Sacramento River

Shad Three Nights In A Row

Poor Man’s Tarpon

The shad fishing has been good all three evenings. I’ve figured out what works early before the sunsets and after. The best thing right now is that I can avoid the combat fishing as the anglers are concentrated on the bank further upstream from the Washout. It was pretty windy on Thursday and it was funny to see all the people upstream gone before it got dark. The previous night the cars where piling up to the side of the road, this night I saw only one truck.

First Striper

I hooked quite a few these past three nights and was able to land a bonus striper, my first! Fly fishing for shad is productive, fun, and feels like Christmas every night.

Fish on!
Sacramento River

Shad Are In Town

Thumbs Up For a Bend Rod

Monday evening on the Sac marked the first day I finally found some shad this year. Although I missed more than I caught, I managed to land 3 nice lookin shad on my switch rod before calling it a night.

There were a lot of bank anglers combat fishing a distances upstream from the Washout. Luckily, I found a nice spot and pretty much fished the entire evening next to one guy until another showed up. Flies outfished the typical green grub rig.
I’ll definitely be getting out there more now that they are here.

Swinging for Shad

There was one shad I kept for eats. My last and most previous experience of eating shad was basically just eating a bunch of bones. After food processing and frying it up, I was able to make sorta like a breakfast fish patty with no bones. It was pretty good. The taste is similar to catfish but more flaky and fishy.

The following evening I went out and gottem again! All quick-release but the take is the only thing that matters.

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