AR Grey Ghost Spotting

Went out to the AR with my friend Nikolay for shad today. Otw around 1530 and found the fish almost immediately. Got onto a couple of big

schools that stayed in a general area around which allowed us to get a quick few. Maybe 10 mins into it though we saw a HUGE!!! Grey shadow prowl through the area. A few call them the "Grey Ghost." I have always referred to him as "The Tank." She is a monster striper probably 40+inches long some 25+lbs. All season I have seen a couple of schoolie stripers lurking in the area, but no big guys. Finally I've spotted one and I line a shad out and was dedicated to getting that fish.

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Nikolay kept getting into a few shad while I was waiting on my striper.

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Fish were moving around a lot today with the big momma striper working the area. Made it hard to stay on the fish, but the few times we did get on em the bite was good for that short while. Fished today until 1830. Nikolay had places to be. I had that shad out the entire time we were there too after I saw the striper, but no love for me today. Maybe someday soon. 3 hours on the water brought roughly 13 shad to the boat with a few more lost and missed between the two of us.

News on our water, I was told flows will be brought up to 2,000 cfs sometime in June. Could not get an exact date, but there are plans on them coming up. There is light at the end of the tunnel for the AR here. We'll see how things pick up when that happens.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

AR Shad, its getting there

Been slacking on reports, mostly cause there really isn't too much to report.

Been fishing every day from 5/16-5/19 and results are 16th: 10 fish to the boat in 2 hours, 17th: 8 fish to the boat in 4 hours, 18th: 4 fish to the boat in 3 hours, and 19th: 12 fish to the boat in 4 hours. The shad are moving all over the place and the second I think I've got their system figured out they switch it up on me. The 16th my water balloon trick payed off well and I found a deeper hole where the fish have been hiding out during the mid day and I have recently always been starting off my day their until the sun sets and the fish disperse a bit. We anchored on em and actually did really well for the short time we were out there. Got most throwing the jigs at

schools as they passed by sight fishing em out, but did get a few the lazy way with the rods out in the rod holder.

17th, back to the same area the fish were still there but they weren't sitting in any kind of lane. Every single fish in the area had joined into one huge school and was probably 2,000+ fish strong. It made for some run and gun shad fishing. I would try to anchor on them, we would cast in catch maybe one, then they would bolt off. We tried waiting em out for them to come back but they never did. It was being on the trolling motor constantly just following the school around and trying to get the perfect drift to get one to bite. Most of the fish would ignore the jigs they were so skiddish and spooked.

Same deal on the 18th, but on the 19th the school broke up and they were in lanes again throughout the area. Better conditions for fishing, but man make up your freaking mind fish. Anchored on the lanes and had a fairly consistent day. Worked a lane for 30mins to an hour and then the fish would move off so we would pick up anchor and find the next school.

These trips usually go from 1600-2000 ish and I've had a free lined shad out every evening. Everyday I usually see one or maybe two stripers out there lurking around the area, but they are only 24-26 inches long. Not nearly big enough to take a live shad. My dad and friends have told me when they are fishing the mornings they have been seeing a 20+lber harassing the schools while they are trying to fish for em. My good friend Daryl who went out with my dad this morning told me while he was fighting a shad it took off on a crazy run then at the end of the run his line went slack and he thought he lost the fish. Reeled some dead weight back in and had a beaten up, munch on shad, with the big momma striper following it in as he was reeling it back to the bank. I'll have to try a morning when I have a day off to maybe have a better chance at the striper cause the big boys just don't seem to be out in the evening.

A few pics from the last couple of days.

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Caught this guy as it was floating down the river. Nice little score.

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Definitely the toughest American River Shad season yet. Fishing has just been spotty. Its ok one day and tough the next. Its not to any lack of fish either there are tons of fish in the area, but the low water just has them spooked beyond all believe and the water isn't deep enough for them to hold in any lanes like they normally do. The schools are constantly swimming in circles and it just a matter of hitting that 5 second window off getting a jig in there and hoping one will bite as they swim by. Still loads of fun though.

