I started my morning fishing for Smallies at my little secluded spot at Ashes. I fished from 5am to 10:30am. The action was surprisingly slow. I landed 4 small dinks biggest maybe a pound and 1 lost hawg. I felt an overwhelming amount of frustration. The Cowlitz was a no go for me with the water being so high and the Lewis River being slow, I put all my eggs in my little basket in hopes of catching my usual 2-4lb Bronzebacks all day here. A total bust. I had a kid free weekend and no worries about what time I had to be home. I closed my eyes and decided to go home.

My drive along Hwy 14 takes me right past the Bonneville Dam. I have always told myself to try and fish for Shad, but the counts have been low and reports were even slower. I could see hundreds and hundreds of anglers all aligned up along the rocky shore. They looked like tiny little ants from the road. "Continue home or check it out," I said to myself. "Won't hurt to just watch."

I parked and got out. I seen an older Pinoy walking down to the bank. I stopped him, made small talk and he invited me to fish along side of him. "Really, they bite that?" I said to him when he showed me a weird looking jig which he called a "dart." He told me the Chevron down the road sells them and any color works. So off I went. I highly do not recommend buying them here. It cost me 3.99 for a bag of 4 darts.

I finally rigged up. I used a 3/4 oz cannonball, 4 ft of leader and a simple green/chartreuse dart. I won't go into a biaotch session about casting order or etiquette for there is none here. I did try to set order, but a lot of the people fishing down there speak little or no english. Not much action going on but with glances to my left and right, I would see that familiar splash and a fish being netted or hoisted onto shore. After 10 casts my dart gets slammed and I mean slammed. I was using light gear, my 7ft bass/trout rod, 8lb main and 6lb leader. I felt like I did when I landed my first Steelhead, this Chrome Shiner is not coming off. The fight to these Shad is underrated. I put their skills up there with the top fighters pound per pound. When I landed the Shad, I admired it. I was impressed.

I spent 4 more hours of catching them. I put 17 on a stringer which was donated to a good friend for crab bait. The average bag or cooler per angler that day was about 8 fish. The key is retrieve. If you go too fast you won't get bit. If you go too slow you will get hung up. I think I was able to find the fish a lot more consistent than those around me because I was using lighter tackle. You really don't need anything more than a trout set up and to use no more than 8lb main line. All along the shore there really wasn't a sweet spot, the fish are all over. You have a great chance at hooking into a Springer, which has to be released or a Sturgeon and I seen many jumping and some that will chomp on your stringer if left unattended.

I am glad I finally made it down here and tasted the action. I highly recommend trying it. Bring patience however and lots of tackle. I hope "TIC" will rally and make a road trip, you won't regret it. Until next time.......

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