American Shad Fishing in Florida: The St. Johns River Run

Every winter, one of the great migrations on the Atlantic coast ends in Florida. American shad, Alosa sapidissima — ocean fish, herring the size of small salmon — push in from the Atlantic and run the St. Johns River for hundreds of miles, and for a few weeks the slowest river in America becomes a light-tackle fishery that anglers plan their year around. The shad run is Florida’s winter salmon season in everything but name.

American shad are built for the fight: deep-bodied, silvery, two to five pounds, and famous for leaping like tarpon when hooked on the little spinning rods and fly lines the fishery runs on. They do not feed on the run so much as snap at small bright offerings out of instinct, which is why the whole game is played with tiny darts and spoons on line you could thread a needle with. A five-pound shad on a 5-weight fly rod is, second for second, as much fish as a sunshine bass three times its size.

The rule is statewide and gear-specific: a 10-fish aggregate shared with three relatives, taken with hook and line only. And despite the run’s fame, FWC writes no special St. Johns rule for shad — this guide covers the run, the river, and exactly the rule that exists.

Where to Catch Them

One river above all: the St. Johns, the great north-flowing river of Florida’s Atlantic slope, which American shad enter at Mayport and run the length of — past Jacksonville, through Lake George, to the headwaters lakes south of Orlando. Shad also run other Atlantic-slope rivers — the St. Marys and Nassau on the Georgia line see runs — but the St. Johns is the fishery, one of the southernmost strong shad runs in America.

The St. Johns, reach by reach

• Puzzle Lake and the Geneva–Sanford reach: the storied water — the winding, current-swept upper river near Geneva and the Econlockhatchee River confluence, where the run stacks up and the wade-and-cast fly fishery concentrates each January and February.
• Mullet Lake and Lake Harney: the river lakes just below the upper reach, where trolling the channels and casting the points finds fish moving through.
• Lake Monroe and the Sanford waterfront: the accessible heart of the run — bridges, seawalls, and the river channel within sight of downtown Sanford.
• Lake George and the middle river: shad push this far in strength in good years, mixing with the river’s crappie and sunshine bass fisheries around the springs and creek mouths.
• The Econlockhatchee River: the St. Johns’ famous tributary — shad run up the Econ as far as its riffles allow, and its confluence is a landmark of the season.

Current is the address

Shad run the current seams: channel edges, the tails of bends, the moving water below points and bridge pilings, and the mouths of tributaries where flow concentrates. In the wide, slow reaches they travel the channel; in the narrows they spread across the flow. Find moving water with depth nearby and you are in the run — the fish move upriver on the tide and the flow, resting in the deeper holes between pushes.

Access without a boat

Better than most run fisheries. The Sanford waterfront, bridge causeways, public piers, and wadeable banks on the upper river near Geneva all produce shad, and the upper-river reaches are famous wading water. A small boat or kayak turns the whole middle river into a trolling and casting circuit.

When to Catch Them

Winter, full stop. The first fish nose into the lower river around the New Year; the run builds through January, peaks across the upper river in January and February, and the hickories and late Americans trail into March before the fish drop back to the sea. Cold snaps push them deeper and slower; warming spells between fronts bring the best days of casting. Time it for late January around the Econlockhatchee confluence and you have timed the run the way the regulars do.

How to Catch Them

Tackle. Light spinning gear with 4 to 6 lb line, or a 4- to 6-weight fly rod with a sinking-tip line — this fishery is a deliberate celebration of light tackle. Small lures, small hooks, long leaders; everything about shad fishing is scaled to a herring with a salmon’s heart.

Baits and lures. Shad darts — tiny lead-head jigs with hair or tinsel, in chartreuse, pink, white, and orange — are the traditional lure, fished singly or in tandem. Small spoons (⅛ oz kastmaster-style) and tiny curly-tail grubs fill out the spinning kit. Fly anglers fish small bright shad flies, weighted to ride in the current seam. Shad on the run are not feeding, so the offering must pass close and bright; color changes catch more fish than technique changes.

Technique. Cast across and slightly up current, let the dart swing down through the seam on a tight line, and expect the strike on the swing — a hard, electric tap, then a run and a jump. From a boat, slow-trolling darts along channel edges locates fish; then anchor above a pod and cast. Handle them like the herring they are: soft mouths tear, so play them on a light drag and net them green rather than lifting them by the line.

Florida Regulations

Shad carry one of the few species-group rules in Florida fresh water — an aggregate with a gear lock on it — and it is worth quoting exactly, because the gear clause is the part that surprises people.

Waters	Daily bag	Size rule (total length)
Statewide, including the St. Johns River	10 total — Alabama shad, American shad, hickory shad, and blueback herring combined	No minimum size

The aggregate, explained: FWC’s limits page reads, “10 Alabama shad, American shad, hickory shad, and blueback herring (individually or in total), which may only be taken with hook and line gear.” Ten fish across the four species — ten Americans, or six Americans and four hickories, or any mix totaling ten — is the day’s cap, and every one of them must be caught on hook and line. No size limit applies, and FWC specifies no closed season for shad.

Hook and line ONLY — the rule with teeth. Shad sit oddly in FWC’s framework: the regulations booklet files American shad among the “additional native nongame fish,” and the nongame gear list is broad — but the limits page’s shad line expressly restricts shad to hook and line, and the specific rule governs. No dip nets, no cast nets, no bow or gig: whatever the nongame gear list would allow for other fish, shad may only be taken on hook and line.

And the St. Johns? Nothing special — that is a finding, not an oversight. FWC’s statewide rules, special-limits list, and regulations booklet were checked for a St. Johns shad season, closure, or gear carve-out, and none exists. The run is famous; the rule is statewide. A Florida freshwater fishing license is required to take shad.

Regulations verified against FWC, October 2026 — always confirm current rules at myfwc.com before you fish.

Quick Facts

• Scientific name: Alosa sapidissima
• Also known as: American shad, white shad, St. Johns shad (locally, for the run fish)
• Typical Florida size: 2 to 5 pounds — the largest member of the herring family in Florida waters
• Table quality: prized roe and rich flesh where shad are a tradition; in Florida mostly a sport fish, released or smoked
• Fight quality: spectacular on light tackle — long runs and repeated tarpon-like leaps

Related Species

Other Florida freshwater fish anglers target in the same lakes and rivers include Hickory Shad, American Eel, Chain Pickerel and Redfin Pickerel.

See the exact hooks, baits and rigs for American Shad in the Tackle & Bait Picker.