Side note and a little rant here. Its no secret to you guys I fish at Rossmoor which is in part of the barbless section of the American River and when I'm out there in my boat it drives me insane that by law even though I have my second rod stamp I'm not allowed to use two rods out here. I don't see me harming anything by continuing to fish for shad while I'm lining out a live one for a striper, or even me dropping two rods in for shad while on anchor. If the area was artificial baits only I would maybe understand the 1 rod only law, but it personally drives me crazy that I can't use two rods up here. I know one guy could never get a law changed or removed, but I want to send an email or something to DFW asking why this law is here and what harm it brings or if by some miracle it could some day get removed. I don't see the harm in it.

Took yesterday and today off from fishing. Deni says I've been fishing too much so I wanted to spend some time with her plus I have my final for school today so I need to crack down on that then I'll be back out soon.

Till Then Guys
Mark

Shad Afternoon to Trout Evening

My old friend from high school Gary is in town from Florida this month and I promised him a few

fishing trips out while he was here. He make's me pretty jealous sending me pictures of groupers and red fish all the time, fish I can't fish for here in Cali, but I've done a pretty good job at sending him pictures back still making him pretty jealous of the fishing I get to do here in California.

Out on the boat for another shad session, found the school pretty quickly dropped anchor and within the first 10 mins Gary slams 2 right off the bat.

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The school moved around a bit after that and we just spent our evening following em, hooking a few and missing some here and there. I started doing a old trick I read in a book years ago I guess is a popular thing for crappie fishing down south, that involves attatching a water balloon to a fish which makes following the school nice and easy haha.

Fishing wasn't red hot by any means, but we were both having a blast regardless.

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I found most of the fish holding in a slightly deeper and shad stretch in the late afternoon then they moved out into shallow water right at dusk, before then began their spawn. Right around 2030 though the shad were going crazy on the spawn tonight. There were fish swimming around my feet and under my boat trailer while we were loading the boat up. I couldn't believe how close these fish were getting to us.

After that we grabbed my friends Steven and Jazzy and headed out to Amador for our evening session. Made it out there around 2300 to find 20+ people out there on the dock. Its a monday night what the heck are all of you people doing out here? Of course the better spots I like to fish at were taken and I'm not one to move in right next to someone to fish their spot either so we made do on the shallower side of the dock. I saw a few people doing well, looked like soaking powerbait 5ft under a bobber on the outside corners of the dock. I managed to stick two fish throughout the night using my glow jig about 4ft off of the bottom (probably 18-20ft down). Nothing else was going on for us though. Stuck it out until 0330 and left from there.

My evening's catch.

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Slow night for us, but a beautiful night. There is something about fishing nights at Amador that does it for me. Just the peace and quiet out there in the night I love it. Even if the fishing wasn't that good.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Little One on Shad

Deni's little cousin just turned 8 and for her birthday she asked Deni for a fishing rod, so Deni and I went to Wal-mart to get her her first Barbie rod

complete with Barbie tackle box. Deni looked at a basic kit and asked if we should just buy this for her? I told her all of the kits here are just filled with useless crap I would rather buy her individual things and throw it all in the tackle box. Of course I just got into a mode and started grabbing things left and right. Had to remember I'm shopping for an 8 year old and not myself. Told Deni to stop me at any time, she didn't though. With just what I thought was basic essentials for trout and a couple bass lures we made it out of there spending $70 on this little girl who we don't even know is going to like fishing or not. Needless to say though she loved her gift and was having a blast learning how to cast in the front yard.

