That was one of my favorite stores EVER. They had everything!
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From the paper "Behavior of American Shad during Spawning Migration in the York River, Virginia" by the American Fisheries Society
It shows that during migration up river Shad eat plant matter and wood detritus, which kinda suggest they might eat anything interesting that floats in front of them.
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Sorry , Tony - I meant I recall READING about it . My mistake !!
D.~
Maybe the smaller flies work better on the American due to the very clear water. I've only fished the American a few times and did find they preferred something smaller. On the Sac I still use the original Mustad 3908 chrome shad hook in size 4. Chain eyes, orange head, pink body. And yes it works very well. I had a 100 fish day on Thursday. It has been my understanding the shad bite out of aggression, not that they are feeding.
I am curious. What is the smallest fly that someone has used to catch or try to catch Shad on? Jeff C's patterns are appox. #10.
Has anyone tried small to the extreme, ie midge sized?