Jeff’s 2022 AR Shad Reports

[Jeff C.]

Very few new fish have been coming into the American. Got down to the hole that I’ve been fishing for the last two weeks at 7 am and I was alone unlike yesterday where there were 11 bobber guys. Fished it for an hour and a half and did get a single bump like yesterday. Went up river and fished a run that normally doesn’t see a lot of pressure. Got one on my second cast that went for the Victoria Secret. A young man named Michael showed up with a spin/bobber setup and was very courteous. He asked me where he should fish and I told him to fish below me so I wouldn’t cast over his line. He even told me to let him know if he was in my way. We got along just fine and he asked a lot of questions about fishing for shad with a fly rod. I ended up giving him a Bloody Maria and a Firecracker.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

That is wonderful.......

I still feel that anyone who sport fishes is part of my group.

Fly fishing is normally a transition from spin fishing.

[Jeff C.]

Took the mini out mid-river and it was very slow but I ended up with half a dozen (4 swinging a Pink Lipstick and 2 nymphing Andy’s Perdigon). There was an older gentleman who is a Kienes customer and he got a few early including a big hen using flies with a spin/bobber setup. Mike Koe and Bruce Porter motored up from down river and it was slow for them. Jared Shakin and his client Mike floated down from further upriver and they did well. They actually ran into a big school in slower water!

[Troutsource]

I find that when I'm nymphing for Shad, the hits are easier to detect than they are for trout. I wonder if it's because trout have a finely tuned ability to spit out "junk" due to the constant sifting through objects drifting past them in the river. They spit stuff out immediately.
Shad and lots of other fish have a different feeding style (slower or stillwater) and probably aren't used to spitting out so much stuff because they can inspect it before eating it. It may take an extra split second for them to react. I know people have videos showing that most hits by trout are missed. That's always hard to wrap my head around, but I find that when I set the hook at the slightest twitch on high fish density rivers like the Pit or McCloud, I'm always shocked at how many times it's actually a fish and not a rock or current differential.

[Jeff C.]

First another mid-river spot and didn’t get anything. I saw Mike Koe heading down to the put in and I didn’t see him down river so he mush have gone up. Joe Vasquez floated by with a couple of clients and I talked to him when they pulled over to the bank to re-rig. He told me that he has been doing well with his clients nymphing under an indicator. He gave me one of his Fire Perdigon which has been his go to fly. I went to another spot down river and got 4 swinging Andy’s Perdigon. The cool weather today is definitely not shad weather.

[Jeff C.]

Since the weather was cool today I went looking for steelhead. I didn’t get any but caught 2 shad on a size 14 cinnamon caddis pupa.

[Jeff C.]

Floated the upper river this afternoon with Earle Sloane. It was busy with 4 other drift boats. I didn’t see any of them land anything but we boated one swinging Andy’s Perdigon. The flow is going up to 1500 Wednesday morning which should help a little.

[Jeff C.]

Got out this morning before the wind came up. Fished a couple of spots up river and ended up landing 2 on Andy’s Perdigon. There were other anglers trying and Garrett Smith drifted by with his mom.

[Jeff C.]

Got down to my lower river hole at 6 am and caught my first shad within 5 minutes. I looked down river and saw a sea lion heading upriver. Jefe showed up about then and we watched the sea lion raise havoc in the hole. I was a going to wait until it left. Jefe left after an hour and I gave up after an hour and a half. I went to another spot upriver and LDRed 3. This cool weather has really slowed down the bite. I’m looking forward to the bump in flow Wednesday and 90 degree temps this coming weekend.

[Jeff C.]

I went back to the same hole this morning and there was no sea lion but there were no shad. I walked up to the next riffle and LDRed one. I saw Cookie in the parking lot and he had fished the Log Hole for nada. He said that there were several dead or near shad with sea lion bites. I also saw Maury Hatch who was going to take his dog for a walk. Maury told me that he has seen a couple of pods while striper fishing.

I went to another run further up river and landed a big hen swinging Andy’s Perdigon. The flow is up to 1500 cfs but the air and water temps are still cool. Warmer weather should heat things up.