Santiago - 4-10-2016 at 06:41 AM
John McPhee's The Founding Fish is the story of the American shad. McPhee is a long-time contributor to The New Yorker and often
writes on natural history topics; a long time angler, he came to shad fishing late in life.
As a native California, I never even knew about shad until I moved to the northern part of the state where shad runs were introduced from the east
coast many years ago.
At age 65, this will be my first year shad fishing.
Skipjack Joe - 4-10-2016 at 07:42 AM
Good for you. They're a lot of fun on a fly rod. They put a really good bend in the rod. In my experience smaller and sparsely tied flies work best
and it's best to impart little action. Just let the current move it from side to side.
AKgringo - 4-10-2016 at 08:31 AM
Shad....the poor man's salmon! Not a lot of expense in tackle or travel if they are in a river near you.
As a teenager in the early 60's, we fished the lower part of the Yuba river for them, and got a lot of action. Forget still water, you will do best
in the current.
For what it is worth, it is great training for catching Sockeye salmon in northern rivers, except that Sockeye are good on the table. Let us know if
you find a good way to prepare those bony critters, I never cared for them.