I woke this morning with sore shoulder, weakened grip and blisters. In the pre-dawn confusion, I wasn’t sure who’d kicked whose butt yesterday, a sure sign that I had done something I shouldn’t. Pop used to put things in perspective, “Kid, if it feels or tastes good, it’s bad for you.”
At age 20, you shrug it off with “what the Hell does he know?” At 50, you ponder a bit longer, bandage the most grievous injuries, then shirk it off in like fashion – I figure by 70 I’ll understand what he means.
Yesterday’s marathon yielded quite an assortment of ills, most surprising was the blistered legs. It seems the pressure of waist-high water on the waders rubbed the pants against the skin, and I had 4 inch blisters covering my extremities from ankle to just below the knee.
Pop’s wisdom echoed prominently, but being younger (and therefore smarter) I countered with my own lesson’s learned; if there’s tons of fish and they’re eating, drop everything – as these are the Good Old Days and you may never get another opportunity.
… the blisters just made it personal.
The fish were where they were supposed to be and the action was a little less lively than yesterday. Two other fellows were fishing nearby and as dawn broke and light hit the water, the bite ramped up considerable.
Shad are a notorious “morning and evening” fish akin to trout, I don’t know why but when light hits the water it’s like dropping a checkered flag.
Yesterday was dominated by the smaller males, and today held fewer fish and most were the larger females. I managed to get a shot of the larger fish (below) so you can see the difference, contrasted with the male above.
June is historically the best month to fish for American Shad, and it’s likely I hit a fresh pod of migrating fish yesterday. They’ll all be stacked up at Nimbus Dam shortly, but you can assume there’s fish distributed throughout the American River at this point.
For those outside the area, remember that Interstate 5 is closed in downtown Sacramento for the next six weeks, so plan your entrance and exit strategy in advance.
See you at the infirmary.
Technorati Tags: American Shad, American River, fly fishing
Looks like a blast. If I ever get the opportunity someday, I’d like to fly fish for shad.
Freshwater Tarpon with a Glass Lip, there’s nothing like it.
As I scrolled down the article, I saw that a picture began just after the line about how the blisters “made it personal”. I was greatly relieved that the following picture was of a fish, and not the blisters. Keep up the good work.
I would have shown the blisters but the sight of that much alabaster ankle would blind the average human.
It’s called “the things you can’t un-see” – no need to inflict a decade of flashbacks and unsettled stomach…
God bless you…
I wake up every morning feeling old and beat up whether I’ve been fishing or not. The obvious moral? Fish anyway.
HA! TCWriter makes a good point!