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.
On that day, the shad fishing was regular, a chunk each 5 to 10 minutes or so. Joe stored one of many shad and minimize it into chunks for a fast pitstop over a deep gap that had a half-dozen massive, hungry channel cats keen to eat our chunks.
As he rowed us towards the subsequent shad spot, he dropped anchor close to a mid-river present seam and broke out two rods rigged with Daiwa SP Minnows. A few casts in, a giant striped bass blasted my plug and ran to this point down stream, I believed it’d attain the bay earlier than slowing down. After that run, I turned its head into the present and made sluggish, however regular progress towards the anchored drift boat. We took an image of the fish and rapidly returned it to the river.
We closed out the day with just a few extra shad, and I had an opportunity to repay Joe for his deft work with the online on my massive bass when he hooked into what he claims was a wall-hanger of a shad. We’ll by no means know although. In my try to increase the deal with on the web, I prolonged it proper into the taut line, knocking the hook out of the fish. He hasn’t let me overlook it.
The Bays
Within the salt, there’s an entire totally different blended bag taking place, with blackfish, blues, stripers, drum and, for the affected person, some winter flounder.
Bluefish beeline for the inlets towards the top of this month. It might begin with a trickle, a chomped gentle plastic right here and there, however by Could, there ought to be good fishing taking place in among the bays.
In 2023, blues made dependable rounds over Barnegat Bay mudflats, and pencil poppers or walk-the-dog topwaters bought bites once they had been lively. Mushy plastics or minnow plugs bought bites when the fish had been extra skittish.
Raritan Bay will load up with stripers this month with fish from 30 to 50 inches trying to chow down earlier than operating up the Hudson River. Motion ought to be good for shore and boat fishermen alike, catching them on swim shads, flutter spoons, minnow plugs, and even topwaters. At occasions, almost all of the fish will probably be too massive to maintain, so be ready to launch them in good situation. From shore, nighttime hours are finest, however from the boat or kayak, the motion can go all day.
On the Delaware Bay, some black drum start shifting in for his or her annual spawn, and anglers soaking clams within the sloughs will catch the primary few (often smaller) fish of the season. Over the previous couple of years, anglers have been operating into drum in different bays and within the surf (on contemporary clams), offering much more selection throughout April.
Springtime Tautog
Anglers hankering for his or her first self-caught, contemporary seafood dinner of the season can simply verify that off this month with the opening of the spring tog season. Initially of the month, the very best shot at a keeper exists on the wrecks and reefs just a few miles offshore, however earlier than the season ends on April 30, jetty and pier fishermen ought to be within the recreation as effectively.
For shorebound blackfishing, it pays to spend an hour or so flipping rocks or strolling mudflats to load up on bite-size Asian shore or fiddler crabs. Fish them complete on a easy one-hook rig, casting out to gentle backside and dragging the rig till you contact the sting of construction. You’ll need to weed via a wholesome inhabitants of shorts earlier than connecting with a keeper, however think about the thrown-back blackfish as beneficial hook-setting apply for when the massive one bites.
Associated Content material
Spring Striper Fishing on Raritan Bay
