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SHAD TIME...SOON
#1
[cool]I used to live right on the American River in Sacramento, and truly loved those American shad that ran up the Sacramento River system every spring. JapanRon asked for some patterns for shad jigs, since he is planning a trip up there in May...the best month. I thought I would post it on the forum here for anyone else who might be considering a pilgrimmage for those "poor man's tarpon" Here are some of the colors I consistently did best with...both on the main (Sacramento) river and on the American and Feather Rivers too.

[Image: SCOU1712CustomImage1443325.jpg]

In heavy current and murky water, use at least a 1/4 oz head...or add a split shot to weight down lighter heads. The brighter colors also work better in murky water. In the cleaner runs and holes of the American, I do best with all white, or white with a red eye.

Shad tend to move in schools, from a few fish to hundreds. If you find a run or hole full of nervous and active fish, you can wear your arm out. Many times you will have to find a cut in a long run and keep casting to it, waiting for fish to move up through it. They are always most active early and late in the day. Many of the locals hit the water at daybreak, battle a few fish, and head home to get ready for work. Late afternoon finds them back in the same spots, fishing until dark.

On the days when the fish are moving upstream aggressively, you can get into them sporadically all day, as small groups move through where you are fishing. Fish hanging close to the bottom seem more inclined to hit drifted jigs than the ones cruising higher in the water column.

Any spinning outfit that will cast an 1/8 oz. jig on 4 or 6 pound line will get a fish or two. Sometimes it is best to cast upstream and reel downstream, keeping the jig swimming just above the bottom, to keep from snagging in the rocks. Other times you will do better casting across the current and letting the jig swing downstream on a tight line. When the strike comes on a downstream presentation it can be exciting.

One of my favorite ways to fish the hard to reach runs, on the other side of the river, away from easy access, was to cast a water filled bubble a few feet above the jig and move it downstream with a few jigging movements. This kept the bubble up and the jig from diving into the rocks...and allowed me to work spots nobody else could reach. I made a "bubble chucker" spinning rod out of an 8 weight fly rod...about 9 feet long. With good 4 pound line and the right timing, I could cast halfway back to the east coast where the shad came from in the mid 1800's.

American shad average about two or three pounds. Most of those are males. The big roe-laden females can weigh over 7 pounds, and will really bend your stick and stretch your string.

While shad are delicious eating, they are extremely bony. It is almost impossible to do a complete filleting job on them. A lot of anglers throw them all back because they do not want to mess with the bones. Some keep the large females and fry up the roe skeins. Delicious. If you like pickled herring, a good recipe for pickling will turn shad into some of the best pickled fish you have eaten. They can also be canned, in a pressure cooker, to soften the bones. Slow bake them for a couple of hours, in a marinara sauce, and you have mega canned sardines...in flavor and texture...with the bones softened by long slow cooking.

Colors for shad can change from hour to hour. Sometimes you have to keep changing to find what they want at the moment. But, if you can keep up with them, they are a ton of fun to catch, and can be some decent table fare too...when properly prepared.

Wish I was going with you JR.
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#2

Hey TubeDude,

Many thanks TubeDude, I'm already thinking up names to give to both the roadrunners and wiley coyotes. Percilla, Horace, and Clementine are already taken. Little do they know, each one will have to go through a rigirous bootcamp before becoming one of JR's mighty minions. In the future, with cloning and such, there might even be some little Horaces with new super-powers swimming around to tempt the fishies.

Thanks guy,

JapanRon
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#3
[cool]You need to get out more, JR. Maybe you get out too often.

Sorry about the slim pickins at the Horseshoe. For what it's worth, the fishing reports I am getting from all over...fresh and salt...are kinda parallel. Poor catchin' far outweighs major bites right now.

I've never been able to put science to the situation, but it does sometimes seem that the fish get "looney" during the full mooney.

"BEEP BEEP" early part of next week.
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#4
My Father in law hit boulder creek this past Wed. at canyon lake in arizona said that tere was an explosive top water bite going on way in the back due to schools of shad being pushed back by the bass
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#5
[cool]Yeah, the threadfin shad are doin' (in Arizona) what the bigger American shad will be doin' next month in the cooler waters of northern California...makin' baby shadlets.

The threadfins cruise the shorelines in big schools and actually jump right up on the banks when bass and other predators blast them. Crows, ravens, grackles and other birds follow the action and dine on the little fishies that try to escape the big fish.

Thanks for the heads up on the topwater action. I hit Pleasant a lot for that kinda thing, but they have tournaments up there almost every weekend this time of year and the boaters run right over you when you are working the banks in your tube.
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