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
