For most Augustans, the favorite month is April.  The azaleas and dogwoods are in bloom and everyone is filled with anticipation. The Masters is near and while privileged Augustans are hurrying to ready their homes for lucrative weekly rentals and extravagant family vacations, the service industry readies itself for a week of hard work with big financial rewards.  The Masters is, in effect, one of the few major arteries left pumping life into this old southern city.  I too, succumb to the energy that seems to infuse its citizens’ spirits and bolster the local economy. 

 

The Masters isn’t just another tournament, it’s “The” tournament. The Augusta National isn’t just another country club, it’s an institution.  Augustans bear this in mind and wear their Master’s golf shirts, visors and hats proudly year round. 

 

Those visiting town for the tournament swarm the gift shops behind those green gates opening their wallets with eagerness, buying souvenirs and gifts for friends, family and business associates.  Some from overseas spend thousands only to take these items home to sell for personal profit (an illegal but profitable scheme).  

 

Spectators enjoy cheap beer and iced tea, two dollar pimento cheese, egg salad and barbeque sandwiches which are consumed in the stands or in the rough while the players walk the fairways and greens.  It appears not a blade of grass is out of place.  Having the privilege to attend the Masters the year prior has opened my eyes to the perfection of the art of landscaping for the purposes of sport.  It’s truly an experience like no other.

 

Yet, as Masters nears this year, it is not the tournament that keeps me awake into the wee hours of the night.  The thoughts of green fairways and a glimpse of Tiger Woods are not what keep me hunched over my vise by a dim lamp at 1 am.  I methodically tie simplistic but brightly patterned flies with visions of Shad making hard runs and cart-wheel like aerial leaps.  Maggie and our lab Finch lay asleep in the bedroom, settled into the night while I try to tie just a few more pink ones or maybe some chartreuse ones before I turn in.  The Shad are coming, and I’m going to be ready!

The Migration

Although I am not a biologist, I know enough about Shad to catch them.  Every spring Shad make their annual spawning migration up the Savannah River from the coast.  The timing of this migration largely depends on water temperatures. 

 

Georgia’s coastal water temperature reaches fifty-five degrees and the Shad leave the Atlantic to re-enter the Savannah River to return home, the very place of their own conception, to spawn and die.  The Shad enter the Savannah River in January, reaching Statesboro sometime in February.  It is a slow and tedious upstream swim.  Some of the Shad may reach Augusta as early as March. Yet, the fisherman need not go before ‘Masters Week’ in April and need not stay longer than June.  The Shad will survive in the river until July when they will all die off from the exhaustion of the migration and the spawning process.      

 

The old lock and dam (called, actually, New Savannah Bluff Lock & Dam) just south of town next to the airport stops the migration for the majority of the fish. Their ancestral spawning grounds are in the shoal areas found above the dam in the stretch of river from the Savannah Rapids Pavilion to the pump house and waterworks just above downtown Augusta. 

 

The last series of shoals just above downtown Augusta represents the Fall Line (a geological feature essentially distinguishing rock bottom from sandy/mud bottomed terrain).  Many fish such as Shad and Salmon prefer a gravel or pebble river bottom to make their reds (a spawning bed) and lay their eggs.  Without the protection of the gravel and rocky bottom, eggs are more vulnerable to predators and being washed down stream by the current.

 

These spawning grounds were the most fertile in the Savannah River.  Such stretches offered prime spawning habitat not just for the Shad, but for other native species that migrate annually to spawn such as Striped Bass and the rare Atlantic Sturgeon.  Officials used to flood the lock a couple of times each spring to attempt to allow these migratory fish to access their spawning grounds; yet this appears to have little success. 

 

Though I do not have any statistical numbers at hand, I can offer an observation of an avid angler.  Seeing scores of Shad, waiting below the dam frantically looking for a way to swim upstream to further the survival of their species; they are largely unsuccessful in this attempt.  These fish are left below the dam helpless and forgotten by the river caretakers. 

 

With no fish ladder, an unreliable system of flooding the lock brings a more or less anti-climactic end to a hard-fought life at sea and within the Savannah River.  Some of these fish will die without spawning but some will still successfully spawn.  Thus, though the Shad may not thrive, they do survive. 

 

The Shad eggs hatch in 12-15 days and become larvae.  They remain in the river until fall when they reach an average size of 1.5 - 4.5 inches and begin to resemble their parents in appearance.  Then they make their way down the river and out to sea to begin the cycle again. 

The Shad

From a fisherman’s perspective, these fish are often referred to as “Poor Man’s Tarpon” for their tendency to make spectacular jumps and seemingly similar looks.  These fish are silver in color with green backs and have fins and a forked tail similar to that of a Tarpon.  Their mouths and jaw bear a resemblance as well as their coarse mouths to fish such as a tarpon or bass. 

