Split Shots, Budweiser, Shad, Dick Nights, Happy Hooters, Tidewater, Fast Currents, Bouy 82, and Sturgeon.
Finally got out on the Columbia River to fish for American Shad with my bird hunting buddy Bridgett and friend Dorothy. This was my second attempt this year at catching a Shad, I was determined to get one on a fly rod. My obsession for hooking one of these bony, oily fish, lies in the writings by John Mcphee, "The Foundering Fish."
Beautiful Colors
Bridgett is a veteran on the Columbia. She showed us the tricks of catching Shad with Dick Nights, Shad Darts and killer skills for reading the water and navigating. 
Captain Bridg, Full Throttle.
At the peak of the run, 100,000 Shad will go over Bonneville Dam a day. Shad are great bait fish for crab pots. I hear there good eating too.
After fishing a few hours, pulling anchor, and re anchoring in a shallower spot, we got a few hookups on a fly rod. 
First Shad on a fly rod.
"Shaker." Sturgeon are bottom feeders and like the dark, deep, depths of the Columbia. Making it near imposable to catch one on a fly rod.
Dorothy and I have never Sturgeon fished or had the opportunity to see
one of these incredible fish.
Not our preferred method of fishing but at the end of the day, Bridgett took Shad intestines, tied it to a 7/0 barbless hook with stretchy string, attached a 20 ounce weight at the end of a braided line and chucked it over into 45 feet of water.
After 45 minutes of eating Kettles chips and sipping on Budweiser we see the line go down. What an incredible fish. Can only imagine the power behind an over sized.
