An interview with Andy Boyar

If you want to learn a great deal about shad, you could read John McPhee’s splendid book “The Founding Fish.” If you simply want to know how to catch a shad in the Upper Delaware River, just ask Len Caputi. How does he know when the shad run is on? Len replies with a twinkle in his eye, “I smell ‘em!”

Len grew up a stone’s throw from the Delaware River on River Road down in Yardley, PA, 100 miles south of where he makes his current home here in the Upper Delaware River Valley. It was there, way downstream, that he learned about fishing. Today, a youthful 62 years old, Len still treads the bank of the river like a teenager.

Shad are among the anadromous fishes that migrate from the sea into fresh water to spawn, and this year, the shad run reached our part the Delaware River before the first of May. Shad are a schooling fish that love open water and currents. They also are a much valued sport fish, something Len knows plenty about.

I recently interviewed him at the General Store in Equinunk, PA, overlooking the Delaware River, and found out rather quickly why Len is a master of shad fishing. Turns out he doesn’t actually smell them; rather he watches the river for flow and temperature, he checks the status of the run downriver, and he factors in weather and high and low water events. By the time Len is ready to go shad fishing, he knows the fish will be on the bite, just as surely as if he could smell them.

If you’d like to try shad fishing, this interview will help you to get started correctly.

The River Reporter (TRR): How long have you been fishing for shad?

Len Caputi (LC): Pretty much all my life. I grew up on the Delaware River down in Bucks County, and I was exposed at a very young age. My neighbor, Pappy Carter, took me across the River Road in 1955 and showed me about fishing for herring, and I’ve fished ever since. Shad and herring, they’re in the same family. The herring don’t make it this far upriver, but the shad do. For me, it’s not spring until I catch my first shad. Shad are seasonal; when they’re here, I fish for them. When I get a few, then I’m happy. I’ve been doing it so long, it’s my springtime.

Shadbush is a pretty good indicator of the start of the bite. The shad migrate in coldwater conditions, and they follow the channels. They also find resting spots, such as a bridge abutment or hole. These shad “holes” are good spots to set up.

TRR: Do you prefer fishing from shore or from a boat?

LC: I’m equal opportunity. If you only have a little bit of time, it doesn’t make sense go through the rigmarole to put a boat together. If you locate a spot that’s good for them to run through, you can knock out a half day fishing from the banks. Up here it’s easy to locate places along the bank, because the river’s not so wide as it is downstream. Way down there you can’t really do bank fishing. Here I know the river and lay of the land, and I can walk to the bank and know where to fish.

Normally, when I’m in a boat, I’m anchored in a likely spot. Early in the season, I just rig up a shad dart and get it down low in the channel, determined by the water speed. Or, you can drift [in your boat] for ‘em as well. If you’re with a guide doing a shad trip, as long as river terrain doesn’t change much, you’ll have your locations that more than likely will produce every year.

TRR: What would be a good standard set-up?

LC: I’d suggest a six-and-a-half-foot, medium-flex rod with a spinning reel and six-pound test line. When the fish are hot, down at tidewater, you’d want eight-pound test, and even then there’s no guarantee of turning them. By the time the shad get to Equinunk, they’ve had an arduous journey and have lost some body weight and a bit of strength.

TRR: We see by your tackle box that you have a large and varied collection of darts. What type, size and color darts do you recommend?

LC: The water conditions dictate dart choice, both color and size. When the water is high and cold, the shad will be hugging the bottom. You use a heavier dart under those conditions… hence the saying “if you aren’t losing darts on the rocks, you aren’t fishing deep enough.” Typical darts weigh a quarter or 3/8 ounces. As the water warms, the shad move up in the water column. By June, shad are even taken on the surface with dry flies.

For colors, I recommend red and white, red and yellow, chartreuse, dark green and black, sometimes orange or pink. The color combinations are crazy now, compared to 40 or 50 years ago. The only darts you could find then, or the only ones I ever remember seeing, were red and white, or red and yellow; that was it, and people caught plenty of shad.

My advice, if you’re not catching, change color until you dial in. Selection may change whether it’s a dark day or a light day. Cloud cover passing through can make a difference, too. Fish a darker dart, when it’s darker out, lighter when it’s brighter.

Then I like to tie on a dropper, maybe a tiny dart or a flutter spoon, 15 inches or 18 inches off the heavier dart. If you’re fishing a flutter spoon dropper, put a small bend in the shank, and you will get a nice side-to-side flutter that increases the action and brings more strikes.

Shad are a fighting fish. Most of the guys up here don’t know it. The fish way down river are much stronger. [When they’re spawning] they lose body weight and strength going this far without eating a whole lot. Down there, you can just about guarantee you won’t land half of them.

TRR: What’s the biggest fish you ever caught?

LC: Once back in Bucks County, I landed a really big fish for a guy I was teaching. That fish was up to 31 inches, and it was a virtual tie for a world record. Unfortunately the guy never weighed it. He put it in the freezer and somebody else ate it. One day, I was looking in this fishermen’s magazine and they had an article that summer about world-record fish. And right in the middle of the page there was a picture of a shad. So I read it. It was a world-record shad—31 inches, 11 or 12 pounds—caught in the Connecticut River. That was the standing record at that time. I’ve gotten some good mileage out of the story about that fish.

TRR: This year the shad arrived before the first of May.

LC: It’s different every year. Some years, I’ve caught ‘em in Lordville as early as April 17; that’s the earliest I can remember. Most people around here don’t know how to look for them early.

The shad keep moving every day and stop wherever the temperature tells them to start spawning. Some years the water gets hot early, and the main body [of fish] never get to Lordville. Last year they made it all the way up into the branches [the East Branch and the West Branch of the Delaware River]. After they spawn, usually they’re going to hang around—if they survive—until maybe June or July. Then they go back down to the ocean. And then in mid to late summer, the shadlings head down, too. You’ll see schools on the surface, flipping in and out of the water, heading back. They do provide a lotta food for bigger fish, too.

TRR: You catch lots of shad. What do you do with them?

LC: For the most part, I put them back where they belong, and I don’t mean in a garden; I mean releasing them unharmed. I’m not here to interfere with their mission [to spawn].

TRR: Your reputation precedes you. We were told to look-up Len “Crooked Creek” Caputi. What’s that about?

LC: I had a tackle/sports shop here on Crooked Creek in Equinunk. It’s now under repair from some flood damage. I do hope to reopen it.

TRR: Do you have any final advice for somebody who wants to try shad fishing?

LC: Try it once, twice, if you don’t get anything, don’t get discouraged. It’s a learning process. Have somebody show you some ropes. Just watch and pay attention to what they’re doing.