Making a Reservation for your guided day of Shad Fishing

Our guide staff is among the best in the industry, and our guide and Private Waters management team will work hard to make sure that you’re placed with the right guide for your specific needs. We've been putting together guided fishing trips for three decades, and have the experience to coordinate a memorable day on the water for just about any group. Over the years, we’ve developed a few guidelines to help ensure that your trip is as successful as possible.

We can work with you to select a guide that's matched to your skills, interests, their specialty or, perhaps, the equipment involved. Some of our guides are more instruction-oriented than others and are better suited for the novice wanting to combine a day of guided fishing with a learning experience, while others just plain know how to catch fish.

If you have a specific request or have been with us before, we can help reserve guide dates with one of your favorite guides based on that guide’s specific availability.

Full Day or Half Day Trips

We offer both full day and half day jet boat trips on the Lower Sacramento River for Shad. Full-day trips include eight to nine hours of fishing time, while half-day trips include four to five hours on the water. Our full day jet boat trips are certainly the most popular option to maximize the time on the water, but half day trips can be a great option for getting an introduction to our area, starting to learn the basics of fly fishing for shad, getting a few hours of fishing in when a full day just isn’t in the schedule, or simply taking advantage of the great evening fishing opportunities during the long days of summer.

Multi-Day Trips

It’s easy to schedule a multi-day guided trip combining several different fly fishing destinations. One of the truly remarkable aspects to our northern California region is the incredible diversity in angling opportunities. Within a comfortable drive from our home base here in Redding, we have access to seven phenomenal trout streams and rivers, four steelhead destinations, and countless lakes, small streams, and bass ponds.

Many of our regular guests enjoy combining a day of fly fishing for Shad with a day of fly fishing for trout, floating the Lower Sacramento River or wading one of the other great regional streams, including the Upper Sacramento, McCloud, Pit, Fall River and Hat Creek.

Our guides can fish just about anywhere, and we often arrange a flexible schedule, determining the final itinerary just prior to the trip based on up-to-the-minute stream and fishing conditions, further guaranteeing that you’ll end up in the right place at the right time.

Another popular multi-day option is combining a guided trip on either end of a stay at one of our many excellent Private Waters.

Finally, guides can also be provided for any of our Private Waters destinations. Often they can be used to accelerate the learning curve at places like Riverside on Fall River or at Antelope Creek Ranch, familiarizing you and/or your group with the terrain, techniques, and choices of terminal tackle.

Guided Fishing Days Include:

• Lunch is provided on full day trips. Please give us a call if you have special dietary needs. Guides always carry a full cooler with plenty of water and soft drinks.
  
• Guides do not typically provide the tippet and flies for your trip. If you are just getting started in the sport, or will be traveling and don’t want to hassle with dragging along all of your gear, you may want to consider our guide trip “Package Deal.” This inclusive option is only an additional $50 per day, and with it the guides will provide the necessary rods, reels, flies, tackle and equipment to ensure that you have the right gear and flies for the day. If you're an experienced angler and/or fly tier, call ahead and we'll let you know exactly what flies are producing so you can be sure to tie them beforehand or bring them along.
  
• We do not provide waders or boots for guided trips. Chest-high waders and felt or studded wading boots are optional on shad trips. It is possible to fish entirely from the boats, keeping your feet dry, and water temperatures in the lower sections of the Lower Sac can actually be comfortable to wet-wade in the midsummer heat.

Making a reservation

To make a reservation, please give us a call at 800-669-3474 during business hours any day of the week. We can give you the answers you need or the detailed explanations to questions you might have, or check on guide availability and confirm your guide reservation in minutes.

If you prefer to correspond on-line simply e-mail us at info@adventuresinflyfishing.com and we will respond promptly.

• Season... Mid-May, June and July
  
• Species... American Shad (and possibly Striped Bass)
  
• Fee... Jet Boat fee: $410 for 2 anglers, or $460 for the inclusive “Package Deal” (described above).
  
• Occupancy... 2-4 Anglers maximum per guide. Although fishing more than 2 anglers to a guide is feasible on jet boat trips, it may not be the best situation, especially for less experienced anglers. We recommend a maximum of 2 anglers per trip for most groups.
  
• Includes... 8-10 hours of guided fishing with lunch provided.