It looks fast and fun. Excuse my lack of knowledge, but do people eat those? I think of shad as baitfish, but I take it you are fishing salt or brackish water and that is a different species.
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We have an American shad run on the Delaware River usually in April and early May. There's even a Shad Festival in Lambertville, NJ. They run up the river to spawn and you can fish for them as north as the East and West branch at Hancock, NY. All the fishing with rod and reel or fly rod is done in fresh water. They can be baked, broiled, smoked though I've never heard of them being fried. The real delicacy is the shad roe. The roe sacks are removed rinse, floured and fried in butter. Very, very good. They are a blast on a fly rod. The one RHenn is holding is about the average size for a male fish, 2 to 3 lbs. The females are a larger and can run 5 to 7 lbs. In the fall, when the juveniles are heading downriver back to the ocean, smallmouth, walleye and muskie fishing really turns on.
We have a run in the St John river that is just about to end, I don't eat the roe, but quite a few folks do down here. We have a Shad Derby down here, but I think it is all about catch , photograph and release. I was told that we don't get the real large ones this far south, and we get Hickory shad mixed in with the American shad, or so I have been told, but do not know how to tell the difference. The one in the pic is one of the larger ones we caught, and I think that a 19" fish is leading the fly rod division.
Sounds like fun. Sandies/white bass and crappie will start running soon here in Texas. I'd love to catch some shad one day.
I bet they pull a bit! Very interesting.... I think of shad as a baitfish to emulate, not something catch. Those big things could be fun though.
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Uncle Jesse, we have American Shad that are popular in the rivers around Sacramento, including the American River. Most people think they have too many bones to eat, but I've heard some people smoke them. I tried that once but the bones got stuck in my pipe. LOL.