A powerful material for a powerful migrator
The shad which are fish of average size between 45 and 70 cm which weighs between 1 and 3 kg in general. They are very lively and combative fish. It is therefore necessary to use a tank or castillon type of equipment (summer salmon).
Depending on the river and the position, I use 9 to 10 foot rods with 6 to 8 silk when I fish from structures or from the shore in medium-sized rivers (not canalized), but also switch rods to comb the widest and deepest pools, mainly when I am wading.
Silks and polyleaders
While some fishermen prefer to fish with diving lines to fish on the bottom, I prefer to fish with floating or intermediate lines and to add polyleaders of different densities to adapt to the depth and speed of the current, mainly for large shad that are fished in inert drifting in Brittany, either on the Blavet or the Aulne.
On the Rhone and its tributaries, including the Durance, but also on the Charente, a plunging line is more often used to fish in currents and deep places, but also and especially to be able to animate the flies very quickly which seems to be the key to success.
Flies and leaders
The flies used for shad depend on the region with each one having its preferences, but basic colors come back a little on each river. Orange is for me the best color with pink and chartreuse. The yellow, the silver also allowed me to make shad on different rivers. The bright colors and thus brilliant represent the majority of the nymphs/streamers used often in size 6 to 10 according to the season. However, I could notice that dark flies (black, brown) can also work in particular when the shad are very solicited.
They are often well weighted for fast descent or fishing in strong currents and mounted on strong iron hooks.
As for the leader, it is composed of a single strand of nylon or fluorocarbon that is added to the polyleader. Its length will depend on the density of the polyleader or the line. The faster it is, the shorter the tip. Let us say 60 cm in very fast, 80 cm to 1 m in fast to go to 2 m approximately for the intermediate. It will be made in 25 to 30° in the majority of the cases. It happens to me to fish finer when I fish them with sight in smaller rivers.
