osmosis

shad have been going over bonneville for a week now.. I believe the columbia shad season opens on the 16th.
soon the count will be thousands per day over the dam and it will be time to get some bait.

FishKiller23

Hi every one,

I am new to the forum and love to fish. But I have never fished for shad before. Ive been told by many people that its loads of fun.


I live near the willamette river and I am wondering when a good time is to head out and try it??? I'd be fishing from a boat also wouldnt mind bringin some one along some time to show me the ropes.

osmosis

Hey FishKiller, in a week or two there should be enough shad in the willamette for it to be worth it. Wait until you see a zoo of boats and people, and then it's time to go.
It is alot of fun when you get into one of their travel lanes, if your not in a lane it can be pretty slow going. if you aren't catching fish and you are using similar gear to the people around you - move to a new spot.


I have hundreds of these tied up in tons of color combinations with silver and brass blades. this one pictured, and one with green and red beads are my favorite two. I make them on 18" leaders and run them with a 3 way swivel and a dropper.

to put some scale to this picture, it is 10lb test and the largest bead is 6mm.


They are as easy to fish as they are to tie up, open your bail and let your dropper carry it to the bottom - backbounce 20 up to 50 feet or so until you get a good angle to your line and are holding bottom and then if you havent got a fish by now just sit back and wait a bit.

dick nites, shad darts, a silver swivel with a silver split ring and a silver siwash hook, just one bead above a silver hook, tons of things catch these fish. most of them are fished the same way or very similarly to how I use the spinners that is described above.

Oh yeah, take a pair of pliers and off set your hook point about 5-10degrees.
and remember to not set the hook very hard, it's easy to tear the hook right out.

FishKiller23

Thanks alot for the information... I am taking my boat out tomorrow just to play around a little. You know any good spots when they do start running hard?

Thanks again.

Alex

osmosis

the lanes change all the time, so it just takes checking a couple spots. meldrum up the the falls is the most popular (3 boat ramps within 1mile helps that). I havent caught any above the falls, I dunno where they go!
I've not fished for them downstream from meldrum very far either, not sure why. They travel through that part of the river too.

arnie

Shad are great pickled, -- if you like pickled fish. They taste just like pickled herring and the bones all disappear during the pickling process.

Also, the eggs are superb. Just saute the entire egg sack in butter for a minute or less. A real treat.

Arnie

JTLunker

Welcome to the site Arnie! Great first post. Always herd Shad are no good to eat. Thanks for the info.

__________________
JT

FISH ON!!!!

arnie

Anyone have any ideas regarding the relationship between tides in the river and catching shad?

southside_10

Here is a pic of my "go to" shad lure. It is called a Willamette river shad killer.

It is a #7 brass swivel and a size10 siwash hook.

I like to rig it on a 3' leader and a 2' lead dropper off a BLACK 3 way swivel.
If you use a brass or chrome swivel to tie to your main line the shad will hit it.

I also have a good assortment of wee dick nite flicker lures. I have a dozen or so leaders tied up with lures ready to go.

It will be time to slay some shad as soon as the water goes down.

Peace, Tom

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osmosis

good point you brought up about the black swivels.
I like the rig, nice and cheap.

arnie- I've never actaully paid attention to the tide while shad fishing, never heard it mattered for them.