Shad

[Abalone]

How do you make Shad fishing with a Fly rod fun ?

Hanging a line behind a boat and dragging a fish up isn' my idea of Sporting.

years ago they used to generate power at the Sucker Creek power house. The shad would go up Sucker Creek and it was a blast fighting them on light tackle. The thing most people do in O.C. with heavy weight on an Anchore line isn't that exciting to me. If I could fight one as you would a trout it might be a kick in the pants ?

[Chromaflage]

Go to the Umpqua River. I guess it's a pretty popular fishery there.

CrF

[Cliff]

Skein mentioned something about fishing the umpqua for shad with a fly-rod, might wanna ask him?

Cliff

[Gizmo Man]

Don't know how you are fishing, but I have been to the deadline at OC with Bait of Eggs in his boat (he was using conventional gear I was using my 7wt with a steelhead sink tip) put 103 shad in the boat in about 4 hours. Lost many more. I kept up with him so the fly gear was just as effective as the drift gear.

One trip we made with someone who is a regular poster on the ff bb, couldn't catch anything for the first 3 1/2 hours we where there.

No added wt. to the line. Just cast into the current upstream and let it swing around. They took it on the swing, at the end of the drift and in between.

Looking foward to my annual trip there.

Giz...

[Cliff]

mind if i ask what fly you were using?

Thanks! :cheers:

[Gizmo Man]

Cliff, I was using small size 6 and 8 simple flies with red or green bodies and chain eyes.

Giz...

[BroCam]

Go up to the falls and cast into the falls and retreive. They be ready.

[3riversBob]

If you go to the Umpqua, head to Sawyers Rapids. It's a few miles out of Elkton. As the water drops the river runs through the rocks and the shad build up in the deeper pools and make frantic runs to get up river. I was there a few years ago at the end of the run in July and the pool I was fishing there were hundreds that would push all at once and those that didn't make it up the slot circle back and a minute later, here they come again. Use a sink tip line or add split shot so that you get down to them and you will have a ball.

Bob