Jeff’s 2023 American River Shad Reports

[Jeff C.]

Floated with Earle today and we got into double digits. Not that crazy mid day with only Andrew Forster and clients and a couple of other boats. Andy showed up with clients mid afternoon. Erick told us the it was just one or two here and there for him as we passed him. There were a lot of boats for the late afternoon/evening.

[Jeff C.]

It was busy with boats this morning. 5 drift boats in the hole (Happy with clients, Steve Sylvester, Mary Ellen and Jeff Morin, another boat and me). Fishing was pretty steady and everyone caught shad. After lunch everybody left except for me and then Joe Vasquez showed up with clients. I ended up with double digits and even got some on the other side of the river. The hot fly for me was the Pink Eye Perdigon both swinging and nymphing. At the takeout I ran into Andy with his client Paul who has the most beautiful wooden boat.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Mike Koe and Bruce Porter found a "honey hole" with Mike's jet boat.

They were not too optimistic for this year's Shad run until yesterday........they hammered 'em.




A good Shad run on the Lower America River is important to our local guides and fly shops.

[Dave T]

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

Thanks Jeff!

[troutseeker]

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.

Jeff, I was fishing with Happy on Saturday and didn't have a chance to introduce myself (Bill Uyeki) when we were near you on the upper river. (We also heard your Hardy, LOL.) Our club (Peninsula Fly Fishers) had booked 4 boats that day through the shop. Originally we had scheduled the date months ago to wade and swing for shad, but the high flows prevented that for the most part.

Still, it was a great day, afternoon rain shower notwithstanding. Happy certainly got us into fish but I lost more than the handful I landed. One of our guys who did wade and swing a bit with Joe managed to land a beautiful hatchery steelhead (see photo), so that was a bonus. I guess the next time I'm not getting any action for steelies on the American, I'll tie on a shad fly.

[Jeff C.]

Glad your group had a good outing Bill! I have caught steelhead on shad flies that are bright and gaudy!

Fishing today was a lot slower. Only Ben Thompson with clients was at the hole and a few bankies. Ben rowed his clients into fish but it wasn’t on fire. I only got one swinging and had to resort to nymphing. Another drift boat showed up with a couple of young guys. Ben bailed down river and I had to work the rest of the morning to get into double digits (50/50 swinging/nymphing). A raft showed up around lunch time with everyone else gone. I went down river and in about an hour almost matched my morning numbers swinging. Maybe I should have just skipped the upper river!

[Jeff C.]

Flows are scheduled to drop to 6K cfs by early Friday morning. It is currently about 6600 cfs which is about 1K lower that yesterday so we might end up below 6K. The change in flows will affect the bite!

[Jeff C.]

The flow drop didn’t affect fishing this morning. Three other boats (Ben Thompson with clients, Joe Vasquez with clients, and Mary Ellen with Al Bunch). I got into double digits mostly swinging before lunch. It slowed down for me after lunch so I went to the other side of the river and Mary Ellen moved to the area I was fishing. I only had a couple of grabs so I headed back. By then Mary Ellen was hooking up left and right. I was anchored above her and didn’t get a single bump so I headed down river. On the way down I noticed that with the drop in flow a couple of spots were wadable.

[The Cal Fisher]

Was out at Ancil Hoffman swinging from the shore but I came up empty. I saw some shad rising for Caddis but they were too far out to cast to. The high water has made it almost impossible to reach the fish who are out about 80ft. Someone told me that they are going to lower the flows on Sunday but I’m also hearing Friday.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Was out at Ancil Hoffman swinging from the shore but I came up empty. I saw some shad rising for Caddis but they were too far out to cast to. The high water has made it almost impossible to reach the fish who are out about 80ft. Someone told me that they are going to lower the flows on Sunday but I’m also hearing Friday.

DATE / TIME	REL SCH
06/10/2023 06:00	8000 cfs
06/14/2023 00:00	7650 cfs
06/14/2023 02:00	7300 cfs
06/14/2023 04:00	7000 cfs
06/15/2023 00:00	6750 cfs
06/15/2023 04:00	6500 cfs
06/16/2023 00:00	6250 cfs
06/16/2023 04:00	6000 cfs

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