(DEP News Release, 6/15/17)
General
Facts
The American shad is the largest member of the herring family and ranges on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to the St. John's River in Florida. Shad spend three to six years in the ocean and then return to freshwater in the spring to spawn. Adults usually weigh from four to eight pounds, but the New Jersey State and International Game Fish Association's eight-pound test line record is 11lb. 1oz. Known for their strength and fighting ability, shad are often the first fish species anglers pursue as the water warms in the spring.
Where
and When
American
shad fishing is almost synonomous with the Delaware River in New Jersey. Angling
for shad on the Delaware usually begins around the end of March near the warmwater
effluent of a power plant in Trenton. As the water warms to 50° F, and the
population migrates upstream, shad will be caught all the way up river to the
New York state line and beyond through the end of May and into June.
In June, 2017, American Shad were documented in the Musconetcong River in Hunterdon and Warren counties after an absence of at least a century. The return was made possible by the removal of dams on the lower Musconetcong River several years ago, followed by the removal of the Hughesville Dam in Warren County last year. The dam removals were made possible by a partnership of state, federal, nonprofit and private entities and opened nearly six miles of the Musconetcong to migratory fish, such as shad, eels and striped bass. For more information, see the June 15, 2017 DEP news release and biologist Pat Hamilton's article, Restoring Free-Flowing Rivers (pdf, 585kb) from the 2017 NJ Freshwater Fishing Digest.
Productive
boat and shoreline fishing spots, moving from down to upriver, include the Yardley/Scudders
Falls area, Lambertville, Bulls Island Recreation Area, Byram, Phillipsburg/Easton, and finally within the Delaware
Water Gap National Recreation Area. Early morning and dusk are the most productive
times. Helpful Web sites for shad fishing include the Delaware River Boat Access Sites, the Delaware River Shad Reports, and Woo's Shad Fishing Report.
How
American shad are caught with shad darts, flutter spoons and flies. From shore,
cast a lure slightly upstream and retrieved as it bounces along or near the bottom.
From an anchored boat, a lure should be "dead sticked" out of the stern
with added weights or on down-riggers. Trolling can also be effective. The main
channel is productive when the Delaware River is at normal or below normal levels.
When
the river is above normal, angling is best near the shoreline. Extremely high
river flows may stop the migration and the shad will hold in calmer water behind
in-river structures. The subsiding flow will often trigger this holding school
of shad to migrate, en masse, upstream. American shad must see the lure. Therefore,
muddy or debris filled water make for poor fishing conditions. To reduce hooking
mortality, American shad that are to be released should be retrieved as quickly
as possible, guided into a rubberized net (shad are easily de-scaled) and released,
having never been removed from the water.
Other helpful Web pages include the divisions's List
of Guides, Delaware River Fishing Reports and the Delaware River Shad Fisherman's Association.
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