The American shad are here. Whether you are a fisherman or not, you’ve probably seen an American shad in our river over the years.  And if you haven’t seen one in the river, you may have smelled the dead ones, or have seen a bald eagle carrying a dead shad.  

These fish are silvery white, with large scales, small mouths and a black forked tail.  They swim from the ocean up the Delaware River, giving them the status of an anadromous fish.  This great migration of shad has been revered for many years, from saving the starving lives of colonial military men stationed at Valley Forge, PA, to the ever-extensive writings of Mr. John McPhee and his breakdown of shad in his novel “The Founding Fish.”  These fish have found a special spot in many fishermen’s lives for a variety of reasons, such as eating the roe eggs of the fish, or the act of sport-fishing a strong ocean fish in clear freshwater rivers up and down the East Coast.  

American shad were transported across the United States on freight trains in the late 1800s and introduced to the Pacific Ocean.  Now there is a vibrant shad population and fishery on the Pacific coast from Baja to Alaska. These fish are said to not eat during their spawning runs up freshwater rivers, but as many shad fishermen know, they are quick to strike a brightly colored shad fly or shad dart when it’s presented to them.  

I argue they do feed, as they do not have the greatest body mass, being a slender, strong fish. I have also caught them on 4-inch minnow-style lures when targeting other species.  These experiences have shown me that shad will feed if food is easy to grab, or in abundance while they swim upstream.  

They certainly eat food once they have completed the spawning process. I have witnessed post-spawn shad feeding by the thousands on Upper Delaware River mayflies in late June. 

The upstream migration of shad is also signaled by the blooming of the shad bush, also known as the serviceberry:  a white flowering tree that resembles the color of a shad, and blooms the same time that shad swim upstream.   

Around Memorial Day, when water temperatures are near 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, shad will spawn from dusk till dawn.  You will see wakes of fish swimming aggressively in circles in deep spawning pools throughout our river.  Once they finish spawning and water temps warm even more, the fish either die or attempt to return to sea. They are often subject to overhead predators, because they swim slowly and close to the surface after spawning. Shad are also a “baitfish” of the sea; once they are in the ocean,  they swim in large schools for survival from the large predatory fish that inhabit the ocean.   

The dead fish and their offspring are a great source of nutrients for our freshwater river’s ecosystem. The Delaware, being the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi, provides an incredible habitat rich with the nutrients of many anadromous fish and the river ecology as a whole.  

So when you see the dead shad floating down our river come June and July, know it is a sign of a healthy river system, not bad water quality or diseased fish.   

If you like to fish, step outside and give shad fishing a try.  If you’re not a fisherman, observing shad is easy from our river bridges while wearing a pair of polarized sunglasses when the water is low and clear.  You will also likely see many eagles and other natural life around the river while observing the shad migration.