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Late report...

Last weekend I got to fish with Jacob Munden of Rising Son Adventures for a future NWFR TV episode on shad fishing the Columbia River. Joining me were Rob and Hillary Holman and Rob Phillips (Yakima outdoor writer).

We met at 6am on the Oregon side after spending a restful night at the River Lodge and Grill

A great place to stay. I wished I had arrived earlier in the evening to enjoy it more but I did get to watch a beautiful sunset on the Columbia River.

Jacob had a plan (he always does!). Since it was blowing hard downriver he started us out fishing for walleye below the McNary dam. The conditions were definitely better here and we fished for a couple hours catching some nice 16-18" walleye and a couple bonus smallmouth.

With conditions ever improving we ran down river a bit and switched up to shad fishing. I'd never trolled for shad before and decided that while everyone else was trolling I would stand on the bow of the boat and side-drift some presentations. I pounded away for about a half hour, getting not one fish, while my three angling partners caught fish after fish. I admit to being a bit perplexed as I know I was in the strike zone, had good drifts, and extended the drift at the end. I finally gave up and caught my share of shad. These fish are willing biters trolled. Jacob used a diving plug and 5 feet leader, then a small thin blade spoon to get hookups. Chartreuse was the hot color of the morning.

Having caught as many shad as we wanted next up was some soak time for over-sized sturgeon. Fresh shad bait should have been the ticket but after a hour we decided it wasn't happening and went back to fishing walleye. With the winds died down we were able to run several miles down to some spots Jacob had wanted to try earlier in the day. We picked up a few more nice walleye and called it a day as Jacob had an evening shad trip.

Quite a fun day and Jacob says the shad will be around for awhile longer if you're interested in catching some. I took mine and cut them up for mackinaw bait. A few years back I caught a monster lake on Cle Elum using a strip of shad so I know it works!

You can contact Jacob on Facebook, Rising Son Adventures

(509) 492-8852

bob johansen

6/29/2018 7:57:08 AM

Sounds like a great Mike! I have had the opportunity to fish shad a few times below the dam and caught a few. I used one of them to catch a 9 foot sturgeon later.

fishinChristian

7/1/2018 10:09:59 PM

By the way, Tom Luedeke sent me this: This recipe for shad completely blew me away. I never liked shad before - too bony, too oily, and too fishy. This recipe dissolves all the bones, the fishiness disappears because of the lemon juice, and the oil drains off after you're don. Frankly it tasted like a mild version of salmon. It was freeking delicious. Really makes me want to go down to Bonneville to get another cooler full and fill my freezer:

> Lay out a long strip of aluminum foil, such that you can tightly seal the fillets.

> Cut red or sweet onion into thin slices, lay slices down on foil.

> Sprinkle with thyme and/or majoram

> Lay down 1-2 slices (or more if you like it) of bacon

> Lay down the fillets on top of this.

> Repeat previous steps on top side of fillet.

> Put enough lemon juice in there so that the fillet is pretty much soaking in it.

> Seal the foil tightly. I used a second strip to make sure juices didn't escape.

> Bake at 250°F for six hours (yes, you heard that right - the low heat/slow cooking dissolves the bones).

> Pull out, drain juices, and serve (not to dogs).

Mike Carey

7/2/2018 6:26:45 AM

thanks for the recipe!

laketroll

7/2/2018 8:37:44 PM

sounded like a good time mike....great report on the shad....i think i caught you napping mike..lol

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