Shad on the American, Part 2

Either something went totally wrong, or totally right. Depends on how you look at it.

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.

American River - Shad report

This post should be titled, "Went fishing for shad on the American, but only caught half pounders". A little too lengthy, so I used something more generic. But, that does summarize the day so succinctly. I guess there's no need to keep reading!

I got to Paradise Beach before 6am. It was already 54 degrees, but with a little wind, it was cool. Water clarity was about 6-8 feet and water temp in the mid 50's. My two hander was sporting a skagit line with 11 feet of T-10 and three weighted flies. All of them were shad darts of various colors.

Access	Paradise Beach, Gristmill, Howe, Watt
Air Temp	Low 54, High 70
Water Temp/Visibility	~53 F / 6-8 feet
Weather	Sunny / Windy
Flow	~3700 cfs
Time in/out	6am, 8pm
Leaders/Lines	Skagit
	11ft of T10	All day
	6 & 12 lb FC tippet
Flies	Prince Soft Hackle	3
	Shad darts	0

I entered the water just below the Fair Oaks bridge. Anyone trying to learn how and where to fish for shad, don't ask me. I'm pretty new to it. In fact, I've only been one other time. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. Right or wrong, I was looking for slow moving water 6 to 12 feet deep. I'd cast out there and do a strip of a few inches, rest a second, do it again, etc. That is how I caught a bunch last year.

This section of the river was okay for wading. I'd be better off with a boat. In fact, saw a couple of others already in the water with theirs. While I was out there, getting no attention from the shad that may or may not be around, I was looking over at the nearby riffles. Mouth watering. I guess you can't get the steel out of my brain. I reluctantly stuck to the plan -- skipped the faster water and continued looking for shad.

I moved down river all the way around the bend. Saw more boats with people fishing. Only one guy said he caught any. And he had only caught two. The other 4 people I polled didn't have anything to show for their troubles either.

Hopping in the car, I went to Howe. This was the first time I had ever been here. The sat map made it look slow and not very good for my usual steelhead/half pounder action. But, it did look like shad water. When I arrived, I actually saw a decent riffle by the boat launch. I couldn't resist. I swung through it with no luck.

Going downstream, I found some deep water. Nada. No shad. An hour or two later, I left.

Next on the list was Gristmill. I parked on the North side of the river, a first for me. While there were people on the South side, no one was near me. I decided to fish the riffle and caught myself a few half pounders on my "prince flymph". Although none of them were bigger than 15 inches, it was still nice to get something to hand.

After the swing through the run, I went downstream, then upstream and found what appeared to be good shad water. No action. But the water seemed to be good for it. Again, what do I know??!

Eventually I left and went to Watt. I'm not a big fan of this area. Okay riffles, but nothing that great imo. Maybe I just need to catch a big fish or two here and I'll change my mind. I walked upstream past the riffles and way downstream looking for shad water. I found it, it just wasn't very good for wading. Deep water with no where to stand.

I did see a boat with a few guys in it. They were catching something. I don't think they were shad though. Much too big. I'm thinking either large steelhead (this late?!) or more likely stripers. Another species of fish I haven't gone after. But now that I saw some of the fun they were having, I think I want to give it a try!! I'll need help with it though. Anyone care to show me the ropes? :)

Speaking of help. Are any of you shad fisherman and want to meet up? I could sure use some pointers on where to look and proper technique. In exchange, I can teach you whatever I know about fishing that you'd like to learn. Or I can simply bribe you with a beer or some flies.

My 14 hour day ended with a fizzle. I hoped for sizzle, but it never happened. Of all the people I talked with throughout the (more than 12 hour) day, only 1 had caught a shad. So, I wasn't alone. Misery loves company!

Trip Report: American (Shad)

I've always wanted to try fishing for Shad, but I've never taken the plunge. On Monday evening, I took up an offer to be shown where to go on the American for these feisty fish.

We weren't to meet until 6pm, so I arrived a little early around 3:30 for some potential half pounder action. The temp was in the high 90's and thank goodness for leaky waders, cause I was pretty miserable. I waded and walked down some riffles and pools, but didn't get anything more than a bite. So much for steelhead.

