St Johns River, Central Fl

[J32952]

for those visiting central Florida... yes it's cold! ..the American (and Hickory) Shad run is in full force right now.  Most are pretty small.. say just over 1 lb.   Fun on fly and ultra light tackle.
  If you have kayak, canoe or really skinny boat launch on Hwy 46 at Jolly Gator (between Sanford and Mims) and go south to the mouth of the little Econ.  If you draw more water drive west toward Sanford and launch as Mullet Lake Park.  To the west is 'Shad Alley' and to the east is the lake (stay out, too shallow) but follow the curves.  Trolling shad jigs slowly or drifting and casting shad/Spec jigs will do the trick.   Some Shad, some smaller Specks (called Crappie elsewhere), and maybe smaller Large Mouth Bass.  Stop and drop dead bait in the deep holes for various catfish.
   Too windy and cold for me to fish saltwater rivers or ocean.  So this time of year I enjoy St Johns action.
   

[BruceinFL]

And watch out for all the manatees heading in and out of the springs.

[blw2]

I remember as a teen my dad took me fishing in the whitewater just below the cape fear river dam in NC, upstream from Wilmington.  The shad season is prob a bit different up there but I guess it must have been roughly around this time of year anyway...  We caught what seemed like a boat load of those shads all on a little white shad dart jigs in that white water.  Oh that was some good fun.

Thanks for bringing up that memory for me.


How are you catching them down here?  Are you catching them in the regular 'calm' river stream? 
I wonder if I could catch them up here around Jacksonville.

[Ernie n Tara]

We caught them on the Tennessee river in Alabama using bare brown hooks only. One per cast. I'm guessing they thought they were baby eels.

Ernie

[J32952]

How are you catching them down here?  Are you catching them in the regular 'calm' river stream? 
I wonder if I could catch them up here around Jacksonville.
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   The Shad ENTER freshwater, St Johns, at Jacksonville and swim upstream (well south, as the St Johns is one of very few N.American rivers to flow north).  They breed in central Fl waters (idk, maybe they start laying eggs well north?).  Late December thru Feb is season.  Often tempature and water level dependent.  From just south of Lake Monroe (Sanford) all the way to Lake Poinsett in Cocoa is where I fish.  Sometimes we troll Shad darts or speck (crappie) jigs, other times we drift tossing same or various small flys.  A blast on ultra light gear.  These are both American and Hickory Shad.