Chad 09

You read that right, Chad, not shad. That is what we call the American Shad that we have swimming up the Columbia River in my household. These damn herring that were brought to the West Coast from some dumb ass from the East Coast many decades ago are returning for their annual orgy in the Pacific Northwest. Many rivers including the Umpqua, Feather, American and Columbia Rivers are starting to see them and my mid June, they will be everywhere.















Oh and you might hook one of those on the bottom right. Landing them is a different story though.

I took the opportunity after yard work to join the locals at Bonneville Dam for some catching not fishing. Well really, it was fishing. The numbers going over the dam are not that great yet and since the weather and water levels have not been good for the old steelfaces, I took this opportunity to give my new Echo 61010 Switch Rod a try.






















Now you guys that have fished for Shad at the Dam know it is an interesting heterogeneous mixture of cultures that pursue them. I took it upon myself to try and fit in, especially because I was the weird one with one of them two handed fly rods.

Here is a good article regarding Fly Fishing for Shad in the Columbia River, written by the great spey sensei Steve Buckner