The Bucket: a receptacle commonly used to transport hopes and desires to their fulfillment, to shad anglers it is fishing paradise, the sweet spot, the honey pot, the gold mine, the mother lode of grabby fish. It is a place that I wanted to be yesterday while fishing with Joe Shirshak on the American River.
The flows were dropping to 8000c.f.s. or so in preparation of the recreational on-slot of the 4th of July holiday, in hopes that search and rescue wouldn’t have to save so many rafters pinned to dangerous sweepers and search for the lifeless bodies of drowning victims. I wanted to scout it out in anticipation of guiding clients. I needed to locate the new “bucket” due to flow changes. I was pretty sure of its location. Would it be unoccupied? The “Bucket” is ware every guide and angler desires to wet their line, but as can often happen, the bucket was not to be for me this evening. The bounty of the silver shad were already being mined by an anchored boat. So Joe and I moved around between the other boats and the bank anglers, scratching up a fish here and a fish there. We kept turning around to watch the bucket masters netting another, and another shad. So it goes.. .I was with a dear friend enjoying the fishing. The evening was beautifull. Thanks, Joe. You are the Sugar Shack.
andyguibord 