Took the mini out early this morning for a short float. Got almost 20 before it did the mid-day shutdown. Lots of small males and spent or half-spent hens so the end is near.
Took the mini out early this morning for a short float. Got almost 20 before it did the mid-day shutdown. Lots of small males and spent or half-spent hens so the end is near.
Fished early in the mini. The increase in flow to 3K cfs caused them to be not very grabby. Only got a handful and packed it in casting for stripers on the way back to the boat ramp. Went wading midday and got one swinging a Type 6 tip.
Last edited by Jeff C.; 06-24-2020 at 02:10 PM.
Went out early this morning with Greg in his Super Drifter. We got into some before the bite shut off at 9 am. Wet waded midday and got a couple and a 5-6 lb sucker that came in like a boot. I expect the run will be over within a week. There were only of couple other boats and a few shore anglers.
I would like to give Special thanks to Jeff C for the all the reports and sharing the flies!
I just put up a nice shad report for these past 2 weeks in "Not Jeff's Shad Reports" that highlighted all our success we had
with his flies.
And thanks Kiene's Fly Shop for being the hub of our Local Shad fishing. I spent hundreds there this year as you had what we needed!
Until next year.
Tight Lines
Took the mini out early and got a dozen or so at the same hole Greg and I fished yesterday. It was not as good as yesterday and I had to move around to find them. Only one other boat this morning, Bill Quinn on his last shad float of this run. Wet waded midday and didn’t get a single bump. The end is near!
Hey Jeff thanks for all your generous intel throughout the season. I always check your insights and reports before I ever hit the water. My last float was yesterday as we passed you and said our good mornings and wishful good lucks. You are the shad whisperer, the shad master, the shad guru. My friend and I eyed only 12 fish in the whole of our trip. You caught half the shad left in the upper river. They are few and far apart. We zeroed after trying nine different locations. I’m done for the year. You probably can go for a long time as you know where they like to meet Best of fishing and thanks again Jeff.
Looks like this is my last update for this run. Floated the upper river for 6 hours and only got one (a fresh hen full of eggs). Like Bill I got blanked at all of the usual spots that have produced. Andy told me that shad stage in areas they don’t normally frequent when they ball up before heading out. There are still shad around but not for long. Here’s a summary of this years run: Fished 57 days straight averaging about 16 per day (almost 900 total). Last year I fished 79 days averaging 36 per day for over 2800 total. Shows you what big river flows will give you. It’s too bad that the flow will be going up to 3500 cfs Sunday morning. I’ll post an update if it turns on again or if I find a ball of down runners .
Jeff, yes thanks for all the updates. I come from the bay area and I use your reports to let me know when I might catch a few. Would you share which flies were the top producers this year? I caught 95% of mine on your Bloody Maria. Of course it's the one I fish most often as well.
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