Fly Fishing for Shad –Reading the Water

As in any fly-fishing, reading the water is critical to deciding how to approach the task of presenting your fly. In Shad fishing with a fly rod it is no less important. The well-known spots are usually crowded. Shad fishing is after all a very exciting and often social event. We fly fishermen need a little more elbowroom though so tend to disperse along the stream.




When the Shad are running in the spots I fish, they swarm up the stream in little schools of ten or twenty fish. These groups dart upstream a ways then swirl around and head back down stream seemingly randomly until suddenly they are gone. Within minutes another group or maybe the same one, passes and does the same upstream move degenerating into swirling chaos before reforming into a somewhat orderly school and heading away upstream again. What we are seeing is a group of males pursuing a larger female.

On a good day, there is almost always at least one group of fish in sight, usually several.


Knowing the fish are there is half the battle but it is what they are doing when you cannot necessarily see them that is important. These fish are here to spawn. While in fresh water they are not feeding so must conserve as much energy as they can to be ready when the moment comes to be the winner in the contest to reproduce.



They way I translate this into a fishing strategy is this:

Unless actually chasing a female or in the case of the female, unless actually being chased by the males. Shad are going to seek the path of least resistance in their upstream journey. They will rest when and where possible. If you hang a fly in front of them for long enough they will bite it, just to get the darned thing out of their face if for no other reason. I know that last bit sounds kind of dumb but hey, at least I have a plan.

To my thinking, there are a few points of interception a fly angler should concentrate on. The first is the deep slow water close to the mouth of the river the Shad are running up.
Every Shad in the river has to pass this area.

To fish this just cast almost straight across, let the fly sink and strip back with a rhythmic, longish pull. Do not be afraid to pause and let the fly sink between strips. Also every now and then fish directly downstream a few inches out from the bank.

Farther up stream, I look for a few types of water. My favourite is a stretch of shallow riffles immediately above a deeper, broadening of the stream. The little pods of fish come racing upstream, hit the shallows, mill around a few moments then fall back to the deeper section, seemingly to rest and recharge before committing to another dash upstream.

Here, I position myself upstream and work the fly down and across the lip of the deep section, extending about six-inches on each cast to cover it thoroughly. Work the fly a little with a bobbing or lifting motion.

The next type of water I look for, especially on a bright day, is a long stretch of deep water with lots of conflicting currents. I figure this is a trade off for the fish. The dark depths give them security so they are inclined stay there but they will not continuously fight the current so will rest wherever it is blocked or slower.

Also, think of the way a Seagull will glide along in the draft of a ferryboat without flapping its wings. He has found a sweet spot of upwelling air and only needs minor adjustments to stay there for hours. I think fish do the same thing in a current. They look for the sweet spots where the lift of the water hitting a bank or boulder will let them rest with little energy expended.

I fish it so the fly does the same thing the water does. It tumbles along the bottom then rises up in front of them – in theory anyway.

One more spot I will always fish on a bright day is anywhere there is a noticeable shadow such as a bridge will cast or even a tree or brush along the banks.

Many times, I have watched fish mill around in the shadow of a bridge, unwilling to venture back out into the bright sunlight but not particularly comfortable in the water they are holding in either.


I first discovered this fishing with my brother Warren on the Nictaux. (I think it was the Nictaux River. He will doubtless remember.) The water was too fast and shallow to be promising but I saw the telltale swirls and tips of fins so cast downstream to the edge of the bridge’s shadow. The strike was instantaneous. As long as I was content to cast along the slowly moving shadow’s edge there was a fish there willing to take.

I will not go through every turn and vagary of a river but offer these as examples of the sorts of places to look for and things to think about when on the river fly fishing for Shad.

Remember; the very best time to fish them is just at dusk but the very best time to go fishing is whenever you can. That means the fishing is not always going to be easy.

The truth is that I learn something new about Shad fishing every time I am out. Some of it completely contradicts what I would have sworn was true before leaving home so take this stuff with a grain of salt and let me know if you figure out something that will help me catch a few too.