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