 

There are two varieties of Shad that are native to the Savannah River drainage: the American Shad and the Hickory Shad. Both are members of the herring family. Many bait fisherman in South Carolina and Georgia use the Blue back Herring as bait for Stripers. Both species are also anadromous (can live in fresh and salt water) and as mentioned above are born in the river, swim out to sea, and return to spawn and die.  While at sea these fish feed primarily on plankton but will opportunistically feed on small shrimp and fish eggs.

 

The American Shad is the one most sport fisherman target due to their larger size.  The males range from about 1-3 pounds while the spawning females are much larger ranging from three to 3-8 pounds.  The average fish on the Savannah River is 3-5 pounds. 

The Fishing

If I had to equate Shad fishing with another type of fishing, it would be akin to Salmon fishing.  Having grown up Shad fishing in Virginia, I felt surprisingly relieved my first day salmon fishing saying to my new boss in Alaska, “This ain’t hard, it’s just like Shad fishin' back home”.  My boss looked at me a little funny, probably wondering to himself ‘Who the heck is this Virginia redneck I just hired?" 

 

As a Virginian, my remark, where lacking with delicacy in delivery, was said with the greatest affection. Shad are a rich part of Virginia history. Whether providing George Washington with a job as a Shad fisherman on the Potomic; feeding Robert E. Lee’s army during the final defense of Richmond; serving as the state political tradition of a Shad Planking (fish fry) for a newly elected gubernatorial candidate, or simply a young man’s recreation with a fly rod.  The Shad is embedded in a culture that I grew up with and hold in very high regard.

 

In both Salmon fishing and Shad fishing the angler (most often) fishes with a sink-tip line and swings or strips a streamer through a school of holding fish.  In this sense, the fishing is the same.   

Fishing Conditions

In Virginia the preferred time to fish for Shad by the seasoned fisherman is at night.  By nature Shad are a low light fish; like Stripers and many other fish they prefer the sense of security found in the cover of the night.  During the day and particularly on sunny days Shad are often wary of predators and fisherman alike.  Yet here in Georgia, I’ve had my best success on sunny

days.  Though I have nothing against fishing into the night, there’s really no substitute for sight fishing; whether it be dry flies for Trout, fishing Tarpon, or just good old fashioned Shad fishing!

 

The Savannah is a surprisingly clear water river. You can often locate schools of fish by sight then position yourself and your boat to cast for Shad.  It is not uncommon to watch your fly underneath the surface being taken by the fish which makes for an unparalleled thrill of hooking or the disappointment missing a fish.   

Technique

Shad can be difficult to hook but even more difficult to keep hooked.  Though you may receive several strikes, setting the hook can take some getting used to.  The proper way to set the hook on a Shad is with the strip-set technique.  This is applied by stripping the line once the initial strike is felt, driving the hook straight into the mouth or jaw of a fish rather than by the ‘trout set’ method. 

 

The ‘trout set’ method is establishing a hook set by raising the tip of the rod. This is ineffective in streamer fishing because it allows the fish to use the bend in the rod and the feel of the lure to his advantage by sensing an artificial presence before the hook is driven into the mouth of the fish; hence the fish spits out the fly and swims away unattached. 

 

If the Shad decides to run, let the fish run and play him on the drag of the reel.  I would encourage you to walk down the bank or move the boat to the fish rather than bringing the fish to you upstream over any distance especially if in a swift current.  These fish have soft tissue on the side of the mouth and hooks easily create holes and gaps during prolonged fights eventually allowing the hook to fall out.

 

Should you have the pleasure of a fish jumping, which they often do, I use the ‘bow to the king’ tarpon method.  This is applied by pointing your rod or in extreme cases bowing to the fish in order to decrease tension and increase slack to prepare for the shock and turbulent strain put on your line through violent sporadic twists and turns of the fish encountered during the aerial acrobatics performed during your dance.  I’m no physicist, but it works.

 

The Gear

The preferred tackle for shad fishing is a stiff nine-foot five-weight or a six weight.  Some folks even use seven or eights, but I think a five or six get the job done just fine.  You’ll want to use a sink tip line.  You could get by with one of the Orvis Streamer Stripper Lines but I’d recommend a clear

intermediate sink tip.  I recommend 2-3 foot sections of fluorocarbon ranging from 4-12 pound test.  Let the fish’s behavior dictate the length and strength of your leader.  Remember with a sink-tip, you must use a short leader to better control the sink rate of your fly, otherwise its essentially self-defeating.   

 

Fly Patterns

Find a school and then determine the flavor of the day. I’ve spent a lot of time casting to one school of fish with no success.  Then tie on the right color, and caught fish one after the other.  I firmly believe this fish are more color sensitive than they are pattern wary.  There are an assortment of Shad patterns out there.  Some of the more successful ones are Tommy’s Torpedo’s, Shad Darts, and small Clouser Minnows.  Successful colors are orange, pink, chartreuse, gold, silver and white combinations.  Some patterns are tied solely with flash material while others have little or none.  Be sure to carry several sizes and colors with you, and whatever you do; have a lot of all of them.  There’s seldom anything more frustrating than finally finding the right fly and then losing it! 

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