Jeff’s 2021 AR Shad Reports

[Jeff C.]

Floated with Earle Sloan mid-day. It was slow and we only got 9. I’m sure if it was an evening float we would have done better. We saw a lot of shad but in slow shallow water you couldn’t swing.

[Jeff C.]

Floated for a couple of hours this morning with Earle. It was slow and Earle got 5 to the boat while I LDRed a couple. There were quite a few other boats and anglers and I didn’t see much catching. Wet waded a hole with Earle this afternoon and I got there before him and started fishing. I didn’t get a single bump and I thought I was going to be skunked. Earle showed up and waded out to his spot where he has been doing good. I crossed the river to fish a seam and hooked up on a regular basis with the Ronald. Ended up with 8 in a couple of hours.

[Jay Murakoshi]

So Jeff, do you think the run is through for this year. I was planning on driving to Sac sometime late next week to pick up a few rods for a friend. thought maybe I'd bring a rod to try for a shad. I guess I better tie up a couple flies.. a #3 sink would do the job or maybe a floating, since you mentioned that you crossed the river, must really be low.

[Jeff C.]

Jay, The run is not over but a lot of them have already spawned due to the warm, low water. Yes, the river is very low this year so finding water you can swings tough. It is so low you can cross the river in places you normally couldn’t. Tried swinging a flat yesterday that had a couple of small pods but the current was so slow you could smoke a cigarette between casts. Gave up on that after a couple of casts. Don’t limit yourself with only one line. I’ve been mostly using Type 3 and Intermediate sink tips but in some deep runs 30 ft of T-8.

[Charlie Gonzales]

Jay, let me know what day your coming up and we can get together for the evening. I'll be fishing trout Monday/Tuesday with Dan Williams.

[Jeff C.]

Fished this morning at three different spots. Had 5 LDRs between the 3 and was about to give up but started hooking them at the top of the last riffle. Saw Andy with his clients nymphing and they were hooking up on every pass.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I guess in this year's low flows indicator fishing is the go to method for Shad.

[Jeff C.]

Here’s a summary of how this run has gone for me:

Fished 12 days in April and averaged 27 per day.

Fished all 31 days of May and averaged 12 per day.

I did well in April down low on the A because they were stacked up in certain holes as they were coming into the river. The average dropped off in May because I primarily fished the upper river to get away from the crowded line ups and they were more spread out. The Lipstick worked early in the run but now my go to fly is the Ronald McDonald. I tweaked it to a Frenchie style Euro fly and it has been a great producer.

[peterkoistinen]

Jeff,

Thanks for the reports.

Can you provide photos, tying instructions, website links, etc. for the Ronald McDonald and the Lipstick?

Thanks,

Pete

[Pvillarr]

Here’s a summary of how this run has gone for me:

Fished 12 days in April and averaged 27 per day.

Fished all 31 days of May and averaged 12 per day.

I did well in April down low on the A because they were stacked up in certain holes as they were coming into the river. The average dropped off in May because I primarily fished the upper river to get away from the crowded line ups and they were more spread out. The Lipstick worked early in the run but now my go to fly is the Ronald McDonald. I tweaked it to a Frenchie style Euro fly and it has been a great producer.

It's been an interesting season!