I am going on a trip Saturday for Shad. We are fishing the American River in Sacramento Ca. The river is wide and the water is swift, 1300. Our club member who has fished here before recommends a 300 to 400 gram shooting head for distance and sinkability. I have a 9wt rod with 350 sinking tip on it. I am not all that sure that having to go out and buy a shooting head and backing would be that great of an advantage over what I have now. Any thoughts on this???
Thanks
Calcharlie
calcharlie:
What you got will work, there is no need to go out and invest in a head and running line. A 9 weight is a bit heavy for shad (most use a 6-8 weight) but you’ll definitely catch fish with what you have. There are some, mostly old timers, who prefer the shooting head/running line combination over anything else, but I personally find the new “integrated” shooting heads (or perhaps better called “sinktips with long heads”?) such as the Teeny lines, to work just fine. As long as you have something that sinks 4-5 ips, you are in business.
See you on the river.
Why not just but a sinking leader?
You would be hard pressed finding a sinking leader weighing 350 grains or so to pull down your floating line.
30’ of leadcore or tungsten will take 'er down.
calcharlie:
I work in Rancho Cordova just a few miles from the American river at the Sunrise bridge crossing although I live way up the hill in Colfax.
Let me know how you do with the shad. I went on Tuesday after work and I could see dozens of small fish from the bridge, but nothing big. I ended up donating some flies and a couple grubs to the river (yeah, I brought a spinner rod and reel)
I’ve heard that the shad are really running but my newbie technique couldn’t tempt them.
Good luck this weekend. I’m going to try the Bear river or maybe the Yuba tomorrow since they’re fairly close.
Greg
[edit]
By the way, I talked to a guy named “Bill” last weekend at the “Bent Rod FLy Shop” in Auburn. Bill’s a fly fisherman and a guide and he said to use a sinking tip fly line on a 6 or 7 weight rod. Then put about 15’ of tippet on it. He said “It could be anything. Heck, 8 pound monofiliment would be fine”. He also said “Shad flie sjust look silly. They’re stupid looking little things but they catch fish”.
So although I’ve never tried it, that’s what a pro told me. Hope it helps.
what you have will work fine but if you want a new one for what you described i would go wth a integrated shooting head line like those from cortland or teeny
chris
CC:
Kiene’s fly shop has a great bb for the American R. You’ll
get some good response from great guys who frequent
the site.
Or you can just stop in at the shop and find out what’s
working and where.
http://kiene.com/messageboard/