Shad are still here.......

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

An old friend Nelson Ishiyama from the Bay Area was by the shop mid-day on Friday. He had tried some Spey casting for Shad that morning below the island that is above the Sunrise Bridge with not much luck.

Andy advised him to fish the water for about 200 yards above the island and fish right up till dark.

He just emailed me that he caught about 15 Shad there Friday evening.

[Jeff C.]

I was out there Friday evening and yes he was in the bucket just upstream from me. I got six and when I left at 9:25 he was still out on the water. A floating line with a bead head Prince was the ticket the past few evening after the sun got off the water. I saw Andy rowing a couple in their drift boat last night and the wife was having a blast. Jeff C.

[Jgoding]

I was out at Goethe on Thursday and Sat. evening. It was pretty good action on a shooter for me for the time spent on the water. About an hour total time including both days and I got some nice shad to hand. I ended up keeping one and it had one item in it's stomach... a caddis pupa.


Jeff

[BigBuddha]

I fished Sailor Bar on Saturday evening and picked up about 6. It wasn't what I would call red hot, but it was still fun. There was a pretty good crowd of flyfishers by late evening, but I found that I really didn't notice. Everyone seemed very polite and careful with eachother. As a matter of fact it was the most well mannered group of fisherman I could imagine. People exchanged information on lines and flies just helping eachother out. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy having a run all to myself as much as the next person, but many times the American doesn't lend itself to that. I just found that I was enjoying the social aspect of the fishing as well.

[Clark]

This is in response to jgoding's post. I have been fishing the American a couple days a week for the last month or so and 90% of the shad I have caught took a caddis pupa trailing a shad fly.

The other night I landed 6 or 7 in about an hour and a half and they ALL had the pupa in their lip when they came to the net.

My question is this: why do the shad seem to target the aquatic insects in the river when they are supposedly similar to salmon and don't feed while they are in freshwater. I understand why they would strike at a shad fly; out of annoyance. I just don't see a caddis pupa annoying a shad too much.

This is just a thought that crossed my mind while out on the river casting my line waiting for that distinct tug of a roe shad.

Now I'm off to catch some trout in the sierras.

Isn't Nor Cal great! I hope everyone has fun this weekend and BE SAFE.

Clark

[Ed Wahl]

Right on, I was homesick for Illinois after I first moved out here, in the early '80's. That all changed when I found the Sierras. Now I can't imagine going back.