I arrived on Upper Sunrise before the sun came up. Was in the water trying to catch shad just as there was enough light to keep from taking a swim. After about 30 minutes of casting practice, I decided I was in the wrong place.
| Access | Upr/Lwr Sunrise, El Manto/Rossmore | |
| Air Temp | Low 54, High 75 | |
| Water Temp/Visibility | ~? F / 6-8 feet | |
| Weather | Cool morning, Sunny/Very Windy afternoon | |
| Flow | ~? cfs | |
| Time in/out | 5:30am, 8pm | |
| Leaders/Lines | Skagit | |
| 11ft of T10 | All day | |
| 12 lb FC tippet | ||
| Flies | Soft Hackles/Steelhead Flies | 0 |
| Shad darts | 2 | |
Next stop was below the bike bridge on Upper Sunrise, then the footbridge on Lower Sunrise. All netting the same results. Zero shad!
I did watch some kids pull out around 10 shad from the bridge. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough weight to even bother fishing from up there. And swinging out to where they were catching the shad would of surely caused some tangles. And maybe even a fight or two.
At some point, I don't doubt that I was fishing where the shad were. I just couldn't get their interest. On the car ride home, I deducted that I wasn't deep enough in the morning. I'm still a shad newbie. Eventually, I'll figure it out. But right now, my shad attempts aren't much to speak of.
As the heat of day began, I decided to give up on shad and put some soft hackles on. Maybe I'll fair better with trout. I drove to El Manto and fished a big long stretch of water from Lower Sunrise to Rossmore. What a tiring day. That adventure was fruitless as well. No half pounders.
Go back and re-read the first sentence of this post. Did ya? Okay, now you can continue on...
Late in the evening, I was getting a little frustrated by not catching any shad. I had 10feet of T10 and a weighted fly. I even put a couple split shot on the leader to move it closer to the bottom. I tried various strip techniques, casting way up stream and letting everything sink. Nothing!
On about my 1,000 cast, I was stripping like a mad man. Wham!! I was hit. I felt the tug, tug, pause, tuuuuuugggg. Whoo hoo!
Finally caught my first shad of the season. This guy gave one heck of a fight. They have plenty of spirit. And boy was she heavy. Lots of power. After a fight that lasted several minutes I got her to my hand.
What the??!! It wasn't a shad. It was a 23" steelhead. What the heck was she doing chasing a shad dart that was being stripped across the current? Keep in mind, I wasn't stepping and swinging. I was swinging and sitting. Sitting in one place for more than 45 minutes. What made her take the fly? Did she just get sick of seeing it. Or all of a sudden thought, "Hmm, that looks tasty." Or did she just happen to move near it.
We'll never know. But I put her back and started casting again. A few minutes later. Whomp. Another fish. Alright, I got myself a shad. Cool! The fish came unbuttoned while I was trying to untangle the coils of line wrapped around around my body as I was standing in chest deep water. A few casts later, whomp, again! This one came off too! Argh. At least I found a school of shad. I'm going to get one.
Another few casts later, I was ready, a fish grabbed on and I quickly reeled it in. Another steelhead! Are you kidding me? What is going on? This isn't supposed to be happening.
I never did catch a shad.
