Schools of Threadfin Shad are on top and being eaten' by gamefish in Nor Cal.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Many reservoirs in California have had Threadfin Shad introduced into them by the CA DF&G many years ago for a food sourse for game fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ijgnoSxfY


October/November are usually the months to look for the game fish to be "busting" the schools of tiny Shad.

I looked around on YouTube and this was the best example I could fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m8E_8WCPR4


The lower elevation lakes/reservoirs that come to mind in Nor Cal are Berryessa, Oroville, Folsom, Merle Collins, New Melones, New Hogan and Shasta.

In the fall as these lakes cool off and "turn over" the fish will usually come to the top.

There are virtually hundreds of these lakes in California so maybe we can add to my short list.

Rainbow trout, Brown trout, land locked salmon, SMB, LMB, Spots, White Bass and Stripped Bass are among the game fish that you might catch in one of these surface boils.

A calm day is nice or an area in a lake that is smooth, out of the wind is good too.

Most use small inch or so silver flies on a floating line but some use sinking lines as well.

These Threadfin Shad have washed down through the drainages to end up living in some of the laky areas like the Port of Stockton, the Port of Sacramento, Franks Tract and Mildred Island in the Delta.

A calm day, outboard skiff and some binocualrs would be a good way to go.


I just had a report from a friend about Lake Berressa being very good last week Rainbow Trout averaging 19 inches.

.

[Langenbeck]

Bill: I see virtually no posts on this yet when I lived in the Sacramento area this was my favorite type of fishing for trout at Oroville, Merle Collins, Berryessa and Folsom. Lots of the old timers loved thread fin shad time. Among them were Bob Rawstron, Herb Hagen, Neil Hansen, Bob Long, Jimmy Potter, Lew Palmer and Al Perryman. Nothing more exciting than to see 10-30 trout from 12-20 inches busting a big ball of shad and retrieving an imitation through this frenzy.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Yes Gordon....seems likle it was very popular 20 to 30 years ago in the valley reservoirs in the fall.

Bob Quigley and Andy Puyans liked to go to Shasta Lake every fall for the Threadfin affair.

Others like Hal Janssen, Chuck Campana, Charles Von Gelden, Mike Monroe, Jim Christensen, Guy Deaner and John McKibben chased them annually too.

Sometimes it was not about numbers but it was kind of exciting to see.

.

[Langenbeck]

Bill: Thanks for adding some old timers to the list. One other name was Larry Cullen(sp). The boys at the Redding Fly Shop still fish Shasta but they don't talk about it unless you grill them.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Maybe some fall we can rent a house boat (50% off) and get some of us with outboard skiffs for a mid-week trip there?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

More reports from Lake Berreyessa of 15 to over 20 inch fat Rainbow trout eating Threadfin Shad on top.

This should be happening on many lower elevation reservoirs now.

[kokaneejr]

Thanks Bill,

Headed to Berryessa yesterday saw only a couple of shad schools being eaten but to far away to do me any good. Caught one of those 20"ers though and lost something that broke my 8# test. Also caught a small 8" bass that got eaten off my line by a monster bass right in front of me! All in all a great day of fishing.
Craig.