Jeff's 2017 AR Shad Reports

[Jeff C.]

Fished with Smitty last night and we both got into double digits. The bite was not consistent except Smitty found a bucket when he first got there and it was fast and furious for 30 minutes and then it went dead. They are definitely moving!

[Mr.Matt]

Flows going up tomorrow to 9500cfs!
Be safe out there.

[Jeff C.]

Fished last night with Nathan and his Dad. It was a slow start for me as I watched them land fish above me but it picked up late for me. Ended up with double digits and a 25" wild steelhead buck that took a small Wet Pinky!

[Mark Kranhold]

That's awesome Jeff! You never know what one will hook into on the A... anytime of year!

[Sheepdog8404]

Leave it to Mark to remain a lurker on here until someone posts something about a Steelhead... lol

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Mark was probably half asleep until he saw the word "steelhead"........yahoo.

Sweet fish....a picture of it is on Jeff Ching Facebook page.

[Jeff C.]

Double digits again but the increase in flow has made wading tough (not for the fainthearted). Couldn't get any out deep because I couldn't get down deep enough with a Type 8 sink tip. I'm going to try T-17 or T-20 today.

[hwchubb]

Oh, I love those! The equivalent of trolling with a five-pound lead ball...

What size rod are you throwing those on?

[Jeff C.]

Didn't throw any heavy stuff last night but if I did it would have been with my 8119 TCX with a 600 grain iFlight head. I got a little side tracked yesterday when Danny The Kid called me and told me that he was getting into them at spot I only occasionally fish. By the time I got there two gear guys took the only spot that I could fish. I tried fishing above them for a while but only caught a handful so I drove to another spot and fished the last hour by myself. Ended up getting over 10 in that last hour so it turned out to be an OK evening.

[Jeff C.]

I agree about trying to wade in these flows. If it's fast moving water I don't go any deeper than my knees and in slower water I try not to go any deeper that mid-thigh. The big fresh hens are very hard to lift when they pin themselves down. I'm using a 6119 Method most of the time and don't try to bring them to hand until I get them on the surface. I probably have the record for broken rods fishing for shad!