Shad from the Delta to Sac......

[Declan]

Hey guys,

I was curious if the Shad (or stripers) can be targeted in the lower stretches of the sac near the Delta, or if they primarily feed further up in the locations that are discussed in this board. I have a nice bay boat stored at the sugar barge and I was wondering if I could somehow stay on top of the action from that location. I am assuming that maybe the fish are just cruising to their final destination when they come through and therefore are hard to entice. I have never heard any reports coming from the portion of river from Sacramento to the Delta and maybe there is a reason, but I thought I would check with the local experts!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

The first place I know of for Shad upriver is the mouth of the American River from an anchored boat?

I think that some of the Stockton guys might know about the rivers near them?

I guess the LMB top water bite is really hot right now in most of the Delta.

[JerryInLodi]

On the Sac, the first place I know where people fish for shad is the "Minnow Hole" down by Garcia Bend. The usual way from shore is to cast shad darts with a spinning rod. There is no room to back cast a fly rod and you'd have to be able to cast a long line to reach the fish. You can also anchor and use the hang down method. It's much deeper than Verona. Most people use spinning rods, weights and shad darts.

I'm trying to remember another location where boat fishermen used to line up, anchored, gunnel to gunnel, just below a steel bridge, the problem is I haven't fished the Sac for so long that I can't remember which bridge. I'm pretty sure, if I remember right, that it was downstream from Freeport, and therefore, even farther downstream than the Minnow Hole. They would use the same method as at the Minnow Hole, shad darts fished on weighted lines.

Years ago, the common method of taking shad on the Sacramento was "Shad Bumping". Here's a description from a DFG publication.

"Shad “bumping” has its devotees among men who want fish in quantity. As usually practiced, this requires three men, a boat, an outboard, and a long-handled dip net with a coneshaped “bag” of chicken wire. Bumping is done at night. The outboard is run downstream dead slow and is kept tilted to create a commotion on the surface. A man in the bow steers with an oar. The netter holds the net just behind the propeller and with the opening towards, the boat. The shad are attracted to the propeller's commotion and when one bumps the net it is lifted aboard. At times
the action is very fast and catches are large. Virtually all the shad taken by bumping are males."

[Adam Grace]

Wow, how un-sportsman-like can you get, "bumping," that is crazy.

[Steelin' Time]

Adam,
Bump netting shad was not for sport. It was common years ago as a way of putting food on the table. I have no experience first hand, but have heard from many old timers of this way of "harvesting" shad. My neighbor, a 90 plus year old gal, has told me of being up till 2-3am with other wives, processing the shad their husbands had hauled home. This was an annual event. She had me bring her home a dozen shad one night 10 years or so ago (the only shad I have ever kept!) so she could smoke them. She gave me some of the finished product and they actually were fairly good. I know another old timer who would run shad, bones and all through a meat grinder TWICE and then form the meat into patties and fry them. Different generation, different circumstances. Sport was secondary to feeding the family. Pat