Shad are supposedly easy to catch, a fish that will hit any fly you cast to it. One might think that this species is indiscriminate. Just take a gander at the classic shad flies, bright, outlandishly colored — flame orange, fluorescent yellow, chartreuse, and hot pink, flies that look more like candy handed out at a clown convention. If you are a trout angler used to squinting at the itty-bitty eye of somber, earth-toned flies, you might look at the gaudy monstrosity and think, “What the hell? No way!” And yes, these flies do often work, as the saying goes, “with flying colors.” But shad sometimes have had enough of the hook candy. When they spurn the outlandish, what can an angler do?
I have discovered a trout fly that has frequently brought shad to the hook even when the sky is bright or the bite has gone sour. It is called the Nitro Caddis. It is quite small when compared with traditional shad patterns. The success of this fly, or for that matter any shad pattern, has a lot to do with how you manipulate it. My dear friend Joe Shirshak refers to imparting action to the fly as “giving it sugar.”
Most anglers swing for shad with a single-handed rod, though two-handed Spey rods are catching on. A typical swing presentation goes like this. Cast your line, commonly a sink tip with a sink rate suited to the speed and depth of the river, a little downstream from straight across the current. Mend your line upriver. Now give a succession of short, snappy pulls on the line with your wrist — pull and release, pull and release. This creates an up-and-down jigging action that shad find irresistible. Another way of “giving it sugar” is a more exaggerated jigging action achieved when repeatedly snapping the line with a sharp, very long downward yank and then quickly allowing the line to be pulled taut by the current.
But sometimes the fish will reject this yo-yoing and prefer the more natural rhythmic dance imparted by the flowing river. So you have to try different presentations. I think of the situation like this. Out there somewhere, a fish in a school is swimming between the river bottom and the surface. How do I tempt this zipped-lip shad to grab my fly? During the bright hours, sometimes the answer is the Nitro Caddis. It is the middle fly shown above, and the simple version I use is easy to tie.
Choose a size 10 or 12 TMC 2499-SP hook. Thread on a one-eighth-inch tungsten bead and insert the hook into the vise. Attach your favorite black thread behind the bead. Prepare an extended body made from a length of olive Pearl Core Braid made by Hareline Dubbin. Other productive colors are chartreuse and root beer. Melt the end of the braid with a flame to keep it from unraveling, forming a darkened, hard tip. Set it aside. Attach a strand of olive Flashabou behind the head and wrap it down the length of the shank, a little past the bend, then wind it back to the bead. Trim away the excess. Now lash the braid extended body to the middle of the shank with the burnt end facing to the rear. That completes the abdomen. For the thorax, dub peacock Ice Dub on the thread and wind forward to the bead. Scruff up the dubbed thorax so it is not compacted. Finally, choose an Hungarian partridge hackle, tie down the stem, and make two turns of the feather. Tie it off, cut away the excess, and whip finish. That’s it.
Presenting a small fly during the bright hours or just as a change-up pitch will certainly increase your catch rate. The Nitro Caddis is an excellent pattern for shad (and great for trout, too). Remember to give your shad fly various jigging actions sometimes. Shad are a little like humans who drink coffee — some like it black, but others want some “sugar.” You won’t be disappointed.
— Andy Guibord
