Keep Calm and Fly Fish

For the last couple of days I’ve have been spending a few hours on the Feather River fishing for American shad. The fishing has been pretty good and despite the hoards of folks out due to COVID19 there appears to be plenty of fish for everyone to catch. So far I’ve been pretty successful and even had my first double digit shad day. Hooking and fighting an American shad is always fun but for me every shad I catch wears off a bit of the novelty. To keep myself from getting too bored of the shad run I’ve been experimenting with different patterns and trying to come up with my own “hot” shad patterns.

Shad Patterns

American shad are primarily plankton feeder that will occasionally eat small shrimp, fish eggs, and other fish. Why these fish strike flies, lures, and jigs during the spawning run is still poorly understood though there are many different theories. Many different patterns work for shad however the main attractors seem to be bright florescent colors and flash.

Hmong Inspired Shad Pattern

After tying a few different patterns and trying them out it seems as though a pattern needs to have a perfect combination of design, color, and flash in order to get a strike. The shad patterns I tied in “grub” style seem to work the best. I found the “hot” fly by rigging two flies and trying to get the fish to strike both patterns. If one was working and the other was not I would keep the one working and tie on a different pattern. Once both flies were getting bit I was catching fish every couple of casts. I even tried a three fly rig but that didn’t work too well due to twisting, turning, and tangling.

More Shad In The Hand

The fish are in the Feather but with minimal flows at 561 CFS they are concentrating in small particular areas of the river creating an early bird gets the most fish type situation. The low flows have made getting around the river easier however it has also made the river slower creating froggy spots and eddies. I was surprised and frustrated at how difficult a little bit of wind ripple on the surface made presenting my swing due do these flow-less spots. Nonetheless I overcame the challenge and caught fish.

It looks like California is going to be getting more rain this year with a series of three atmospheric storms. Snow is predicted at the higher elevations though I believe that it’ll mostly be rain. Rivers and streams will continue to run high perhaps even higher with the predicted rain melting the snow. A quick look at the capacity percentages of reservoirs in California show that a majority of lakes are at or near capacity putting California’s water supply in excellent shape for this year.

I’ve read a lot of fishing reports of the American Shad run being in town. I took the time to explore the Feather River one evening and was lucky enough to hook and land my first shad this year. The rain started soon after I released my catch and the bite turned off (not that it was on by any means). Cold fronts tend to put the shad down as flows fluctuate from rain or water release; these are migrating anadromous fish after all. During these difficult times try fishing the opposite of what you would on a hot summer shad filled day; fish during mid-day when temperatures are at their warmest and cover lots of water or get a boat.

It’s going to be a tough season for wade-in anglers as the flows are going to be too high to safely position in the areas where the shad like to hold. I’m going to try and explore a few new places to fish for shad but will most likely be spending my time fishing elsewhere.