Shad newbie

I'm still fairly new to North Carolina and yesterday I tried my first effort at Shad fishing in the Neuse river.   I didn't have any luck as you might expect on my first time out.  I was wondering if the experienced folks on this board could share basic tactics for shad fishing during the spawning run. I prefer a fly rod, but will use a spinning rod or whatever will catch the fish.  I understand the basics of the shad biology and migration.  What I really need is to understand where the fish prefer to hold, what flies (especially size and color) are good go-tos, and any other basics that someone would care to share with a newbie.

were you in an area where folks were catching shad?

I saw Chuck, Jan and (I assume) Doc, tearing them up today on the long rods. I did not have anything hit my flies, but tore them up on the spinning rod.