Shad Fishing: Best Lures, Run Timing and Limits by River

A biologist's two hands holding a silver adult American shad, its big scales and deep belly clear, over a tank of water — Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain)

Shad fishing takes one setup: a light spinning rod, 4 to 8 lb line and a small shad dart. Swing it across the current near the bottom, in the weeks the spring run is in your river. American and hickory shad come in from the ocean to spawn, and they fight well above their weight on light tackle. Go when your river warms into the 50s °F. Then look up the rule before you keep one, because it changes from river to river.

Shad stop eating once they’re in the river. They still hit a dart, so the whole game is putting it right in front of them.

How do you fish for shad?

Cast across the current and let the lure swing past the fish, close to the bottom. You can do this from the bank. North Carolina’s wildlife agency says to cast upstream and reel as the lure sinks and drifts back down, along the breaks in the current. A shad won’t chase it far, so where you put the lure matters more than anything on it.

Find moving water. Shad don’t sit in still water. Look for eddies, the seams along fast current, the outside of bends, creek mouths, bridge pilings and any place the river narrows.
Tie on a dart. Use 1/32 to 1/8 oz (1 to 4 g), heavier in deep or fast water. Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources gives that range for its rivers.
Cast slightly upstream. Throw across the run, a little up current. The lure sinks as it comes back toward you.
Count it down. Start with a 3- to 5-second sink. Try a 10-count next, then a 15-count, until you find the depth they’re holding at.
Reel slow and steady. Let the lure sweep in an arc across the run. On a tidal river, try three turns, a pause, then two or three more. Keep it slow enough that it stays down.
Stay near the bottom. Shad travel low. If you get no bites, you’re probably fishing over their heads. Add a split shot a few feet up the line.
Change the depth before the color. A heavier weight or a bigger dart does more for a slow bite than a new color.

Pick your hours too. Shad don’t like bright light, so dawn, dusk and cloudy or rainy days are best. In bright, clear water they hug the bottom. On a tidal river, fish a moving tide. An incoming tide pushes shad upstream, and an outgoing tide can stall them.

What gear do you need for shad?

Less than you think. A light or medium-light spinning rod you already own for crappie or trout will do the job on most East Coast rivers. The Columbia is bigger water and calls for a little more rod.

Fishing	Rod	Line
East Coast rivers, spinning	6 to 7 1/2 ft (1.8 to 2.3 m), light action	4 to 8 lb (1.8 to 3.6 kg)
Columbia River, bank or boat	A light steelhead rod	At least 12 lb (5.4 kg) main line
Fly fishing	8 to 9 ft (2.4 to 2.7 m) for a 5- to 7-weight line	4 to 8 lb (1.8 to 3.6 kg) tippet

Go with monofilament first. It handles a shad’s sudden bursts of speed, and a shad’s mouth is thin and tears easily. Light-wire hooks tear it less, too. If you’d rather fish braid, add a long mono leader. Fill the reel with about 150 yards, since a shad can run. Keep lures small: most top out around 1 1/2 in (4 cm).

American or hickory: which shad are you catching?

The jaw tells you, and on some rivers the jaw decides whether the fish goes in the cooler. Look at it before anything else.

	American shad	Hickory shad
Lower jaw	Meets the upper jaw evenly	Sticks out past the upper jaw
Cheek patch	Deeper than it is long	Longer than it is deep
Usual weight	3 to 8 lb (1.4 to 3.6 kg)	1 to 3 lb (0.5 to 1.4 kg)
Spawns at	About 65 °F (18 °C)	About 61 °F (16 °C)
In Virginia’s rivers	Peak mid-April through May	Late February through April

Expect a hickory to jump and twist in the air. Most American shad go 15 to 24 in (38 to 61 cm), and the world record is 11.3 lb (5.1 kg), Connecticut’s agency reports.

Gizzard shad and threadfin shad are another story. They’re the bait fish of lakes and rivers, not the fish on this page. The “shad spawn” bass anglers talk about happens on lakes, with those bait fish.

When is shad season?

It starts in the South and works north as rivers warm. On the East Coast, the fishing starts when the water reaches the 50s °F. In Virginia, hickory shad show up once the water passes 46 °F (8 °C), usually in late February. American shad peak from mid-April through May.

