Shad 2004

After returning from an early May trip to Belize, I was surprised to see all of the emails and phone calls regarding shad on the American.  Yes it was May 8^th, Mother’s Day,  and my friends were already catching shad on the American.  That next weekend I made my first float, it was true, and there were already lots of shad in the American.  I was very concerned with the water temperatures recorded that day; Rossmoor 61˚, Geothe Park 64˚, Watt Avenue 67˚, remember this was May 14^th not June 14^th.  The shad run was at least three weeks early maybe more.  The next day I headed to the Yuba River to check it out, water flow 1500+ cfs and 54˚, perfect conditions but no shad, yet!  Traditionally, the American and Yuba don’t start to see any shad until the end of May and the run doesn’t get into full swing until June, so I always schedule my bookings after Memorial Day.  On May 19^th  Bob Sousa and I had an instructional clinic for the CFFU Club on the American.  It was a fantastic afternoon and evening, almost everyone caught shad.  I kept telling them that they were spooling my record, you aren’t suppose to catch fish during a clinic. The next day I headed back to the Yuba, May 22^nd, it was still in great shape and there were a few fish showing, GREAT!  Just might have a shad run on my favorite river. 

On May 29^th, the shad were in the Yuba in big numbers.  It was unbelievable!  The water was still 54˚, and running at 1500+ cfs.  On May 31^st the water dropped to 1300 cfs still a good flow but you could definitely see the difference in the flow and mood of the fish.  On June 1^st the water dropped to 1100 cfs, are you starting to see a pattern here!  On June 2^nd the water dropped to 990 cfs basically ending my guiding on the Yuba for the year.  While the fishing started out on fire it ended up to be only marginal.

June 3^rd it was back to the American.  This is the first year that I can remember catching good numbers of shad in the Roosmore area.  It was almost automatic, drop the anchor, make the cast and hook-up.  This scene continued until 1 pm each afternoon.  Occasionally, a few waders would be in the run and occasionally they would hook one or two fish, their problem was they just couldn’t cast far enough to reach the fish.  By this time in June the American was full of schooling shad, most of which had been spawning for several weeks.  Downstream we would find shad in the deep runs and the tail outs but not eager to grab a fly during mid-day.  As late afternoon approached the grab would pick up and the shad would be eager to grab the fly well into the evening. 

With two weeks of bookings still ahead and a declining shad run, I had to make a decision, cancel my bookings or gut it out.  So that the shad trips would not be a disappointment to my clients, I made the decision to cancel rest of my bookings.  My last day on the river was unbelievable, every run we fished that day produced good numbers of shad and the grab continued all day and into the evening.  At this point I was thinking that I made a huge mistake but the next day it was back to a good morning and evening grab and then a slow afternoon.  I guess I made the right decision.

I want to thank all of the anglers that were with me this year; we did have some excellent days.  I would also like thank all of the anglers for their understanding and I’m looking forward to next year with you all.

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