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American shad are notoriously finicky. A good shad angler with the right darts will make an angler next to him with less experience and the wrong offering look quite pathetic. At some American shad spots you'll find willow leafs to be just as popular an offering as a dart. Occasional catches can be made on other items, but the effectiveness just isn't there. I grew up on the banks what I'm fairly sure is the only American Shad run in Narragansett Bay so I have plenty of time under my belt dealing with the American shad. Chartreuse green with a chartreuse body is my favorite dart. Always tipped with Flashabou. If you watch American shad in a fish ladder, they sometimes snap randomly at debris in the water. But something they almost always take a shot at is a shad scale drifting in the water. Flashabou in sort of colored like a shad scale. I've never caught an American in saltwater, but I've caught a whole bunch in freshwater.
Hickories are different breed and sometimes very aggressive. Fly anglers trying to catch schoolies sometimes get irritated with them. Basically if it's small a hick will try and eat it if it's in the right mood. A white fly is as good as almost anything. Obviously darts work too.
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