Jeff’s 2023 American River Shad Reports

[Jeff C.]

Another solo float today. Got a late start and there were two boats in the big hole (one was Bill Quinn) and a couple of guys wading to their arm pits to fish the drop off. Bill told me between them all only a handful was caught. I tried swinging and nymphing and didn’t get a single bump so I bailed downriver. Ended up in double digits swinging. It’s definitely on the downhill side of this run!

[Jeff C.]

Had a chat with Andy last night and he confirmed that it is good only during the last hour of light. So if you want to catch some shad you have to get there early enough to get a good spot to anchor and sit in the baking sun for hours without catching anything until it turns on during the magic hour. Up to you (as they say in Hawaii)!

[Jeff C.]

Solo float and it was dead. Not a single grab swinging and nymphing the big hole. Saw a bankie land one and Johnny’s client land another downriver nymphing a Bloody Maria. I ended up with 3 swinging!

[Jeff C.]

Solo float and it was dead. Not a single grab swinging and nymphing the big hole. Saw a bankie land one and Johnny’s client land another downriver nymphing a Bloody Maria. I ended up with 3 swinging!

[Jeff C.]

Floated this morning and I was the only one out fishing. Only got one nymphing the slack water. I think it’s over for the upper river. I’ll provide a summary of this run in a day or two once I tally everything up on my spreadsheet.

[Jeff C.]

I fished 53 days for shad this run averaging 15 per day. Typical years I fish 70-90 days per run. I caught my first shad on May 25th which was a month late. I was expecting more shad this year than last year with the large amount of water we had but the number of shad in the river were way down. Besides the usual Maria style flies I found Perdigons excelled this year both swinging and nymphing.

[cmcdhuibh]

My guess would be the shad don’t like water in the 50-60 deg range.
Definitely not as fun this year for me. You still did well. Was it more work from a boat ? Or just time consuming.

[Quinnphoto]

I fished 53 days for shad this run averaging 15 per day. Typical years I fish 70-90 days per run. I caught my first shad on May 25th which was a month late. I was expecting more shad this year than last year with the large amount of water we had but the number of shad in the river were way down. Besides the usual Maria style flies I found Perdigons excelled this year both swinging and nymphing.

Thanks Jeff for your daily reports and insight. I for one appreciate your generous and helpful efforts you share with us everyday. Thank you

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Yes, thanks Jeff

Sacramento has a long history with our Shad run in our beautiful clear, floatable, accessible Lower American River.

It is still one of California's best annual fisheries and helps many get into fly fishing in larger moving water.

Now we can get on to other fisheries in California and other states too.

We can turn the river over to the summer rafting/kayaking folks now.

[Jeff C.]

I targeted shad this year almost strictly from a boat this run due to the higher flows. I did wade for them a few days but had my most success from a boat. It was not a lot of work once you figured out the kind of water they liked. Now I’m looking for Summer run steelhead and maybe a striper or two.