Anglers have long used different environmental phenomena to mark the critical
points of their sporting seasons. Fall surf fishing is said to kick into high gear each
year following the first “mullet blow” on the coast. Serious panfishermen
understand that the first full moon in June prompts bluegills to begin congregating
on their spawning beds and it’s time to start stalking them with cane poles and
crickets.
When eastern North Carolina’s ubiquitous dogwoods begin to form buds, it’s a
sign that shad are due to begin moving up our coastal rivers. Then is the time to get
out and gather the makings for the season’s first fish stew or maybe some “planked
shad.”
Fishermen who heed the signs and head up the Neuse, Trent, White Oak, Cape
Fear and other waterways in search of shad are participating in a ritual that pre-
dates the coming of their ancestors to these shores. Colonist George Henry wrote
in 1794:
“When the shad-fish come up the rivers, the Indians run a dam of stones across
the stream, where its depth will admit it, not in a straight line, but in two parts,
verging towards each other in an angle. … By this contrivance they sometimes
catch above a thousand shad and other fish in half a day.”
A century later, the shad were still caught by the thousands. Only, instead of
Indians, the fishermen were fourth and fifth generation European settlers tending
bow nets and seines. Low, sleek “shad boats,” their gunwales nearly awash with
their silvery cargo, labored down the Pamlico River to Washington, N.C. where the
fish were salted, packed in barrels and shipped north.
Today, the commercial fishery for shad in North Carolina is almost dead, a
victim of overfishing, pollution and damming. Symptomatic of the fish’s decline is
the fact that the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted about twenty years ago
to ban the commercial netting of shad and their cousins, herring, after April 15
each year.
Sport fishing for shad is still alive, though, and more popular than ever. The
difference is that the hook-and-line fisherman doesn’t have to bring hundreds of
pounds to shore in order to be successful. A “small mess” of the sporty, powerful
fish is usually more than enough to satisfy both his predatory instincts and his
appetite.
The introduction of spinning tackle to this country after World War II helped
popularize shad fishing because, for the first time, the small lures so effective for
the fish could be handled by the average angler. Fishermen discovered the new
tackle technology and hook-and-line fishing for shad almost simultaneously.
A landmark in the evolution of shad fishing in North Carolina came in 1962
when the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers began “locking” fish through the dams on the Cape Fear River. Shad
had traditionally ascended the streams to Smiley Falls near Lillington but had
found their way blocked with the construction of the dams. Once a route was
reopened, the fish began to congregate again in the rapids below the dams. With
the fish came the fishermen.
Another milestone was reached in 1997 when a dam built by a power company
near Goldsboro in 1952 was taken out. The dam’s removal opened up 75 miles of
the Neuse River and over 900 miles of its tributaries for spawning by shad.
Two species of shad – hickory (Alosa mediocris) and American (Alosa
sapidissima) – move up coastal streams beginning in mid-February most years.
The hickory shad is the smaller of the two, averaging around a pound and a half,
and only occasionally going more than two pounds. American shad, also called
white shad, get substantially larger, averaging about 3 pounds and sometimes
double that. The state record hickory shad, which weighed 4 lb. 1 oz, was pulled
from Pitchkettle Creek (off the Neuse) in February 2004. The largest American
shad, caught in the Tar River in April 1974, weighed 7 lb. 15 oz.
While the American shad is more prevalent, by a large margin, in the Cape Fear
River and its tributaries, the hickory shad is more common in the Neuse, Trent and
Tar. According to biologists, the dynamics of the different spawning areas is what
causes the geographical differences. American shad need faster water to keep their
eggs moving and facilitate fertilization. For that reason, they tend to return to
streams with greater flow. Hickory shad, on the other hand, prefer rivers and
creeks with slower moving water and more flooded swampland.
Regardless of where they’re caught, the techniques for shad are the same. Small
(1/8 – 1/4 oz.) jigs and shiny spoons, fished either individually or in tandem, are by
far the most productive baits. The darts are generally white or yellow with
contrasting heads and tails. The spoons are silver or gold.
Fished on light spinning tackle with 4 to 8 pound-test line, the terminal tackle is
cast across the stream and allowed to swing downstream. It’s then retrieved slowly
with little or no action.
If there’s a “secret” method, it’s to work the lures so they stay near the bottom.
Shad, both American and hickory, tend to hang in deep channels adjacent to
swifter current. Strikes frequently come when a lure ends its downstream swing or
just as it starts to move back upstream.
Once a shad is on the line, the real fun begins and the angler’s skill becomes
apparent. Pound for pound, shad fight as hard as any fish that swims. That,
combined with their propensity for jumping, makes them a real challenge on light
tackle and has caused some people to call them “little tarpon.” A net can be a real
asset. A shad’s narrow jaw and flat shape make it difficult to grasp.
Shad are in our inland waters for only a limited period of time each year.
Usually, by mid-April they are heading back downstream toward the open
expanses of the Atlantic Ocean. While they’re here, though, they offer great sport,
the first of the year for many fishermen. They’re sort of the piscatorial version of
the bluebird, seasonal visitors that portend the coming of spring with its warm, sunny days.
Ed Wall can be contacted at edwall@embarqmail.com or 252-671-3207. His web site is www.edwalloutdoors.com