Tonight on the Lower American River

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have wanted to get out on the river with Jeff Ching because I feel he is one of the better local Shad fly fishers. He fishes over 50 days every year for Shad, all wading with a 5 weight Switch rod.

We fished above the Sunrise Bridge area and the river was beautiful tonight.

The water is clear running around 4.000 cfs. Wading was easy where Jeff is fishing.

There was a big rock completely submerged that Jeff and Bruce B use as a reference point in this long run. Well, wouldn't you know it, wadding down stream I endowed over it and did a scuba like move that filled my waders some. It was nice till the sun went down and I got pretty cold.

Jeff gave me one of his special Shad flies, the "Bloody Maria" with a UV tail.

He even let me fish the best water trying to get me hooked up.

Finally I caught one Shad tonight on my 5 weight Spey rod. Yahoo.......

I think Jeff caught 8 or 10 Shad tonight?

If you get a chance to get out with him it is fun to see someone who really gets into those Shad. Jeff is like a machine, never missing an opportunity and fishing like a true "Shad Commando".

[Jeff C.]

The rock Bill tripped over is now named "Bill's Rock". Last night was day 65 of the season for me averaging about 4 a day. Bruce and I got spoiled last year when the daily average was over 10 per day. All the fish I caught last night were males but I've caught a few big hens over this past weekend. From the looks of things it might go another couple of weeks.

[Jgoding]

Sounds like fun for all even if you decided to go wet wading with your waders on.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

When you are 65 years old and you hit a big rock while wading down stream wast deep it is hard to stop it from happening. Kind of like slow motion and you know what is going on.

It was nice till the sun went down......

Try to get out any evening for the next two weeks or so.

[Jgoding]

Yeah, I've been out here and there but chasing stripes instead of shad. I shouldn't really say anything about your spill Bill since my waders leak so much I might as well be falling in every trip....sending them in as soon as they dry out from Sunday.

[wjorg]

....some days I wont catch a fish untill I fall in the river...you stole my trick Bill.