Shad Fishing on the Fly - The Basics

The whole idea of fly-fishing for Shad on purpose is relatively new in comparison to the other more traditional fly fishing targets of trout and salmon.

In reviewing, what I know about it for various articles I have written in the past year I realized that the ideas and techniques I was using were derivatives of other styles of fishing, mainly slightly adapted salmon fishing techniques, with a few personal twists added as I gained experience.

In its simplest form, here is how to catch a Shad with a fly rod.

Use a sink-tip line and a short, stout leader of about four to six feet. Tie on a brightly coloured, weighted fly in the number ten to twelve range and cast it three quarters down stream and across. An upstream mend just as it lands will help to sink the fly.

Let the cast straighten out below you. Do not retrieve it right away. Let the fly dangle there for between ten and twenty seconds. Work it just enough to keep from snagging then slowly lift your rod tip to raise the fly up from the bottom. If no strike, do the whole thing over again. Expect a strike, ranging from subtle to jarring, anywhere along the drift but most often a few seconds into the dangle or just as you begin the lift.

If you do this so that your fly is covering a pocket or deep spot in the river where the Shad momentarily rest on their way upstream, you will get one sooner or later.

This is a nice straight forward approach, easy to master and adaptable to your particular reading of the water and what it tells you about where the fish are going to hold up temporarily.

The one gear related observation I will make is that you need a good, free-running, reel with lots of backing just as you would for salmon fishing.

No Bull, these fish fight with tremendous strength. If you are not into your backing a few times on a day’s Shad fishing, the big ones are not in yet and you should already be planning a return trip.

Having reviewed the basics, next time I will try to explain a bit about reading the water to figure out where you have the best chance of connecting.