holy threadfin shad batman

I figured id test my luck today at the mallalieu dam and was greeted with a first time site. A thick mat – think weedbed like – of threadfin shad were all the way up against the dam were the water was spilling over. I say easily in the thousands, it was a solid shad cloud. Surprisingly though, for the 3 hours I was there absolutely nothing was feeding on the school. It wasnt until after sundown that the shad started breaking the surface and holes would break in the school signifying feeding. 10 minutes later the school vanished with the darkness. I just dont get how nothing was feeding on em with that many in one small area until dusk.

Threadfin shad on the St Croix river?
I didn’t know threadfin existed this far north and was always under the impression that most shad this far north were gizzard shad.

Would it have been possible to scoop them up with a net? I would think the Sturgeon guys would like to get their hands on some fresh shad?

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Threadfin shad on the St Croix river?

I didn’t know threadfin existed this far north and was always under the impression that most shad this far north were gizzard shad.

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Pretty easy to get Gizzard and Threadfin Shad mixed up. I was curious of the difference and did some googling to see what I could find. I found this on a bass fishing website:

Gizzard or Threadfin?

Not only do a lot of anglers misjudge the threadfin’s importance, many cannot positively identify a threadfin shad on sight. That’s understandable, since it has a lookalike cousin, the gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), that for a short time looks similar and has many of the same characteristics.

Gizzard shad also occupy an important niche on the food chain, but they have one characteristic that forever sets them apart from threadfins: they grow much larger, up to 16 or 18 inches, and thus may outgrow the bass that feed on them. In fact, one reason striped bass were originally stocked in some reservoirs was to control these larger gizzard shad.

Basically, both threadfin and gizzard shad are silvery-white in color and have distinctly forked tails. The threadfin’s tail, however, has just a shade of yellow, while the gizzard shad’s tail does not. Closer examination will also show that the lower jaw of the threadfin shad projects beyond the tip of the snout, but a gizzard shad has a more blunt nose and the jaw does not protrude beyond the nose. Both species often have a distinct black dot on the shoulder, behind the gills.

I took this picture off a website I found. Looks like shad play a major role as a forage fish in all of our major river systems. Gizzard shad in the northern range and Threadfin shad in the southern range.

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Would it have been possible to scoop them up with a net? I would think the Sturgeon guys would like to get their hands on some fresh shad?

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You may not want to try to dip net shad from the St Croix River.

Page 15, 2009 Minnesota Fishing Regulations: It is unlawful to harvest bait (minnows, frogs, crayfish or other wild animals) from infested waters (pages 16 & 17).

Page 17, 2009 Minnesota Fishing Regulations:
Minnesota Infested Waters
Zebra Mussels – St Croix river (downstream of the St Croix Boomsite Recreation Area)
Eurasian Watermilfoil – Washington County, St Croix River

Unfortunately Minnesota licensed anglers cannot legally harvest bait from the St Croix because it is Infested Waters

Thanks Steve. I remember reading your post the other day. Dang infested waters. I’ll bet fresh shad would work good though

Steve,
I’ve still not used the hoop net, but looks fun anytime you want to get together and do that let me know. Or if you need it back.

Turk

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I’ll bet fresh shad would work good though

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Some of the best cat bait out there – the big ones make great cut bait

threadfin or gizzard all i know is I am about 0 for august on walleye. was out last night and there is a lot of forage out there..

I’ve canoed a few out times where I have come across thousands of these guys that cruised by me, looked like the discovery channel. Can we seine? dipnet? these guys to use as bait on the St. Croix? Or whate is a better method of snatching a few to use as bait?

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I’ve canoed a few out times where I have come across thousands of these guys that cruised by me, looked like the discovery channel. Can we seine? dipnet? these guys to use as bait on the St. Croix? Or whate is a better method of snatching a few to use as bait?

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Read previous posts.

Typo, it seems we can only harvest for use with lakes soley with milfoil.

Snag ’em!

I did snag the hell out of a few, even got two at one time. I assumed thread fin because they were all small, none were over 3 inches in the entire school. I can see easy why theyre good cat bait, the damn things stink alive, id hate to smell em dead. yes, even though unlawful, any net with a small enough mesh would of been able to scoop them out. I might go back just to snag a bucketful to freeze for the weekend. sturgeon on!

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threadfin or gizzard all i know is I am about 0 for august on walleye. was out last night and there is a lot of forage out there..

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Every year about this time the shad show up. I know that if you drift or troll cut bait in or around those large pods of baitfish you will catch channel cats. They seem to just follow those bait pods around and finding those large bait pods is the key to finding fish. I usually start out looking for the gulls and where ever they are diving on the water you will find the shad. The white bass are usually very active around those bait pods too – and if you troll shad imitating baits you can catch some nice silvers.