Okay, so I told you how busy spring is already. Well it just got busier.
Each year around this time, the spring chinook salmon are charging up the river and a little ways behind them is another fish species that comes in from the ocean to spawn in the river. They are known as shad. Shad are great fighters on light tackle and when it’s good they are supposedly caught with each cast. They occupy certain sections of the river and will hit a small jig or dart that scurries along the bottom. They turn their flat bodies sideways to fight the angler much like a papio will do. Shad will use the river current along with their body shape to make the retrieval more difficult. On 4 pound test it is a great thrill to catch and land shad in the river.
After being in Oregon for five years, and living only a half mile from some decent spots, I never even bothered fishing for shad. Too busy I guess. Surprised at hearing this news, my dear friend and neighbor Ray Lehne, was kind enough to take me down the Umpqua River not too far from our house for an evening shad fishing event. We floated down in a pair of his inflatable kayaks until we reached the shad hotspot. We fished for a little more than an hour and headed back up the river. It was awesome. If you don’t count the mega eruption of mayflies hatching on the river, we had the place to ourselves. The sun painted all that it touched, a golden hue. It was gorgeous. Combine the intense colors of the days end with joyful music of water scurrying over rocks and the sound of line stripping off a reel makes for a pretty awesome way to finish the day!
The Umpqua River an hour before sunset.
My guide, Ray “River Rat” Lehne.
Big kine aholehole!
