Help with Shad

[AndyS]

Never fished a shad dart till a friend of mine handed me one and said just fish it like a spinner !! BINGO fish on !!

[MudCat08]

From some of those reports it sounds like the Shad are ready to move up soon. should be going through the Gap by early April, at least I hope.

[FASTEDDIE29]

All great advice! Don't forget the Raritan gets a nice run of Shad! Darts on the Raritan for me! These fish will lay low and stop pushing up with the current polar vortex were having! It's early, make sure your ready!!!

[Mark B.]

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

All great advice! Don't forget the Raritan gets a nice run of Shad! Darts on the Raritan for me! These fish will lay low and stop pushing up with the current polar vortex were having! It's early, make sure your ready!!!

Unlawful to fish for A. shad in the Raritan River, as it is considered a recovering population.

See pages 27 & 28 of: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2017/digfsh24-34.pdf

Shad, American* - Delaware River only

Open year round, No minimum size, 3 per day

* Due to serious declines in American Shad numbers, the taking of American Shad, except for the Delaware River, is prohibited.

[MudCat08]

you can probably catch and release them in the Raritan, right? Nothing wrong with fishing for other fish with darts and by-catching shad haha.

[Lard Almighty]

Originally Posted by MudCat08

you can probably catch and release them in the Raritan, right? Nothing wrong with fishing for other fish with darts and by-catching shad haha.

Darts are my go-to for Raritan River smallies!

[Mark B.]

Originally Posted by Lard Almighty

Darts are my go-to for Raritan River smallies!

If a Conservation Officer observes you fishing with a shad dart & catching / releasing multiple Raritan River A. shad, he’s going to bust you, as you falsely claim, “I’m targeting smallies!”

Same deal for anglers without a trout stamp, catching / releasing multiple trout,….“I’m targeting smallies!”

[NJ219bands]

I caught and released 43 shad the past 2 days on a tube jig but they were all gizzard shad.

[Delawareriver]

I've always done best with flicker spoons from a boat or on shore. Every day the best color can vary but for me pink seems to be the most consistent. Very easy to fish and catch them but does take some knowledge of where to fishoot. Couple tips I'll give you from shore as seems like that what several will be doing. When water is low and clear look for spots where you can cast into the deeper channel, and think of smaller spoons and darts. Vice versa when the water is up and cloudy target the current seem closer to shore and think slightly bigger spoons and darts. Sections of Rapids can produce in high or lower water as the shad don't wanna run up the extreme current

There are shad already in the river but you won't have much luck till the water temp gets closer to 50. Best bet is follow the reports and follow the main run of fish, march-April can be great in the lower section (Trenton through lambertvill) of the river, April and may in the middle section (Stockton, through easton and up to water gap) and may and June typical the upper River shines from (water gap up to ny) with that said different pushes of fish can make good action anywhere at any time, I've caught shad into June near easton as well as plenty of shad in water gap during april. Best of luck guys

[Mark B.]

Rutgers plans to open / clean The Raritan River Island Farm Weir Fish Ladder next week & install the camera system / antennas for the monitoring of 2017 run.

A. shad are in the Delaware River. A week ago, a few were caught near Easton PA.