fished the CT river near the area the chicopee river enters. we personally did not catch any shad, but another guy and his buddy caught 35 shad in 4 hours. a few people were trolling and drifting baits for stripers. didn't see anybody reel in a striper. but i saw an undersize dead one on shore that somebody had hung on a tree. so they are in the area, or up river below the holyoke dam. caught a nice smallmouth and my brother caught a 16.5 inch walleye as the sun was setting.