Shad questions ??

[David Lee]

Hopefully .... we have a 'SHAD-OLIGIST' hiding here on the board ...

I've always wondered .....

Where do Shad go while at sea ?? South ? The Arctic ??

Do Shad really go to where there is the most cool water to spawn , and NOT their natal rivers ??

How long do they live ?? And at what age do they first spawn ??

What % of Shad are repeat spawners ?? How many trips into freshwater can they make during their lifetimes ??

Help me sleep at night - find the answers

David

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They survive spawning better in the northern most ranges.

I have caught them in Florida in February in the Saint Johns River near Titusville. Down south they start spawning in those river first.

More seem to die from spawning in southern rivers than rivers to the north.

I have heard that they do go to the rivers with the better flows to spawn and are looking for a certain flow and water temperature too.

I believe they free spawn in the surface like Stripers, mostly at night now.

Because the American Shad is not a commercial food fish they have done little to study them.

Over the past 40 years I believe there are less in Nor Cal every year.

They did bring them over here from the east coast about the same time they brought over the Stripers on a train in about 1877.

David, I have a new book at the shop you can borrow and read about the Shad.

In 1974 I was contacted by Boyd Pfeiffer who was writing a book 'Shad Fishing' and I gave him all the information I could about Nor Cal Shad fishing. I sent him samples of our local Shad flies too. After it was published in 1975 he sent me an autographed copy in thanks for my help.

[Mike Stroud]

Hey David,
Here's another resource the has a lot of knowledge about shad and also a good read. This is a must read for any shad angler.

"The Founding Fish" by John McPHee

[David Lee]

Bill/Stroud -

Thanks !!

Things I DO know about Shad ......

Yes - they always have that silly look on their Shad-faces .

They are tender - don't use the 5 wt. , don't handle them much , don't drag 'em onto the bank .

They taste good to Stripers , judging by the number of times I have seen hooked Shad gain 20+ Lbs. and scream off downriver .

They move in the water colum vertically - if you are fishing a 14-foot deep run w/ leadcore , and the Shad are stacked up at 7 feet , you won't catch many . Carry heads in different sink rates .

If your Shad is REALLY fresh , his/her spots will not be visible , or will appear faded - Shad that have been in for a while will have well-defined Black spots running down both sides .

Shad are unusally color-sensitive . I've seen a hot bite drop off of , say .... a Pink fly - no one will catch squat until somebody ties on a Chart. fly .

They WILL feed in freshwater . I've seen them eat Caddis , as well as large Clousers , chunks of Anchovy , rubber jigs , etc. .

They don't jump nearly as much as I've read .

Although they are not natives ...... Shad contribute to the foodchain here . I believe they are a good thing to have in California .

David

[mike N]

Hey DL,

When you say don't use a 5wt, do you mean to say that is too heavy?

That is all I use for the shads and haven't had trouble bringing in big hens. I used to fish with a guy that only used a 3wt, he always out fished me and would land the fish in a very timely fashion.

MN

[David Lee]

Hey Mike !

Just MY opinion here .....

Shad WILL fight you to death - I've seen too many people fight them too long , then release a dead fish . If you use a 'light' rod (3-6 wt.) the WRONG way , you will kill fish .

I usually use a 7 wt. , sometimes a 8-10 - I can brutalize those lil' buggers and get them back in while they are are still fighting . I have seen , more often than not , guys using too light of gear and playing Shad for 5+ minutes -

That isn't fair to the fish .

Use the gear you have , use heavy tippets , and drag 'em in green - Don't handle them , and don't drag them in for a two-hand photo - that only leads to making 'crawdad food' .

Again , just MY opinion .

David

[JerryInLodi]

I've heard that the reason why the Shad populations are diminishing year after year is because the external membrane on the spawned eggs is penetrated by agricultural and industrial pollutants, killing the embryo before it hatches.

A similar problem occurs with the stripers that spawn from Knight's Landing to the mouth of the Feather.

[mike N]

Sounds like operator error to me, DL.

I say lay the wood to them. :P

MN

[Jeff C.]

I've been using a 6 wt. for years now and have gotten into hand stripping them in. I get them in for a release typically in 30 seconds. I rarely put one on the reel. That's why my buddies would always ask me "Did you Ching 'em in?" when I land a fish. Jeff C.

[JerryInLodi]

Tristan, the guy that told me the above was a DFG biologist. This was probably eight or nine years ago. He stated that the number of viable eggs for both stripers and shad were affected and that the discoveries had to do with the PPM and PPB that scientists were able to measure now that science was not capable of measuring in the past. He said that some of the trace chemicals were almost infinite but affected spawning.

Again, I'm only repeating what I was told though so I may be completely wrong! It seemed logical to me though since my ignorance is a wide open door to what ever sounds reasonable if not actual.

While no one knows where the shad go, we do know that the number of juvenile stripers is dropping annually as well. These fish do not migrate far from shore as do salmon or shad. Many spend their whole lives in brackish to fresh water so ocean conditions should not affect them as much. That's one of the reasons I took what I was told as gospel.

Of course this is not the only problem with the delta what ever the cause, just one of many.