"Jeff" wrote in
:


I use small shad often Catfishing and had never caught one other than
Cast Netting until last week. I was fishing in the Tennessee River for
crappie using minnows and jig when I noticed as I was bringing my line
in, bright shiny larger fish that werent crappie were chasing it to
the top, flipping up and diving. I slowed down bringing my line in and
started catching Shad, average about 10 inches long. I asked someone
if they ate Shad and they said Shad was a junk fish, good for nothing
but bait. But I recalled that General Pickett and F.H. Lee were at a
Shad Bake when their units were attacked at Five Forks. I googled it
and found out that Shad Bakes are and have been a big deal in the
southeast US for hundreds of years. So, has anyone HERE ever eaten a
Shad? What is your opinion of it?


In the Tenn. River I would bet you were catching Skip Jack Herring, did
it have a jaw like a tarpon ?

Many people call the skip jack, shad, but they are not, and they are
also not fit to eat, they make good cut bait for cats though.

I don't think we have the northern version of shad that people catch on
rods and shad darts down south, the shad we have (the ones you catch in
your cast net) eat only minute plants, and will not hit a lure or any
bait, I under stand the northern version gets quite large and is good to eat

--
Rodney Long,
Inventor of the Long Shot "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread
Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures,
Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, Decoy Activator
and the EZKnot http://www.ezknot.com