5/11/13 Deni and I took her out on the boat for a shad session. Saturday Rafters were freaking everywhere!!! I know its a Saturday, but I was not expecting it to be this busy until school gets out for summer. The shad have been pretty spooky recently with the low water and I thought for sure even though rafters haven't been known to spook fish in the past they would today. We started fishing deeper water to wait out the rafters. Fished for an hour for nothing. I dropped off the girls on the shore so they could swim for a while while I searched around for the fish. Made it down to my usual spot to find my friend Dave on the shore who told me he has been slamming em casting right next to the rafters for the past hour now. Damn I missed out on that one. Ran back up got the girls and got on top of the school and started casting for em.

Finally after weeks into the shad season now I today I finally am seeing fish holding in lanes on a consistent basis. I hooked into one pretty quick and farmed it right at the boat. Megan got bored of casting pretty quick as you could imagine most children do. I just casted her rod out and left it in the rod holder and before long that little thing was doubled over and she had her first fish ever on the line.

She had a blast trying to reel that feisty little bullet in, yelling at me the whole time, "Net em Net em!!!" We got that fish in and I was trying to get her or at least get Deni to hold the fish next to her to get a picture with her first fish. Poor thing though I've never seen a kid so afraid of fish in my life. She was absolutely terrified of the thing. I snapped a picture right before tears were shed.

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She was a little shaken up for a while, but with a little love and support from Deni and she was watching me catching and land fish without getting hurt, she came around and wasn't terrified of them anymore. She still didn't want to be anywhere near one though.

I managed to get onto a fair amount watching the schools swim by me every 5 mins or so. Megan got back to casting eventually and landed her very first stick fish.

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Very proud of that catch.

Megan actually had a lot of hits leaving her rod in the rod holder. Throughout the night she landed 4 and farmed 2 or 3.

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Finally got her to smile in a picture.

I managed to land 7-8 and farm almost just as many. Deni missed a lot of hits, but was having a hard time hooking up. She was keeping busy helping Megan though and netting her fish for her.

Off of the water around 2000. Definitely the best night yet for me out of the season. If I get one more successful night like this (I'm going tonight so we'll see what the verdict is then) I will comfortable say season is finally in full swing and the shad are biting.

If anyone wants to come up and fish for shad I am fishing for em right now 6-7 days out of the week, typically in the evenings. Give me a call and we'll work out a plan.

I'll let you guys know how it goes

Till then
Mark

Shad 5/08-5/09

Next two day's worth of reports. Wednesday evening I took the boat out with my dad. On the water around 1730 found a school of fish actually holding today, so nice to

find a school of fish holding in an area for a while where I could consistently cast to. They stayed for about 30 mins and I was able to pull two fish out of it. I would have got a few more if it wasn't for about a 8lb striper that kept darting through the school breaking them and and scaring the crap out of em. After about 1830 the wind picked up on us and I couldn't do anymore of my sight fishing. We both ended up just throwing the rods in the rod holders and sitting back and relaxing. From then till 1930 we probably had only two bites. Then after 1930 we were getting bites every 5 mins. Unfortunately 7 out of 10 were short strikes and just HNS. We did managed to lane a few though. Off of the water tonight around 2030 with a total of only maybe 6 or 7 fish to the boat.

Had a couple hours to kill in the afternoon today so back at it again. Brought the boat out with Steven today around 1300 in the afternoon and we spent nearly the first 30 mins to an hour just searching up and down the river looking for fish. They don't seem to be holding much in fishable water during the mid afternoon. Finally found a few fish though dropped anchor and we both banged one out of it pretty quick.

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Steven with his first of the day.

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Me with mine shortly after.

Turned back around to get a few more out of the school. Saw a striper roll through and fish were gone. We stuck it out till 1600 and found one school of probably 1000+ fish in it that swam by in about 5 seconds and never saw them again. Never found anymore fish after that or hooked into any. Took off to make it to school in time.

