Shad fishing American River Sacramento California

Decided to try my luck on the spring shad run on the American river in the Sacramento California area today.

For those who have never fished for American shad it can be very exciting. In the spring, mid-May is usually when the shad start showing up in numbers migrating into the rivers looking for the opportunity to spawn. The American shad are a split tail powerful migratory fish that that are very exciting to catch. They have very soft mouths so you need to take your time bringing them in. They usually arrive in big schools a 20 fish day is not uncommon when they are running good. Usually the early morning or the evening is the time to target them. Here in California the daily limit is 25. Most anglers catch and release as they are a very bony fish but some keep their catch. I have actually had smoked Shad and it is quite good.

Because of the Shad’s great fighting reputation and there aerial acrobatics they are sometimes called fresh water tarpon. Five pounders are not uncommon. Light tackle is your best bet.

My setup for spin fishing is 8 lb. test line and a #8-10 hook size. Using a 1/8 oz. jig head and a pink and chartreuse grub on a soft rod.

Casting upstream in the current and swinging it like you would a salmon egg fishing in a stream or river for trout. Also fly fishing for the split tail acrobats can be very exciting. Setups can vary by conditions. A fly under an indicator can work quite well as well as swinging the fly in the current. Conditions will dictate your setup. Shallow water you can swing off of a floating line but deeper or faster waters may need a sink too to get you in the sweet spot to entice these beauties. Either spin fishing or fly fishing your goal is to swing your bait near the bottom.

My day started at the Howe avenue river

access boat launch area at approximately 6:30 am. Parking is $6.00 for a vehicle and $12.00 for a vehicle with a trailer.

I decided that I would launch my Hobie Pro Angler kayak at the Howe avenue access and make my way upstream to the Watt avenue access and fish my way back down river to the Howe avenue access.

Made my way up river about 1.5 miles and started drift fishing back downstream using some shad flies that I tied. During my time on the river there were three boats in my drift all were fishing for striped bass. None had any luck. One Fly Fisherman was searching for Shad also and reported no luck also. I continued my drift down to my starting point and made my way up river one more time with no luck. It was a beautiful morning and the temperature was rising quick. I saw coyotes and grey herons many species of ducts including wood ducts. The high for the day actually reached 102 degrees F. The shad run on the American river has been trying to develop and keeps looking like

It is ready to take off but still has not done so. So no success to report. We are in standby mode for now. We have been experiencing big fluctuations in the daily temperatures which I believe have ben affecting the water temps. Once it takes off I will report.