What’s Biting in April in New Jersey?

The River

The shad run is one in every of my non-negotiable, must-not-miss occasions of the springtime. Fortunately for me, my pal Joe Cermele all the time saves me a seat in his drift boat for a float down the Delaware in April. Whereas shad are all the time Plan A on these journeys, plans B and C (for striped bass and catfish) can take shad day and switch it into among the best fishing days of the whole season. That’s what occurred again in 2023. 

We began out shad fishing, which Joe does by anchoring up and setting out a four-rod unfold of willow-leaf spoons. He makes use of small planer or crankbaits with the hooks eliminated to get the spoons down close to the underside the place the shad will probably be swimming upriver. Whereas Joe has a milk run of places the place he is aware of the shad are, each day he has to fine-tune the boat’s place to account for altering river flows and the shads’ temper. For instance, if the rods on the starboard aspect get all of the bites, he’ll shimmy the boat to try to get all 4 spoons into the zone.