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Shad Columbia

7K views 88 replies 25 participants last post by  blackbird 
#1 ·
Where on the Columbia can you swing for fish for Shad below Bonneville ?

Shad fishing hopefully is not secretive ????

I have no idea where to fish for these stinky and fun fish that are going over the damn in the 000's daily
 
#3 ·
Anywhere with fast current against the bank below Bonnie. The trick is finding a spot with room to fly cast. But you don't need to be right up at the dam. There are spots further downriver that meet the fast current criteria where you can generally find some elbow room.
 
#5 · (Edited)
My recommendation would be the Washington side just below the John Day Dam. Nice easy sloping gravel bar, plenty of room to cast, not crowded. You can even wade. Kids, if you have them can look for agates if they aren't interested in fishing. Stop at dintys market in biggs and get some chartreuse "Shad Killers"
They are castable on a stout 6 wt swing it on a light to medium sink tip.
Take a spin rod in case the wind is blowing.

Then stop for a wine tasting at Maryhill when you are done.
 
#7 ·
John Day is by far the best place to swing for them if you're on foot. The Bonneville fishery just isn't that great on a fly rod. It can be done, but it's pretty miserable in a lot of different ways.

You can actually catch them from the docks there near the mouth of the Washougal, but the docks are under construction right now from what I hear.

Unfortunately, without a boat, the river below Bonnie is tough on a fly rod. Willamette is pretty great near Clackamette Park if that's an option for you. Much better on a fly rod than Bonnie, but still nothing like John Day.
 
#9 ·
John Day is by far the best place to swing for them if you're on foot. The Bonneville fishery just isn't that great on a fly rod. It can be done, but it's pretty miserable in a lot of different ways.

You can actually catch them from the docks there near the mouth of the Washougal, but the docks are under construction right now from what I hear.

Unfortunately, without a boat, the river below Bonnie is tough on a fly rod. Willamette is pretty great near Clackamette Park if that's an option for you. Much better on a fly rod than Bonnie, but still nothing like John Day.
When I first read about fly fishing shad from shore at Bonneville what was being done to cut down on costs from snags was to buy a Cortland L9S flyline and cut it into 3 30 foot shooting heads. That was supposed to get one deep enough for fishing and be easy enough on the wallet when the head got snagged. The cost of those flylines back then was $2.95. Try and find a level flyline these days.
 
#8 ·
when I checked yesterday I was going to point out the numbers aren't there at Bonneville yet. I checked again this morning and saw where the numbers jumped from 34k to 108K. Bonneville is traditionally a Memorial day location but it appears just a hair later this year. Last year the run was around 5.5M and that's a few shad.
 
#17 ·
The shad are not supposed to be here... they're not even supposed to be on the west coast of this country. Many decades ago a guy from the east brought them out in barrels on train cars and dumped them into SF Bay... they spread from there. Shad are a big deal in the East so he thought he was doing the West a favor by freighting them out here. They have never gone over like he expected.

Actually, when I was researching shad for my article in regards to flyfishing the Umpqua for the critters, I never came across anything that indicated the introduced species were hurting anything. I do know they go up many more coastal rivers than folks know about... but that would be hot spotting :eek:

Seriously, they are fun to catch with fly gear... especially on the Umpqua.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I think the Shad and Stripers were both brought over at the same time, from the Cooper River in SC if I'm not mistaken. Both shad and stripers have kind of established in the same rivers, but the stripers kind of stop at the Columbia (yes, there's stripers in the Columbia/Willamette in small numbers). I think shad are often found as far north as the Skagit. But the main rivers they're all in are the Sacramento River (and tribs), Umpqua, and Columbia. They're scattered around in other systems in smaller numbers.
 
#29 ·
Fished the John Day Dam area on Thursday evening and early Friday morning. The west wind was ferocious and made for tough fly casting, and I think the wind stirred up the silt so that the shad couldn't see our flies very well. Still, I managed to land 18 shad and a 20" pike minnow and a 12" smallmouth bass. About half the shad were the smaller males and half the larger and fatter females. No other fly fishermen were seen, but there were about 20 gear fishermen at the most, so a lot less crowded than Bonneville. You can see in the photos below that there is a lot of room on the gravel bar for fly casters.

Rectangle Slope Plot Font Parallel


Sky Cloud Water resources Ecoregion Plant


Vertebrate Fisherman Fin Fish Marine biology


Should be pretty good for the next few weeks, so if you want to get shad on the fly, now is the time to go. After swimming for 75 miles and over 2 dams, the shad won't be as silvery or as good fighters as the ones below Bonneville Dam, but the lack of combat fishing conditions makes up for that.

Rex
 

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#32 ·
In my experience, most any weighted, small and flashy fly will work; the gear guys use all kinds of small lures, spinners and spoons and they all seem to work too. I posted a photo of my T-Krill pattern which has been one of my favorites, but probably only because I use it so often. I don't think shad are very selective. Finding the right location, getting the right depth and the right retrieve is more important than the fly pattern, IMHO.
 
#36 ·
#43 ·
Drew inspiration from Shewey's Shad Shifter. Here's a variant...
View attachment 204419
I use the same basic pattern for just about all my shad flies except I do the best with a white marabou tail and red "thorax". Other color combinations include all yellow, all white, all pink. But the marabou tail, tinsel/chenille body and weighted eyes remain consistent.
 
#44 ·
Been just absolutely derbying fish in the lower C below Bonneville in my boat. It's fun, but seeing how many shad there are this year has me feeling that this can't be a sign of anything good since they're invasive and booming in numbers while everything else that belongs here is not doing great. Hopefully they're not out-competing all the herring, anchovies, sardines, etc. in the Pacific.

Bummer about the scenery, though. Sucks having this down the street.
Water Sky Cloud Mountain Watercraft
 
#47 ·
It's fun, but seeing how many shad there are this year has me feeling that this can't be a sign of anything good since they're invasive and booming in numbers while everything else that belongs here is not doing great.
I've yet to come across anything that indicates shad cause problems for native species... unlike other illegally introduced fishes. However, they may have an impact that I just haven't come across yet.

Shad like warmer temps so maybe that's why their numbers are up and the fish that do not like warm temps (which are usually native) are down... but that's just a guess.
 
#57 ·
Salmon smolts take months instead of a week to make it out to the estuaries.

Meantime shad are decimating the food supply these smolts need and shad fry are also helping sustain a population of nonnative predators that will go after the salmon smolts slowly making their way down our dammed rivers.

I think shad are not good for native NW Fish

J
 
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