Threadfin Shad action on top in the Fall.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Mostly trout and some other gamefish will be chasing the Threadfin Shad on many California reservoirs this Fall.

The CA D of F & G planted Threadfin Shad ~30 years ago as a forage fish in many of our CA reservoirs. This has created a surface fishery on many of these lakes that runs in cycles from year to year. Fall and Winter is the timing for this type of fishing. It is great to see the gamefish 'busting' the surface chasing schools of tiny (1" to 4") Shad.

Here are just some of the many reservoirs this can be seen on:

Folsom, Berryessa, Merel Collins, Oroville, Shasta, Amador

This is not even 5% of the CA lakes with Threadfin Shad.

Now after 30 plus years these tiny Shad (and Asian Pond Smelt) have worked their way down the rivers to the Delta taking up residence in many large shallow pieces of water like the Port of Sacramento (Lake Washington), the Port of Stockton, Franks' Tract and Mildred Island. This has inhanced the Striper and Black Bass fisheries in the Delta.

New Hogan has Stripers chasing Threadfin in the warmer months for some reason? July through September is best there and very exciting to see.

October on a still day can be wild on Mildred Island (big flooded island) in the Delta for top water Stripers pushing Threadfin to the top. Diving Terns will be keeping you abreast of the location of the onslaught. All you need is a 14' skiff with a decent outboard motor and a day off. I have hit this several time now and it is very special.

[Langenbeck]

Bill, An excellent recap on threadfin shad. In my opinion this is the very best fishing in California. I started in 1971 on Merle Collins when Bob Rawstron, Herb Hagen, Bob Long, Al Perryman and Lew Palmer were starting to refine techniques. Where else can you see 10-40 fish of 12-18" on the surface at the same time. A very under utilized fishery but timing in everything.
Kind of like fire fighting-a bid of intense action and then long waits until the next group of trout bust the shad. For years I kept detailed records on Merle Collins, Berryessa, Folsom and Oroville. Usually Collins starts about the 8-10th of October, then Berryessa about the 17-20th of October and then Folsom and Oroville about the last week of October into early November. From what I know about Shasta it starts very early in October but am sure the boys in the Redding Fly Shop have current information.

Here is what I would use:

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

You and I lived through the fly fishing sceen for the past 40 years in Nor Cal so we saw most of this first hand.

We were lucky to know people like Al Perryman who chased everything with fins in those days.

Sacramento fly fishers Chuck Campana and Neil Hasen chased those Threadfin eatten' Rainbows in Berryessa.

I don't think many ever caught big numbers of fish but it is so exciting to see that surface action that is very close to what we see in the salt water.

I am just hoping I can inspire some of these new people to go take a look at some of this interesting stuff we have locally.