Shad are here and I'm catching fish every outing, but man is it frustrating to see over 1000 fish swim by me each day and only come out with maybe 5 fish at most. Conditions so far this year are tough. Fish are here, but with the low water making it easier for the stripers to target the fish they wont hold in any lanes to make them easy targets for us to get into any serious numbers. Rumors are the flows will be coming up at the end of this month. Hopefully that comes around pretty quick. Regardless I'll still be out there putting in work for em.

The most depressing thing I have to say about the stripers is they are decent size, but I haven't seen any that are big enough to take a live shad yet. A lot of 5-8lbers and a few 10-15. None 20 or more though. I'll have to find a way to target the ones that are here now just cause they aren't quite big enough for me to get em with a live shad, but with the clear water they wont touch plugs. I'll figure something out eventually.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Shad 5/06-5/07

Monday night I brought Steven out on the boat to try for shad again. Got on a few fish right away, but it was pretty windy today. Unfortunately for me here it's all sight fishing and the slightest breeze ruins that. We were able to make out a few schools passing by in the chop though so we knew we were on fish. Started around 1600 and probably didn't get our first fish until 1830.

Steven was the first to get into one.

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Around 1900 we had a few fish come in and around us and we stuck a few, but nothing crazy. Right around that time the wind layed down for us too which was nice, but then it picked up again around 1930 our bite died and it got cold. Left around 1945 with only 3 fish to the boat and quite a few more hits that we just never connected on.

Back again with Kevin (insearchoffish) in the morning. Got on a few and stuck one almost right away. Fish were doing their normally schooling thing today. You'd see em swim by, might get a cast at em maybe two then they would be gone.

Kevin stuck one in a passing school and got into his first shad.

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First ever shad baby. We had a few more schools pass by, but most of em just ignored our jigs as they drifted by em. After a while we saw a fairly decent sized striper roll by and all of our shad were gone. Spooked and they ran up river on us. Not anywhere to be found. We zig zag across our whole section and couldn't find em again. After a half hour or so of sitting and waiting for em and searching for them we were going to run up river to try and plug for some stripers. On the way up though we saw them all shooting back down river. Chased em and found them holding BY THE THOUSANDS!!! We looked across the river and the entire bottom of the river turned black with shad. Made a cast, not a hit, another cast watched em, they parted around the jig to avoid it. Literally thousands of fish swimming past us and they will not bite!

You had to get a perfect drift and put it right in their face then one would swim towards it and turn away. Eventually I got one to hit landed em. Looked up after I got the fish dealt with and all of the fish were gone. In the blink of an eye they took off and were no where to be seen.

We really just could not find them after that. Threw in the towel around 1300. Will be back again soon to try and start hooking into some more numbers. Maybe only brought 5 to the boat.

Till Next Time
Mark

Upper AR Shad 5/05

Met up with my buddy Daryl to take the First Impression out for shad on the AR. Hit my regular stomping grounds and immediately saw a school of fish running around. made a few cast missed a hit then they were gone. Searched around for a while and found the area that they were traveling in the most. The area right now has a decent amount of shad in the area, but unfortunately for shad fishing there are also a fair amount of stripers in the area and until more shad move through it has the shad that are here really on edge. They aren't holding in any lanes and are spooking pretty easy. They are swimming around in schools of 100+ fish though and its just a matter of getting your jig in there when they swim by and hoping one will decide to hit your jig.

Early in the afternoon right when we got started Daryl and I found em biting.

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I would leave my rod in the rod holder casted out about 20ft and then reel up and cast to em when we saw them swim by. We got most of our fish casting to em, but I did stick a few leaving it in the rod holder.

Saw 4 or 5 stripers working the area ranging from 3-15lbs today. Tossed a soft shelled crawdad in front of two of em to have them bolt over and nose it, but only to turn away and swim off from it. No takers today, maybe next time. Fished until just after 2000 for roughly 10 or so fish to the boat. Pretty good evening seeing as I got skunked last time I came out. It should only get better from here on out. Will be out again tomorrow. The bit died off around 1930 anyways which was really weird.

Till Then
Mark