Shad bite...

[SteelieD]

The SF Chronicle (yeah I know, darn Bay Area guys! :P ) reports today that the American is "lousy with Shad". Anybody have any recent reports? Can these guys be fished while wading... with the flows so high I mean? It looks like DonCooksey manged to do it, but I am curious as to the best strategy. With reports of 20, 30 even 100 fish in a day , I'd sure like to give this Shad fishing a shot!

[DonCooksey]

SteelieD:

I only got the one shad that evening, and my friend had only two. I found a few places where you can get in the water a little to wade at Sailor Bar or cast from shore into some good looking water at El Monto (sp.?), but it seems to be up to chance whether shad happen to come over to the small areas that you can cover that way. At Watt Ave, you can wade along the bank and cover quite a lot of water close to the one side of the river just above and below the bridge, but I did not have any luck along there. Below the gravel bar just downstream, you can wade out a way in the seam between the fast water and the still water in that lagoon-like area. That was where we had the few hits that we did. Guys in boats were moving all around the area below the bridge, so it looks like that is the way to cover the area and find the schools.

[SteelieD]

Thanks Don! Much as I suspected. Maybe I'll give it a shot next week. I'm off to Putah tomorrow morning to try to actually fish more than I dream/think/post/read posts and generally obsess about fishing more than I actually fish.