Spring Striper and Shad Fishing in Philadelphia Fish within the city limits of Philadelphia to catch spring stripers and shad at the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. Shad and Stripers in the City of Brotherly Love Philadelphia’s fishing roots began before William Penn laid out his grid of streets between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers. The Lenape, an Algonquin-speaking people, built weirs along the rivers seeking some of the millions of anadromous fish that entered the Delaware watershed each spring to spawn. Blooms on the aptly-named shadbush heralded the start of their fishing season. ...