You ever catch a shad?

I was out fishing on the St. Croix today and caught what appeared to be a large shad. At first I thought it was a white Bass, but after further examination it looked just like the small shad I see in the river only bigger. It was about 12″ long. Is it possible it was a large shad? I caught it on a simple jig and minnow.

Thanks – Dave

You may have caught a shad but it was more than likely a mooneye. I’ve never heard of anyone actually having a shad bite their lure. We sure snag alot of them some days though.

I think I actually hooked one while crappie fishing on lower pool 4 about a month ago. Very slimy. Very stinky. Very soft. 10 times worse than a snot-rocket.

We get a few mooneyes down here on jigs too gator, most are around 12″ but some are bigger than that and we get a few skipjacks on jigs too.

Yep, I caught one a few weeks ago during the fall striper run in the Rock River just below the Steel Dam near Milan, IL. Very slimy and stinky. It was every bit of 14 inches and really did not fight all bad. I once had to handle a bunch of them while helping the DNR shock a club lake two years ago. Think I would’ve learned my lesson then. Nope. Hopefully I will never handle another in my lifetime.

I have never heard of a mooneye before, but that is definately what it was. Thanks guys for teaching me something new.

Dave

though its very rare, large shad will and have been caught by “hook and line”. I have caught only one , snagged many, that was actually hooked in the lips. The warm water discharge from the King plant used to draws tons of them in the winter.