several degrees warmer downriver than it is upriver which would explain why spawning occurred sooner from say Goethe and down to paradise Beach (where I have seen spent shad). It's also likely that the skinnier fish downriver are fish that spawned up river which are now just making their way back out...

Regardless, there's still tons of those slimy, stinky things in the river and there will be for at least a few weeks. I'm always happy to see 'em go as the stripers get more aggressive on plugs when they're not full of shad...

[winxp_man]

When you wrote about the lower river has more spawned out hens yes very true. The temps are at 58.9 or so at fair oaks and only gets warmer as you go further down. As for the upper still a bit nippy and might be till mid July to the end till all the shad leave.

[Jeff C.]

Interesting! I know about shad spawning temps and habits. Right now I'm still catching fresh fish with hens full of eggs. Definitely more males lately.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Anyone eating Shad? Smoked? Pickled?

What about eating the Shad roe?

______________________________


Many years ago (1970s) the old local fly club, the CFFU, use to have an annual Shad outing at River Bend access (Goethe Park).

They had smoked Shad and beer.


______________________________________

Around that same time Cecil Wilder and I went to the big sand bar at the mouth of the Feather River in a low water year.

Cecil brought along a Coleman stove and frying pan. He keep a few big females for smoking and then we fried up some of the Shad roe. It was very good.....