I met Aaron a little after six and we walked for a few minutes upriver. He knew exactly where to go. Aaron started flicking out his jig (he wasn't using a fly rod) trying to locate the fish. I watched for a few casts and then started trying to get my line out there. We were in a section without much current, and frankly, I was struggling. I couldn't get the fly out very far and without the current swinging the line downriver, it was awkward at best.

Aaron didn't have the same problem and it wasn't long before he caught his first fish. He offered to give up his spot and I stepped in and didn't have any luck. Aaron seemed to catch fish wherever he was, so I knew they were there, I just couldn't get 'em.

I'm not sure how much time went by, but we moved downstream. Eventually and smartly I took off the longer scandi line and put on the short compact skagit with a 10 foot sinking leader. This allowed me to strip in further each time. We were now in a place with more current and swinging was possible.

Aaron needed to take off, and before he left, he gave me the jig that he was using. I thought I'd try it. My shad flies didn't seem to be working (upon further review, I think it was the presentation, not the fly) anyway.

Not more than a few minutes later, I was getting casts out 60-70 feet. Flicking it slightly upstream, I'd let it sink for a bit then twitch the rod here and there, followed by a strip. I finally got a bump! The next cast, I caught my first shad. He wasn't real big (maybe 15 inches), but inch for inch, he gave up a decent fight.

It was getting late and I was just now discovering a method that worked. Too bad it took me until then to figure it out! By dark, I caught 3 shad and hooked a bunch more. Whatever I was doing - worked. I'll be back to try again. Thanks Aaron!

Trip Report: American River

My work is slowly returning back to normal. I'm hoping to get more opportunities to get on the water in the next couple of weeks. As a matter of a fact, just yesterday, I skipped out for a long day on the American in Sacramento.

The goal was to try and catch some Shad. Unfortunately, they didn't get the memo. Mother nature must of also missed it and supplied me with a day of insanely bad conditions.

I arrived at Elmanto around 6:30am, quickly geared up and hit river. I immediately noticed that the water was much higher than it was last time I was out a few months ago. Later in the day, a regular verified my suspicion and let me know that they raised the water level over night. Perfect timing! I'm sure the sudden rise didn't make the fish any more eager to bite. Not to mention the incredible amount of debris floating down the river. It was almost like an obstacle course. I spent more time cleaning the hook on my flies than anything else. Not to mention the amount of caught branches, leaves, and huge logs.

The day started off windy and only got worse as it went. I'm not sure how many MPH it was gusting, but I would have a feeling it went past 40 or 50 mph part of the day. It was insane. No wonder I was the only one fly fishing in the area.

After feeling a little uncomfortable with the water level and wind, I went down river past the clay banks. On my way to that sharp left turn, I fished the holes and shallow runs, and actually everything in between. I was rigged up with a variety of bright flashy flies and a few sink tip lines. The strong wind made it difficult to cast very far. It was hard to really cover much of the river. Lucky for me, I had my switch rod and because I wasn't casting over head, it made the wind a little more manageable.

As time went on, my goal became less fishing oriented and more about finding a location that was a little less breezy. That never really happened, so I made the most of the day and pushed on. Around 1pm, I decided to go back to the car and get some food. As I entered the parking lot, I immediately noticed that the guy next to me had his car broken into. I'm told this happens a lot here, I'm just lucky that it wasn't mine that got hit. That was close enough, I decided to go elsewhere.

I arrive at Upper Sunrise a few minutes later and paid my $5 access fee. The wind was even crazier here and because the water was so high, I could barely get my fly out into the current. What a rough day. Next was a drive down to both Watt and Howe to look. I've never been to this area and was curious what I was missing. It didn't look terribly inviting, so I once again drove back to where I started in the morning.

After parking in what seemed to be a safer place, I headed back to the river and tried again. I did actually see a trout that was at least 30 inches. Probably more. He was about 12 feet down, right along the clay banks. I put my line in and managed to get my fly down far enough, but he didn't bite. He did check it out and the other 3 flies I tried. However, that was it.

Now getting close to 7pm, the wind was just getting even crazier. It was easily pushing past 50 mph. I mean, I could barely stand. It wasn't worth the effort anymore. Even if fish were finally starting to break the surface for food. I put in a good 12 hours of fishing and that was enough.

Skunked!