Trip With Brother Warren

I had a nice trip out with my brother Warren the other night.
The river we visited was shockingly low and the whole bottom was covered in a brown algae. Warren called it “Rock Snot”.

I had been there about a week and a half ago and the water was at the perfect level, Shad and Trout were everywhere. We had to follow the brook down to where it hits the big river to find any fish. I caught a small Bass and Warren hooked a few Shad.

Not legendary fishing by any stretch but fun to get out and it doesn’t hurt for the big brother to win one every now and then.

Certainly cuts down on the “noogies”.

Shad Run 2009 - Not Long Now !

There are few things as exciting in the realm of fly fishing than taking improbably large fish, no matter what the species, from small waters.

It is the ability of the fly fisherman to fish the small tributaries of a main river that opens the door to a unique fishing experience.
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Where spinning gear and heavy darts would foul on every cast, fly gear can often be used with a minimum of difficulty.

The first Shad I ever caught was on the Annapolis River, not a spot particularly famous as a shad river. I had stopped to look at a dam where the river meets the salt water.

In the depths I could see a handful of biggish fish fanning against the current and then suddenly swirling around each other and darting off, only to reappear in the same spot within a few minutes.

I had no idea what they were but I had some saltwater fishing gear in the car, specifically a spinning rod rigged up for Pollack fishing with a yellow Mr. Twister as the lure. That is a round lead jig to which a plastic tail is added. It is a great lure for Pollack and Mackerel too, although it was probably originally designed for Bass fishing.

I crouched over the spot where the fish were milling around and lowered the lure down in front of a fish. He didn’t react at all until I let the lure sink to rest on the bottom and then raised it with a little dancing motion. Bang! He nailed it and I was into a spectacular battle before I had time to absorb what had just happened. After about ten minutes I managed to land my first shad.


When I got home and mentioned my adventure to some friends they were unimpressed. Shad just didn’t seem to rate.

It was a pretty good lesson in what will elicit a strike from a shad though. When presenting a fly to a Shad I always try to get the fly a bit lower then the fish and expect a strike as it rises.
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Because fly fishing for shad is still in its infancy in Eastern Canada it is still possible to find new, un-fished and un-crowded water.

Almost every Eastern Salmon River has historically also had a run of shad, some better known than others.

Although Shad, as open water spawners, do not need to run far up rivers and tributaries to find perfect gravel beds, they do disperse throughout the system.

If there are a lot of fish showing in the main river it is usually productive to check the tributaries too. Not just to find fish but to find those spots where a fly fisherman has the room to practice his art.




It won’t be long now until the Shad Run 2009 begins. I can’t wait.

Nice Trout Rising

Tangled with some some nice trout today- lots rising.

Crappy weather but nice to be out anyway. Very peaceful on the water. Plenty of wildlife around, everything from a couple of deer to an osprey.

Changed up to Shad gear to investigate a deep run and they were pretty willing too.

Should have mowed the lawn but it really wasn't a nice enough day to do yard work...

Shad –What the Fly-fisherman should know

When a river is full of running Shad, it is a straightforward proposition to connect with a few. Experience tells us however that rarely do we find ourselves in just the right place at just the right time.

So what happens when there are only a few fish in the river and it is a bright sunny day? Then, the challenge of hooking up is not so simple.






My old “knowledge is power” approach may be boring but the more you know about what might be going on the better your chances become.


The official name for the American Shad, Alosa Sapidissima, does not really give us many clues to help catch them. The “Alosa” simply tells us that it is a Shad and the “Sapidissima”, which in Latin means “most delicious”, tells us that it is tasty.

Shad live in the ocean for two to three years before returning to fresh water to spawn. In the ocean they feed upon Plankton, small crustaceans and occasionally, small fish. Occasionally probably means –when they can catch them. They are not feeding when they return to the river for spawning.

They spawn in open water with no specific bottom requirements so do not have to travel very far up the river or its tributaries.

Commonly what the angler sees when the Shad are in a river is a small group of fish sweeping by and then a splashing and swirling followed by a large wake as the group reorganizes and darts away again. What you are really seeing is a group of males chasing a larger female. She will eventually release her eggs, which the males will fertilize as the eggs drift down through the water column. A female will do this two or three times during the run and are capable of laying an astonishing number of eggs.


Shad in our cool Eastern Rivers usually survive spawning and can return to spawn again. That is a pretty good argument for catch and release. A better one is a thing I read somewhere that indicated around eighty percent of the Shad in the St. John River spawn more than once.

Here is another interesting thing from the same article. It mentioned that all of the Shad from the Eastern Canadian and American rivers spend some of their time in the Bay of Fundy.

Here is the important stuff for the fly fisherman.

Shad begin their run when the water temperature in the river reaches 12c, (about 54f). Spawning begins when the temperature rises above that. The spawning run stops when the water gets warmer than 20c (68f).

In Nova Scotia the run is usually in full swing by mid-May, by mid-June there is active spawning but things are starting to quiet down, and by mid-July it is usually too warm and the run ends.

The best times to spot fish are early morning and evening. Overcast days are generally good with fish showing throughout the day. After supper is the conventional best time to head out for a bit of Shad fishing. The worst time, usually, is between 10 AM and 5PM on a sunny day.

This is true because most of the actual spawning takes place in open water at night. As darkness approaches, the fish start to become active and continue this heightened activity until full daylight the next day.



Remember though, just because the fish are not as obvious on a sunny day does not mean they are not there, not moving around the river, or any less willing to take a fly.

Your skill at reading the water can put you over some takers no matter how bright the day and even though everyone says it is a bad time for fishing Shad. Just refer them to Dobson’s Law. It says, “People who are fishing tend to catch more fish than people who are not.”




The way I figure it is that because they are not feeding, daytime Shad are likely looking for security from predators. Speaking as a predator, I look for them during the day in places they will feel secure, primarily deep sections with structure to shelter them from the current.