Drawing: fishing.info

The numbers on the big rivers are worth knowing. In 2026, the first American shad went up the Holyoke fish lifts on the Connecticut River on April 15, by the count of Holyoke Gas & Electric, which runs them. On May 5 alone, 42,407 went up, and the year’s count came to 470,407. On the Delaware, the first fish come in sometime in March, and you can follow them upriver through June.

Out West the run comes later. Oregon’s agency says shad show up “sometime around Mother’s Day” and the run usually fades by early July. More than seven million shad passed above Bonneville Dam by late August in 2019. California’s rivers start in late April and peak in June and July.

Where are the best shad rivers?

Start below a dam or wherever the river narrows. Those choke points are where the run gets squeezed. The table names the places the agencies and local anglers point to.

River	Where to start	Fish
Roanoke, North Carolina	Near Weldon	Hickory
Cape Fear, North Carolina	Locks and dams near Tarheel, Elizabethtown and Riegelwood	American
Tar, North Carolina	Battle Park in Rocky Mount, Bell’s Bridge north of Tarboro	American
Rappahannock and Potomac	City Dock on the Rappahannock, Fletcher’s Cove on the Potomac	Both
Delaware	From around Trenton up past the Delaware Water Gap, and Hancock, New York	American
Connecticut	Below the Holyoke Dam, Massachusetts, where the fish lifts are	American
Columbia	The bank below Bonneville Dam, in Washington below the Second Powerhouse and the Hamilton Island boat ramp	American
Willamette and Umpqua, Oregon	Moving water, casting or plunking from the bank	American
Sacramento, Feather, Yuba and American, California	The Sacramento holds California’s largest run	American

Washington’s agency is blunt about the Columbia: “if you’re fishing from shore, the only sure-fire location is below Bonneville Dam.”

What’s the best lure for shad?

A shad dart first, a small weighted jig with a bright body. If you only bring one thing, bring darts in two weights. A flutter spoon is the second pick, and it’s the one for an anchored boat.

Water	Throw	Color
High, stained or early	A bigger, bright dart	Chartreuse body, green or red head
Low, clear or late	A small but still bright dart	Chartreuse body, green or red head
Current behind an anchored boat	A flutter spoon	Silver or gold
Fly rod	A small Clouser or Crazy Charlie, size 4 to 8	Chartreuse or orange

Grubs work too. Oregon anglers fish “tiny rubber grubs on tiny little jig heads a fraction of an ounce.” On tidal Virginia water, DWR writer Mark Fike’s go-to is a crappie jig on an 1/8 oz hot pink jig head. He pinches a split shot on at least 12 in (30 cm) above it.

How do you rig for shad?

Fish the simplest one that gets you to the bottom. Tie the lure on with an improved clinch knot or whatever you trust.

Bank, normal current. A dart alone, with a split shot a few feet up if you need more depth. This is the one to start with.
Deeper current. Put a 1/4 oz (7 g) inline sinker ahead of the dart.
Two lures at once. Tie an 18- to 24-in (46 to 61 cm) leader to the bend of a spoon’s hook and put a dart on the end.
Columbia River. A sinker of 1 to 3 oz (28 to 85 g), a three-way swivel and a leader to the dart or small spoon. Cast and retrieve or plunk it in fast current.
Anchored boat. Run spoons behind a small diving planer, or behind a diving crankbait with its hooks taken off.

How do you land a shad?

Keep the drag light and the fight short. A hooked shad usually heads downstream first, and a tight drag pulls the hook right out of that thin mouth. You don’t need heavy gear to enjoy it.

If it’s going back, follow Pennsylvania’s advice: reel in quickly and don’t fight it to exhaustion. Land it in a net instead of dragging it onto shore. Unhook it with pliers, then slide it back into the water from the net. The rest of the good habits are in our catch and release guide.

Can you keep shad?

Sometimes. It depends on the river and on which shad you’ve got, and the rules don’t match across a state line. These are the agencies’ own words. They change, so read the current rule before you keep one.

