Please fill out the form below to get in touch with JD Richey.
Search Results for: name that fish
Getting to know the American Shad
Every year at this time there seems to be quite a bit of confusion about shad fishing – and shad in general – and I often have to field a million questions like: What the heck is a shad? and Shad are just small baitfish…why would anybody fish for those things? So, I figured it was time to clear a few things up. With that in mind, here’s my graduate crash course on shad and shad fishing. You will not be tested.
Baitfish vs. Gamefish
The first thing we need to set straight is there are several types of shad. In California, we have two varieties: threadfin and American and this is where most of the misunderstanding begins. Threadfin shad are small baitfish that live in most of our lakes and reservoirs and rarely top 4 inches. American shad, on the other hand, run anywhere from 2 to 7 pounds and spend their lives in the ocean and then come up freshwater streams to spawn in the spring of each year. Aside from the size difference, the two species look similar to one another – deep bodies, big eyes, large silver scales and forked tails. Neither is native to the West Coast.
The Huge Kokanee of Lake Clementine
I received a very interesting call the other day from Abril Tolo, a buddy of mine who works for Game and Fish. He asked if I could help him out with a research project he’s been overseeing for the past several years. Tolo (or “Island” as we call him, which morphed from when we used to call him “A-Tol” but I digress) said all I needed to do was tow my boat down to Lake Clementine where we were going to do a little “hook & line” sampling. He said to bring some light-action steelhead rods and he’d have everything else.
It sounded cool to me and I was particularly intrigued by the fact that he made a specific point to have me bring steelhead rods. I didn’t have the foggiest notion what we’d need them for at Clementine, considering the largest fish I’d ever caught there was a 2-pound smallie. So, it was with great eagerness that I met him at Raley’s in Train Village last Tuesday. As we slowly crept down the winding road to the launch, he gave me the full scoop.
Johnson’s Magic Potion
You’re welcome.??For what, you ask? Well, only for doing the leg work to get you all in on one of the most incredible advancements in fishing I’ve ever seen… way before the rest of angling world finds out, that’s what.
Actually, I just kinda stumbled into this one. Last November, I was in the tiny speck-on-the-map town of Moses Lake, Wash., on a solo fishing/road trip. After two unsuccessful days of trying for big bass and rainbows on nearby Potholes Reservoir, I stopped in at an old, run-down tackle shop/liquor store called Deke’s Bait and Booze.
The Toe Drain
Sometimes you find paradise in the strangest places. If I could be anywhere this time of year, it would probably be on the Trinity River, with its surrounding hillsides ablaze with fall colors and its own crystalline flows blackened by wave upon wave of migrating salmon. However, my busy guiding schedule keeps me close to home in Autumn, and while I love being on the local rivers, I occasionally need to get away from it all.
One of the oddest sanctuaries I’ve found is a small waterway near Woodland called the Toe Drain. Considering the name sounds a lot like something you’d need to cure a foot infection, you’d think that this hidden body of water would be, well, less than scenic. And you’re absolutely right.
Click here to read more…
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 17
- 18
- 19