One of my favorite fishing experiences each year is the Shad fishing on the Colombia River below Bonneville Dam the first week of June. There are over 2 million Shad that go up the fish ladder at the dam and the peak of the run is usually the first week of June when 100,000 fish a day are going through the place we are fishing. I fished with different people Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 4 each day and the total fish we all caught was 500.

Most people use Shad for crab bait, but I filleted 50 of them, brined them, smoking them now, and then I am going to can them. I hope they turn out good, that is a lot of fish to feed to crabs!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were such good days. When I am fishing I don’t read the news, think about the news, or care about the news. As far as my mind knew there was no virus, no riots, no shut down, no politics, just a beautiful day on the river catching fish.