Where	Fish	The rule
Connecticut River, Connecticut	American and hickory	“Open year-round.” “No minimum length.” “6 in aggregate with Hickory Shad.” American shad: “Harvest of American shad allowed only in the Connecticut River system.”
Massachusetts	American	Merrimack and Connecticut rivers: “Year Round,” “3 fish.” Other waters: “Prohibited. Catch and release only.”
Hudson River, New York	American	“Recreational and commercial fishing for American shad is prohibited in the Hudson River and the Marine District of New York”
Delaware River and Estuary, Pennsylvania	American	“Open year-round, no minimum size and a daily limit of 2 fish.”
Delaware River mainstem, New Jersey	American	“Open year-round,” daily limit 2 (2026 guide)
Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania	American	“CLOSED YEAR-ROUND in Susquehanna River and tributaries, including the Conowingo Reservoir up to Holtwood Dam.”
Pennsylvania, the Delaware included	Hickory	“CLOSED YEAR-ROUND in all Commonwealth Inland Waters, Susquehanna River and tributaries (including the Conowingo Reservoir) and Delaware River and Estuary Waters.”
Nontidal waters, Maryland	American and hickory	“CLOSED.” “Catch and Release is permitted at all times.”
Virginia	American	“all American shad must be released as possession is unlawful”
Roanoke and Neuse, North Carolina	Both	“10 Hickory Shad and American Shad in combination,” “only one of which can be an American (white) Shad”
Cape Fear, North Carolina	Both	“10 Hickory Shad and American Shad in combination, only five of which may be an American (white) shad”
Tar River, North Carolina	Both	“10 Hickory Shad and American Shad (white), in combination”
Atlantic Ocean, North Carolina	American	“Unlawful to take or possess American shad from the Atlantic Ocean.”
Georgia	Both	“The maximum recreational daily creel and possession limit shall be eight (8) for any one or a combination of American shad or hickory shad.”
Columbia River, Washington	American	“No min. size. No daily limit. No possession limit. Open only during open game fish or salmon seasons except Apr. 1-May 15: closed in the mainstem Columbia River downstream of Bonneville Dam.”
Oregon	American	“the shad does not have size or bag limits”
California	American	“Open season: All year, except for closures listed under special regulations.” “Limit: Twenty-five.”

The West Coast is generous for one reason: shad aren’t from there. They were brought to West Coast rivers in the late 1800s. On the Columbia they’re now the most common fish that runs in from the sea. On the East Coast, where they belong, the rules are tighter.

Virginia’s hickory rule depends on the water. DWR wrote in 2024 that there were “no regulations on hickory shad caught above and below the fall line” in its coastal Chesapeake Bay rivers. On those rivers, state code says the limits are the ones the Marine Resources Commission sets for tidal rivers. The Meherrin below Emporia Dam, the Nottoway, the Blackwater and a few other named waters have a limit of “10 per day.” In May 2024 the commission proposed a possession limit for hickory shad, then took the item off that month’s agenda. Its shad rule still names only American shad, so check with the commission before you keep a hickory.

Two more things to look at. A hook rule applies from April 1 to June 30 in the inland waters of the Roanoke, upstream of the U.S. Highway 258 bridge. The rule: “only a single barbless hook or lure with a single barbless hook (or hook with barb bent down) may be used.” And Florida’s St. Johns River and South Carolina’s rivers have their own shad rules, so check with those states before you go. Pennsylvania spells out what closed means: “no kill.”

Are shad good to eat?

Yes, where you’re allowed to keep one. Oregon’s agency calls the shad “certainly edible” and “a delicacy in its native east coast range.” Most Oregon anglers don’t eat them, though. Many keep them for bait, thanks to their oily, herring-like flesh. On the lower Columbia, sturgeon love to feed on the shad run.

Quick answers about shad fishing

What’s the best bait for shad? Skip the bait. Adult shad generally don’t feed on the run, so throw a dart, a small spoon or a fly.

How big do shad get? In their native range they reach 30 in (76 cm) and 12 lb (5.4 kg), Washington’s agency says. Most go up to 20 in (51 cm) and 2 to 4 lb. Washington’s state record is only 3.85 lb, from the Columbia in 2005.

What time of day is best? First light and the last hour before dark, plus any cloudy day. Don’t write off midday on a dark, rainy one.

Mistakes to avoid

Fishing too high. Most slow days are a depth problem. Add a split shot and count the lure down longer.
Changing colors first. Change the weight first. Then change the color.
Fishing still water. Shad want current. Move to a seam or the head of a run.
Cranking the drag tight. A thin mouth tears. Loosen it and let the fish run.
Keeping the wrong shad. Check the jaw. In Virginia you can keep a hickory but never an American. On Pennsylvania’s side of the Delaware it’s the other way around.

Shad also matter to anglers who never throw a dart. If you came here for bait fish and the fish that chase them, go to striped bass or what to use for catfish bait. The fish that don’t fit a big family are all in other freshwater fish.

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