American River Shad - Sun, June 3

Heading up to the American River Sunday morning to fling some flies for shad.    Company welcome.   Any pointers or tips much appeciated, as i dont know the river well and have never kayaked it, other than a disastrous experience many years ago.  (feel free to PM me.). 

There's fish being caught in good numbers from watt all the way up. The rafters may be thick but most of them launch at sunrise so they are too hard to get away from.

Lately I've been launching at the sunrise ramp and going up a ways, no rafters just lots of fisherman. I'll be out there, I don't know what your experience is with the river but the paddle from sunrise up+the ride down is not the easiest. Although with the flows as low as they are I'd say it no problem even for a beginner.  You could also launch at sailor bar and float down If you want to access the same area.

I'm not an experienced fly guy but I'll give you the best I can. Anything light pink or even chart up to 1 1/2" and split shots to get down, most guys are using 6wt to 8wt. Most of them are 15"-17" but there are hens that can go 20"+ and 3 pounds so be ready.

im taking the kids tomorrow non yak gonna see if i can get the kids zebcos to scream maybe ill see you guys up there.

Thanks, Sandbag and James. 
As to experience, i have spent much more time in the ocean and delta than in rivers.  Having had my kayak destroyed and myself nearly killed below nimbus many years ago, i have a great deal of respect for that river. 
I will probably start down by Watt and work my way up, probably Sunrise and above when the rafters become unbearable. 
I will be in a yellow Prowler 15 and my friend in a dark green Tarpon Tandom.
Hope to see you guys out there tomorrow.

Lawrence

The dangers of that river or any flowing water for that matter are never to be taken lightly. I've had life threatening situations on it as well, and I find it amazing how much respect a person builds for what they love even after it almost kills them, a respect that takes true sportsmanship and love for mother nature to find. That being said, be safe out there, I'll be up above sunrise in the afternoon, hope to see ya there.

Oh yea, the rafters don't show up thick til after lunch, and the farther downriver they are, the more drunk they are lol. So if your gonna start low, be timely.

Tight lines,
Joe

Thanks, Joe.   Will probably head up to Sunrise by lunch or after to avoid the craziness.   Hope to see you there.

LC

Will be at the spot I saw u at last time Joe, this time on my kayak.

Awesome, I'll be launching from the ramp around 330. I'm bringing my fly rod to see if I can get lucky lol.

Had to be be off water by 3pm to make it back down to bay area for dinner.    Never made it up to Sunrise, so sorry to miss you, Joe and James. 

Was good to meet up with you, Matt and Steve. 

I really LOVE that American River.  HAve to spend more time getting to know it.

Hopefully, after i get to know it better, the river will be kinder to me.   I got my anchor caught on something again and it sent my boat all squirrley.    My boat flapped around in the current like a flag in a typhoon.   Fortunately, for some reason, only 15 minutes before that, i dug my knife from my tackle box and clipped it to my vest, which came in handy to cut myself loose.

Flyyaker,

I just answered your PM. I was VERY tempted to throw in a comment about how I'm very much not a fan of anchoring a kayak in current. Thus I'm glad to hear you weren't a serious casualty of an anchoring incident.

Did you get into any fish? How'd the rod/line combo work for you?

Scott

Action up at sunrise appears to be dwindling down, hopefully it peeks again before the end of the run. Wind was not ideal where I was at, making me swing on anchor. Got one before heading back around seven, no fly love though.

Joe

Scott/Joe -

   i hate anchoring in current too and it makes me really nervous.    If my boat would just hold still it wouldnt be so bad, but for some reason, the current always causes my anchor to drag until i get pushed into water that's too fast and then the anchor catches on a snag, and i am left hanging and flapping around.

Maybe if i had a proper rigging set up my kayak would hang straight below the achor instead of at an angle, which causes more drag than optimal. 

I guess really optimal would be to just not anchor at all, as you suggested.   But it's hard to shad fish by fly on the drift.

i should probably look into some river kayak safety class, as i think there is a lot to know about this than i care to learn by trial and error.

My friend caught one in shallow water pretty early on, then it went quite the rest of hte day until we were about to leave at 3pm.   After a few taps, he finally landed one and then another.   I finally chased off the skunk wiht a little one, and then LDR'd another one that jumped a few times.

I was fishing an 8 wt, with 30 ft of LC13 on a mono running line in 7-8 feet of water. 

   i hate anchoring in current too and it makes me really nervous.    If my boat would just hold still it wouldnt be so bad, but for some reason, the current always causes my anchor to drag until i get pushed into water that's too fast and then the anchor catches on a snag, and i am left hanging and flapping around.

Maybe if i had a proper rigging set up my kayak would hang straight below the achor instead of at an angle, which causes more drag than optimal. 
 

My boat flapped around in the current like a flag in a typhoon. 

On the American the only way to anchor is straight out the back like the pictures and link below.The other key to holding in place is the correct anchor style and weight , don't use a grapnel style they are notorious for kayak yard sales in the river.

One way to curb the sway back and forth in the drop your heals in the water and you will straighten up. I use this method especially steelhead fishing in the American when fishing faster shallower riffles during the winter.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=26406.msg280390#msg280390

Thanks for the advice.   I went out and  bought an 8 pound mushroom last night, specifically avoiding the 2 prong folding variety, which i assume to be the grapnell you mentioned.  The 2 prong kind was tempting because it folds up nicely and seems easier to stow.

That is a beautiful job you did on your anchor system.   I admire those who have such handy skills, which i totally lack.

When your anchor is up, does it just hang and swing around back there?    That makes me kind of nervous.   And if you ever need to fix something back there it seems impossible to crawl back there.   I could imagine a number of things going wrong back there that would require me to fix.

Lacking the ability to make a bracket like that, would a trolly also work to bring the anchor to the back of hte boat?    Seems a trolly would also give you the ability to lift hte anchor back into the boat when not in use, or fix anything wrong wiht hte anchor line.

I appreciate your comments and also the PM suggestions i have received.     These will enable me to fish the river more effectively, but far more importantly, be much safer at it.

Here is the cleat I use.