Cost = $60
This is an evening introduction to Shad fishing for LTFF Novice students on the American River on Sunday, June 5.
I strongly encourage the Novices to give this new fish-out a try. If we are lucky enough to get into shad, it can be a whole bunch of fun! And it will also whet your appetite for next year's Intermediate Shad fish-out on the bigger Sacramento River -- where longer casts and heavier sinking lines are usually needed.
If you already own a shooting head set-up (or integrated line) with perhaps a Type 3 or Type 4 sinking head (ie., 3-4 or 4-5 ips sink rate) and know how to cast this (as Willy taught in our LTFF Shooting Head Casting Clinic back in March), that would be ideal. However, if you are not ready to take that plunge for this outing or didn't attend that casting clinic, we still want to encourage you to come on this fish-out. In that case, bring your 5 or 6wt rod and floating (or intermediate) fly line and we'll provide you up with a short sink tip to attach to it. This set-up is not ideal for either casting or getting your fly down quickly, but it will hopefully serve to at least get you into some action on this river.
This will be only a short day trip up to the Sacramento area so there is no plan for the group to spend the night. The exact location of our fish-out will be determined by our guide Lance Gray shortly before the trip -- when he thinks he knows where our best chance will be for finding shad holding in the river. The late evening is usually the best action for shad so we will plan to fish right up until it gets dark. Be "wader-ed up" and ready to go at 4:00pm. Lance will give a short clinic on what shad are and how to fish for them, distribute some flies called "shad darts" to everyone, and pass out sandwiches to hold you until you head home.
Shad fishing is very social because you need to be fishing as close to one another as possible (but spaced apart enough to still swing your line through the current) in order to fit everyone into the run where we hope shad will be holding. We will be rotating spots through the run on my command to give everyone equal opportunity to hook fish.
As you may have heard, shad are often referred to as the "poor-man's tarpon" since they can put up quite a battle for their little size -- esp. on a light fly rod. Lance and I will be walking up and down the line to provide coaching, but you'll likely need to land your own fish (typically without a net). For that I suggest that you may want to have a pair of sungloves or similar half-fingered gloves --something that you will want to be sure to wash when you get home. Two-handed rods are good for shad fishing also, if you have one and can handle it.
This fish-out will be limited to 10 people. The fee to cover guide, flies, sink tip, and sandwiches is $60 per person, exclusive of guide gratuity. You don't want to miss this trip!
Contacts for this fish-out:
John Murphy ( jmurphy7599@gmail.com) 650-799-1695
Lance Gray ( lancegrayandcompany@yahoo.com )