Northwest Fishing Reports

anybody ever tried? i hear the runs are very big and an angler can leave with upwards of 40 fish within an hour or two. the best lures are shad darts, but i hear small spoons and spinners work. anybody had success?

I fish for shad when the season starts.Go on the BPA site and look at the cam on the fish ladder.If you want Shad Darts now is the time to buy them.Once the season starts itll be costly and a hard to find item.I prefer the shad roe for frying even more so then the fish itself.

BPA?

for shad i usually just go to the bonneville. pretty much anything flashy will catch. i also like to use really small tackle and that with the current at the dam, makes for a heck of a fight.

yea i was going to either use my ultra-light spinning rod, or my trout rod i have not decided.

colton do you use shad darts or spinners and spoons?

well i usually use shad darts if i can find them. like racfish said its hard to find them once the shad are in. but if not i use a silver or gold dick nite.

whats your personal best catch of the day for shad? both weight and number of fish.

well i think the biggest shad i caught was about 3 pounds. they dont really get to big. but the number of fish i caught in one day is probably 35. when the shad are in, you can catch alot of fish.

that is what i heard also. my school district has a half day in may and me and a couple buddies are heading down there to fish.

so does anyone have any places they go shad fishing other than bonneville dam?

I hope you don't plan on eating them. White shad darts are THE BEST. I take out my boat around the government island area and kill them during may and june. We've caught over 100 in one day. When the fish count gets really high at bonneville. Thats when you know its time. Use ultra light gear. Alot of them get off but it dosen't really matter when your catching that many fish in a period of time.

yeah i definitely wouldn't eat a shad. but they make great strugeon bait and their fun to catch. thats about it. i just dont want to drive all the way to bonneville dam to catch them.

You don't have to. I was talking about looking at the fish count at bonneville dam to see when shad are running at there highest point. Look at on the internet.

Fisherman_max wrote:BPA?

Bonneville Power

KurtO wrote:I hope you don't plan on eating them.

Then what do you do with 100 fish you catch in a day? You can not use that many for "great sturgeon bait."

I've had canned shad and it's better than store bought canned tuna.

food for thought..

BPA=Bonneville Power Assoc.
Weve caught loads when theyre in .Like Colton said around 3-5 tops in pounds.Very much fun to catch.Keep your spoons spinners and darts off the bottom.I do remember snagging bottom alot.When theyre in your gear barely has time to settle.Great experience and fun.
As I said in an earlier post I like the roe breaded and fried.

why can you not use them for sturgeon bait lskiles? i hear when people have there fish on a stringer while there fishing below the dam you can actually see sturgeon coming up to your stringer to try and get an easy meal.

well i have never actually caught and kept 100 shad. i dont have a freezer big enough for that. i only keep about 10 fish. but if you fish for sturegeon, shad bait is great and free except for the tackle you use.

It dosen't say that I kept them. Think logically. I keep a couple for my korean nephew who just eats that stuff up.