Shad 2014

[Cowpokey]

When will the shad start running this spring? Cowkid II is really looking forward to going fishing, taking her out for the shad run would be an easy way to get her "hooked"...pun intended.

[mweber02]

I don't know anything about the shad run, but I know there were a lot of dead shad on the shores of the Bush river on Monday.

[J.A. Veil]

A traditional rule of thumb is that hickory and American shad are running well when the dogwood trees bloom. Certainly some shad come earlier than that, but to get to peak numbers that is a good starting point. Some of the gizzard (mud) shad have been around for a while but are not the same prized gamefish as the others.

[Cowpokey]

A traditional rule of thumb is that hickory and American shad are running well when the dogwood trees bloom. Certainly some shad come earlier than that, but to get to peak numbers that is a good starting point. Some of the gizzard (mud) shad have been around for a while but are not the same prized gamefish as the others.

Thanks! The intended target is hickory and American shad. That's the kind of info I was looking for.

[DonV]

I've always heard of the dogwood bloom thing. Does seem to be a good rule of thumb and line up very closely. Another good sign is wall to wall fisherman along the banks of your favorite spot.
They were running last year at the Flats Jamboree which I think was on the 18th. Hope the same holds true for this year.

[reel-em-in]

They should be there any day now. I've seen the local ospreys around APG carrying them around. They may be hard to catch until it warms up a little more. I've heard 54 degree water temperature is when they start to mate which i when the action really picks up.

[HJS]

A lot depends on where you intend to fish for shad. At Fletchers, hickory action starts the first week in April and starts to ramp down by early May. Peak period would be the middle 2 weeks in April.

Hickory shad action in the Susquehanna area tends to run several days later then at Fletchers.

American shad, aka:white shad, run about a week or two later than hickories.

Keep in mind that there is a lot of slop in this time table for both hickory and whites. Timing of the shad runs is affected to a significant degree by weather, flow and population strength. I bet this year good hickory action will run a week later than normal due to winter hanging on waaaay to long.

The "wait until the dogwoods bloom" saying has been around for many decades. That saying was firmly entrenched in Maryland fishing lore when I was a kid back in the late 1950s, and I suspect the saying goes back a lot farther than that, maybe to colonial days. Back then the white shad was the king of the shads, a highly prized early season food fish often taken home for the roe and to bake for dinner. Hickories were pretty much just a sport fish. So I'm thinking the "wait until the dogwood blooms" applies only to the white shad... and that's a spot-on indicator But that's just my opinion.

The best way to know when both shads are running is to keep close track of fishing reports on this and other fishing forums.

I'm going to start fishing Fletchers this week.

[Cowpokey]

I've never fished Fletchers. Used to fish them upstream of Susquehanna Flats below Conowingo Dam.

[whenican]

I know of someone catching the 1st reported shad this past week @ Fletchers. It's catch & release only for hickories & Americans in DC & MD, however, the Shamrock Restaurant in Thurmont, MD, on rt15 serves baked shad & shad roe.. they must get it from elsewhere where it's legal to keep them. I ate some here & it was dang good!

[Fishinfool]

A traditional rule of thumb is that hickory and American shad are running well when the dogwood trees bloom. Certainly some shad come earlier than that, but to get to peak numbers that is a good starting point. Some of the gizzard (mud) shad have been around for a while but are not the same prized gamefish as the others.

Sounds like good fodder for a new song John:

"Don't look for me when the dogwoods are a bloomin', I'll be fishin' for shad when the sunrise is a loomin'..."