Every year we get quite a few calls and in person inquires about the shad run’s status on the Umpqua. Usually answered by checking the ODFW report and with: “uhh…they should be in mother’s day to father’s day”. Its been a long time since our last Shad Report. This year we can report that the shad are in the Umpqua in great numbers as expected. There are many bank spots, short rows/motors from ramps or full floats on the Umpqua.
I got out with former Caddis employee, Alex, who figured out how to get them a few days before. Shad fishing is: “consistent, low stakes fun”. Plus pound for pound they put similar sized fish to shame, our beloved redsides included. Shad run, dig, pull and jump – doing everything you want out of a sportfish. Once you find the travel lane of a big school, you can get as many to bite as you want. Hooking them every cast is a different story. They give a little tap tap and then let the fly go. You’ve got to be quick! We found a short, couple inch strip followed by a hard lift was the best way to hook them.
When I fished for shad before I jigged curly tails and mr. twisters below bedrock ledges and in the slots. This kind of water is fishable with fly rods, but better fly water exists. We found the most luck in even flowing, walking paced water a good distance below the ledges. Middle to the end of the tailouts. If you are in a boat you can often spot large schools of shad. Look for a horde of evenly spaced, surprisingly large fish hugging the bottom. Shad travel upstream at a gentle pace. We anchored to the side of schools and had an absolute blast. Cast upstream slightly or perpendicular to the current to achieve a low and slow swing.
A lot of lines and flies that will work for shad. Some will work better than others. A clean, slow drift with a sinking style line is important. The optimal line is probably a 25 foot sink tip in 150-200 grains. A 20-25 foot sinking section seemed to be in the zone. Neither of us had this line so we utilized our bass sink tip lines SA Sonar Titan Sink Tip in sink VI combined with a Sonar Sinking Leader in Sink VI to achieve the 20 feet or so to hold our flies in the zone. Use what you got! A full Sink III or I/3/5 would probably work fine as well. We caught fish on Krill Bill’s (pictured in a shad’s mouth above) and Shewey’s Mirage Shad Dart. Alex also tied some shad darts with XS brass eyes, as opposed to bead chain, that worked great in slightly deeper water. Five-ish feet of straight 3x or 2x paired with 5 – 7wt rods helps kick off the fun. With a 5wt the fun is maximized. However, you can get into stalemate with the bigger shad as they hug the bottom. You decide what type of fight you’re looking for.
There’s also lots of smallmouth around between shad spots or if you want a change of pace throughout the day. Thanks for reading and good luck out there! -Robbie
Nice to see shad in the report. Have you tried any specific flies that worked well lately?
Shad dart flies, like the ones linked above, worked best for us. Size small pearl mylar body tubing (E-Z body Small Pearl) with pearl flashabou tail. Production ones and our own tied ones with fire orange, chartreuse or pink heads. Other sparsely tied flashy and bright flies with bead chain eyes or xs/small brass eyes.
Thanks for reading! -Robbie
Is this below Yellow Creek? If so, where would a person take out? I’ve wanted to get down there but not really familiar with the Umpqua yet. I see videos of people fishing below Sawyer rapids but not really interested in doing that.
What float would you recommend? Would yellow creek to 9 mile be fishy?
Good to hear from ya! I don’t have a strong recommendation, depends what you are looking for. We did Scott Creek to Scottsburg, the float below Sawyers rapids. It is 9 miles long and has 4-5 miles of flatwater. I have done a few Umpqua floats for bass/steelhead before this. I know people like Yellow Creek to 9 mile, I haven’t done it myself. A nice thing about that one is its short, I believe. There’s an unimproved slide on Mehl Creek Rd about 5 miles above Elkton. That slide to Elkton is an option. Some of our McKenzie fly fishing club members really like paying for access on the Big K ranch. I think its reasonably priced, can call them for daily access. I have been told there’s great water and they run your shuttle. -Robbie
Bought a half dozen of the recommended flies from the shop and headed down Thursday a.m. Put in at Yellowcreek, floated to 9 mile. The bankers at Yellowcreek were catching fish so we were pretty excited about the float ahead. For the day, we caught 2 smallmouth, 0 shad. Never saw any shad, but spotted 3 salmon. The problem for us was the amount of algae floating in the water. The guys I fished don’t cast flies, we just drag them in front of the boat. 90% (or more) of the times we checked flies (alot) they had the green stuff hanging off the hook. Frustrating after awhile.
Still enjoyed the day, it’s not the McKenzie but it is pretty down there.
Doubt I’ll go back for shad, but that seems like a pretty good run for winter steelhead!