Jeff’s 2023 American River Shad Reports

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Glad to see the Shad fishing is taking off now.


Marilyn and I really miss lots of you old friends from our wonderful years at the fly shop.

[Quinnphoto]

Glad to see the Shad fishing is taking off now.


Marilyn and I really miss lots of you old friends from our wonderful years at the fly shop.

You and Marlyn were the best fly fishing ambassadors a sport could have Bill. Thanks for helping me find the fly fishing bug

[Jeff C.]

Floated today and was behind Andy and Happy both with clients and Victor in his blue raft. I got a handful watching Andy and Happy cycle through the hole getting their clients into fish nymphing. Victor stayed out of the scrum choosing to fish above everyone and the other side of the river. After everyone headed down river I got into a flurry getting over half a dozen in about 20 minutes. Ended up with double digits so it was better than yesterday. Most of the shad was hanging in slack water so indo fishing was the answer. I got most of my swinging but did get a few nymphing with my Pink Eye Perdigon.

[Natekursow]

Anyone know how far up they are? Don't need specifics, just a ballpark to know how far down I need to drive. Thanks!

NK

[Dave T]

Floated today and was behind Andy and Happy both with clients and Victor in his blue raft. I got a handful watching Andy and Happy cycle through the hole getting their clients into fish nymphing. Victor stayed out of the scrum choosing to fish above everyone and the other side of the river. After everyone headed down river I got into a flurry getting over half a dozen in about 20 minutes. Ended up with double digits so it was better than yesterday. Most of the shad was hanging in slack water so indo fishing was the answer. I got most of my swinging but did get a few nymphing with my Pink Eye Perdigon.

Jeff, would you please share a pic/recipe of your Pink perdigon… Wondering what size, color bead, etc.

Thanks,
Dave

[Jeff C.]

Pink Eye Perdigon

Hook: size 8 comp jig
Bead: 3.8 mm silver slotted tungsten
Tail: fluorescent pink saddle hackle fibers
Body: fluorescent pink thread
Body overwrap: pearl Mylar tinsel
Hot spot collar: fluorescent pink thread
Shell back: black UV resin
Coating: thin clear UV resin

For nymphing size 10 hook and 3.5 mm bead or size 12 hook and 3.2 mm bead

[Jeff C.]

Shad are throughout the whole system.

[Jeff C.]

Solo float today ended up in double digits. There were 3 jet boats out (Erik, his friend and another boat). I caught 5 shad on a fly the Paul Thick gave me this morning before I lost it due to a bad knot. I named it the PT Killer because 2 shad in a row swallowed it deep. Good job on the fly Paul! Mary Ellen and Erica Mitchell showed up and they almost lost her anchor when the foot brake slipped. They ended up drifting down to the next run and almost couldn’t motor back up. They anchored in some slack water near me and started hooking them nymphing. Erik and his friend told me that it was so/so for them down in Erick’s hole. A flotilla of 3 boats from the shop showed up (Happy, Ethan and Andrew) and started doing loops thru the hole. The bite slowed down for me so I called a day and headed to the takeout. I had a good day!

[cmcdhuibh]

I saw ya’all out there, looked like a slow moving merry go around LOL.
Walked and fished a couple spot on the north side sailor bar to about Olive st. Not many places that you can get to the water or work with a Spey rod. Found it way to high flow and turbulent or slack water. Most places would be better with a spin rd. I didn’t get any tugs and only saw one fish caught by someone in a jet boat.
Still nice just to be out there.
Saw one guy on a hobbie kayak striper fishing/filming. Quite a setup. Maybe YouTuber?

[Jeff C.]

It was busy on the river today. Ethan with clients, Matt in his jet job boat and Garrett Smith at the start. Erik and Rod were down below in their jet boats. Got into double digits but it wasn’t as good as yesterday. After lunch 3 more boats from the shop showed up (Happy, Andrew and Joe) and another drift boat. I went over to the other side of the river and Ethan bailed downriver. I passed Erik and Rod on my way down and they said it was good for them.