FishSchooler

Check out these graphs! It has the previous year's fish counts day by day, live fish counts, and average fish counts in 10 years, dang, the numbers are nowhere near the top when there are 60000+ shad running over a day!

FPC Adult Salmon Web - Graph Traditional Current Year with last year and 10 year average, Adult Salmon Ladder Counts
just choose the dam and species, then hit submit!

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Give a man some powerbait, he'll fish for a day, teach the man how to make powerbait, he won't be fishing at all.

plunkme

i will go out today (6/18) to the clackamette park and around there to check out the shad fishing areas will report back if anything

by the way people who want to fish at bonneville you will get snagged a looootttt.... but once you get the hang of it you will get snagged less often for me i use about a 3 ft leader to a shad dart, (or jig head) then connect it to a snap swivel and then on the snap hook on about a 3/4 oz to 1 oz weight i just throw out my line about 30-50ft at about 12 o clock the when it drifts to about 10 o clock start reeling it in so you dont get snagged that what i do and its been working for me hope this helps everyone out

shad fishing should be excellent at bonneville with about 50,000 coming in (91476 on 6/17)

FishSchooler

We got to Bonneville dam at 6:50 am. We parked outside since it wasn't open yet. There was already a long line of people waiting to go in, we reached our fishing destination at about 7:10. I rigged a rod and reel with 12 pound mono and a 5.2:1 ball bearing. I had my main line attached to a 3 way swivel. a 1 ounce weight hung down from one loop with about 8 inches of line tied to it, then a leader with a florecent green jig head with the line around 15 inches. I casted out and retrieved nothing, again, nothing, again, Wham! I got one! It was about 2 pounds or so. Surprisingly, I only got snagged twice! Lost 2 lines too... But I got the pattern, cast out, drift a little, reel slow until 10 feet from shore. I hit shad almost every other cast, sometimes, I got 3 hits in a row! I had a lot of bites, but they spit it out, or the bit, then ripped the knot and line. I ended up with 10 big shad in the cooler, biggest was like 5 pounds. The water was good temp, good clearity, and great fishing! Other peeps caught more... Oh well, still fed the family for a week or two. The other peeps' rigs had a long weight that was like a worm, that you thread the line through, then a jig head or shad dart at the end, thats all. They didn't get any snags, except those 2 feet off the shore. They caught like 25 in the time I caught 10. Oh well again. We fished from 7:10am to 9:20am. Them shad are perrty perrtyful.

We got home at about 10:15 and we started to clean the shads. There was a lot of roe. Only the two biggest had the eggs. There was a lot of blood in the sink after that.
I kinda feel sorry for those shad that get taken in by the pros who catch like i dunno 50-100 a day... Why keep so many fish? They only taste good for a couple days when they are pretty much fresh.

We cooked the roe in butter, thanks for the hint on frying it whoever posted it.=D It tasted superior. yummmmmmy. Had a big bowl full to go round to family.

(MORE THAN 100,000 SHAD TODAY... HINT HINT GO FISHING...) =D

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Give a man some powerbait, he'll fish for a day, teach the man how to make powerbait, he won't be fishing at all.

osmosis

awesome, sounds like you had a good time.
We catch so many of them not because we eat them, but we use them for sturgeon and crab bait. They make excellent bait, we just freeze them and take out what we need for each trip.

FishSchooler

Someone mentioned fishing with glo yarn, I couldn't find out how to put it on the hook, it kept going too lose and falling off before I casted, so I set it aside and just used a plain old jig head. Can someone post a pic of a rig they recommend? When do you think the shad will be running 140000+ a day? I think around 6/26

__________________
Give a man some powerbait, he'll fish for a day, teach the man how to make powerbait, he won't be fishing at all.

osmosis

Do you know how to tie and egg loop?
if not the easiest method I can tell you over the net is to tie the yarn onto your mainline with a simple knot, then trim the yarn to size..

FishKiller23

I want to give it a shot. Any one know how willamette is doing? I'd go over to the dam not sure where to go though?


I mainly sturgeon fish so making some bait would be great.


Sounds like every one is having fun hope to see you guys out there.


later

alex

NWDub

I fish at clackamette park a lot, did good the other day. In fact, I'm trying to get down there today but all my friends are working so I have nobody to fish with

FishSchooler

The way I caught them 10 shaddies was with a simple small, florecent green jig head. All you need is a 1 ounce weight, a three way swiv, and the jig head, or shad dart. Just tie the 3 way swiv to the main line, then have the bottom one tied to the weight, which should be 1-5 inches away from the swiv, then have a 15-20 inch leader with the jig or shad dart, thats how I caught them shaddies.
Good luck sturgeon fishing. Can you C&R shad? Nobody I've seen does it. I want to have action like catching 50 a day, but I can't save those cause I don't fish for sturgeon or crab. So I would take home like 5 then I don't know what to do with the rest.

DANG! 99000+ shad running over that dam on 6/18! Over hundred thousand on 6/19!

(HINT HINT GO FISHING)

To go to the dam, just go on I-84 east, then there should be a big sign saying bonneville dam on the left. It's clear, no need to search, then go in and ask where bradfort island is, that's where all them <>< <>< <>< <>< <><es are.

When casting out, cast upstream like, 45 degrees, then wait for it to drift until it's right in front of you, then slowly retrieve, the place where you get all them bites is when the fast current turns into a slow current, then the waves start forming on the edge of the fast current. The fast current will force and push the shad into the slower currents, then the waves will bring them in closer, make sure to reel VERY slowly, until it gets close to the shore, if you don't reel fast when your lure is close to the shore, you'll lose it to them big rocks. I found out there's nothing exciting about getting a bite from rocks. xD
=D Good luck and Tight lines!

__________________
Give a man some powerbait, he'll fish for a day, teach the man how to make powerbait, he won't be fishing at all.

FishKiller23

Hmm well, I am taking a hr break or so before heading out again. I am docked at sellwood right now. I was at elk rock where I hooked a 40 inch sturgeon. but the boat next to me hooked into a oversize. 10 foot or better. HUGE


Guy yelled I NEED A BIGGER BOAT.

lol



Thanks for the shad information. I got a dart and a ounce weight rigged. Maybe i'll cruise up towards meldrum bar and see if I catch into one of those shad.