40 plus years of fly fishing for American Shad

**Bill Kiene semi-retired** · 03-21-2007, 09:07 AM

I started fly fishing for Shad with my brother Dick at Goethe Park in mid-1960s.

I went into the best place for fly fishing products at the time, Sports Unlimited on Arden Way. They sold me a 9' #9 line Fenwick fiberglass fly rod with a Pflueger 1495 1/2 Medalist fly reel and 2 each #10 SA shooting heads, a type II and a type III(Hi-D).

They sent us down to the upper end of Goethe Park. When we arrived there were about 30 people there fishing for Shad. Mostly fly fishers. Some were from the Bay Area. We watched for a while and there where two older Japanese fly fishers that were really catching fish. We were standing far behind them on the bank.

As they waded back in to the shore one of them asked if we were going to take their spot? and gave us a few special Shad flies. They told us to fish the last half hour right up till dark and it would be even better.

We took their spot and in the last half hour we got 11 Shad.

Later I met one of those guys again and it was Tommy Fukashima of Sacramento who was a founding member of the California Fly Fishers Unlimited fly club. He was a really fine guy and has sense passed one.

There were so many Shad in those days you did not have to be very good to catch a lot of them.

I think we are going to have a good Shad season this Spring.

Shad lineup.........

**Jgoding** · 03-29-2007, 01:26 PM

That's an interesting story Bill. Apart from myself and my brother when he tags along I have yet to see one other person fly fishing at Goethe in the last two years (for shad). The only people who fish it do so from the bridge and they don't catch many. Then again the flows have been pretty high in the last two years and it's a tough wade to get to the fish if flows are above 3500fps, and I won't even try above 4200fps...I think the shad runs must still be pretty good since I can even get into a few fish...

**David Lee** · 03-29-2007, 05:24 PM

Hmmmmmm .....

Guess you forgot OUR little adventure out there last year . Remember spotting w/ MSP for me on the bridge ??

If I recall .... we didn't get any , but put some fear into 'em .

David

PS - When do ya wanna go out ??

**Bill Kiene semi-retired** · 03-29-2007, 07:36 PM

In the 1960s the big Shad run on the American River was at the top of Goethe Park which is maybe 1/4 mile upstream of the bridge.

In the 1950 when Walt Bennett, Ted Trueblood, Joe Patterson, Jimmy Green and other real old time fly fishers where after Shad the big run was above the Sunrise Bridge at what was called "PCA". I was too young for that era of Shad fly fishing in the river.

On Saturday and Sunday there was 30 to 50 anglers in a line up at "upper Goethe" with everyone catching fish because the school was 100 yards long.

Thank God when I started there were 'millions' of Shad so you did not have to be very good.

"100 fish days" were the norm for those "Shad Addicts".

I actually started spin fishing for Shad near my house in South Sacramento down at what is/was called "the Minnow Hole" on the Sacramento River south of the city zoo. It was actually the sewage outflow for Sacramento. It was the late '50s early '60s when I was a teenage.