Eating Shad

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?

From: "Jeff"

| 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?
|

Are you kidding ? Shad a junk fish -- No way !

Shad are like herring and are good eats !
http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/news/4-22-99/shad.html

There are yearly shad festivals on the Delaware River on both the NJ and Pensylvania sides.
Shad have always had commercial value and their history of consumption is older than that of
the USA.
http://www.njskylands.com/odfishsha.htm

Since Shad are anadromous and migrate to fresh water from salt water in their seasonal "shad
runs" to breed. I personally catch American Shad in the NJ surf in the early spring when
the water is still cold. I catch them on 2 ~ 2.25 oz. Gator and Crocodile spoons.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "Jeff"

| 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?
|

Are you kidding ? Shad a junk fish -- No way !

Shad are like herring and are good eats !
http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/news/4-22-99/shad.html

There are yearly shad festivals on the Delaware River on both the NJ and Pensylvania sides.
Shad have always had commercial value and their history of consumption is older than that of
the USA.
http://www.njskylands.com/odfishsha.htm

Since Shad are anadromous and migrate to fresh water from salt water in their seasonal "shad
runs" to breed. I personally catch American Shad in the NJ surf in the early spring when
the water is still cold. I catch them on 2 ~ 2.25 oz. Gator and Crocodile spoons.

The shad Jeff is catching are probably gizzard or hickory shad - not
sure they are good to eat like sal****er run shad in the rivers.

--
ÐÏࡱá

"David H. Lipman" wrote in message
news:gUXte.3333$1q2.315@trnddc01...
From: "Jeff"

| 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?
|

Are you kidding ? Shad a junk fish -- No way !

Shad are like herring and are good eats !
http://www.pacpubserver.com/new/news/4-22-99/shad.html

There are yearly shad festivals on the Delaware River on both the NJ and
Pensylvania sides.
Shad have always had commercial value and their history of consumption is
older than that of
the USA.
http://www.njskylands.com/odfishsha.htm

Since Shad are anadromous and migrate to fresh water from salt water in
their seasonal "shad
runs" to breed. I personally catch American Shad in the NJ surf in the
early spring when
the water is still cold. I catch them on 2 ~ 2.25 oz. Gator and Crocodile
spoons.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm


Interesting reading. Have been fishing for nearly 40 years and never knew
Shad were so popular. I grew up in Maryland and do not ever remember anyone
intentionally catching or eating Shad. I did note that when catching them
they put up a good fight, just as the article says. I also wonder if there
might be a different type of Shad in the Tennessee River as it is noted in
the Article that the fish are Atlantic fish who come into the rivers. And I
would guess the Shad I was catching were from 1/2-3/4 pound, not the 5
pounders they talk about in the article.

From: "Jeff"


| Interesting reading. Have been fishing for nearly 40 years and never knew
| Shad were so popular. I grew up in Maryland and do not ever remember anyone
| intentionally catching or eating Shad. I did note that when catching them
| they put up a good fight, just as the article says. I also wonder if there
| might be a different type of Shad in the Tennessee River as it is noted in
| the Article that the fish are Atlantic fish who come into the rivers. And I
| would guess the Shad I was catching were from 1/2-3/4 pound, not the 5
| pounders they talk about in the article.
|

That is most likely Hickory Shad. They are said to be similar to Skipjack Herring and are
the American Shad's smaller cousin but can attain 2~5 lbs but are usually caught in the
1~3lb range. The Hickory Shad has faint lengthwise stripes and has less than 21 gillrakers
whiles the American Shad has greater than 21 gillrakers. While they have the same breeding
habits (anadromous fish), the Hickory Shad likes to move into smaller tributary rivers and
streams. In main rivers both Shad can often be found and both can be found all along the
Eastern seaboard and their tributary rivers.

American Shad
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/american_shad.cfm
http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/herramsh.html

Hickory Shad
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries.../hickshad.html
http://nc-es.fws.gov/coastal/hickory.html
http://www.gma.org/fogm/Pomolobus_mediocris.htm


--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

David H. Lipman wrote:

From: "Jeff"


| Interesting reading. Have been fishing for nearly 40 years and never knew
| Shad were so popular. I grew up in Maryland and do not ever remember anyone
| intentionally catching or eating Shad. I did note that when catching them
| they put up a good fight, just as the article says. I also wonder if there
| might be a different type of Shad in the Tennessee River as it is noted in
| the Article that the fish are Atlantic fish who come into the rivers. And I
| would guess the Shad I was catching were from 1/2-3/4 pound, not the 5
| pounders they talk about in the article.
|

That is most likely Hickory Shad. They are said to be similar to Skipjack Herring and are
the American Shad's smaller cousin but can attain 2~5 lbs but are usually caught in the
1~3lb range. The Hickory Shad has faint lengthwise stripes and has less than 21 gillrakers
whiles the American Shad has greater than 21 gillrakers. While they have the same breeding
habits (anadromous fish), the Hickory Shad likes to move into smaller tributary rivers and
streams. In main rivers both Shad can often be found and both can be found all along the
Eastern seaboard and their tributary rivers.

American Shad
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/american_shad.cfm
http://marinefisheries.org/FishID/herramsh.html

Hickory Shad
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries.../hickshad.html
http://nc-es.fws.gov/coastal/hickory.html
http://www.gma.org/fogm/Pomolobus_mediocris.htm


Again, the fish he is catching in the Tennessee River are problably
gizzard shad - very different fish, and I have never heard of anyone
eating them. The Tennessee runs into the Ohio and then the Mississippi,
it is not a east coast river. The Tennessee does have skipjack
herring, too. They have teeth, unlike the gizzard shad

--
ÐÏࡱá

Jeff wrote:

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?


Go ahead eat one. It will be and "experience."
The gizzard shad of the Tennesse River are not capable of being made
palatable.
They are no way like the shad that they catch in the Seaboard rivers
that return from the sea.

From: "Ronnie Garrison"


| Again, the fish he is catching in the Tennessee River are problably
| gizzard shad - very different fish, and I have never heard of anyone
| eating them. The Tennessee runs into the Ohio and then the Mississippi,
| it is not a east coast river. The Tennessee does have skipjack
| herring, too. They have teeth, unlike the gizzard shad
|
| --
| ÐÏࡱá

Gizzard Shad are something completely different and are smaller than Hickory Shad. They
rarely grow larger than 12" and are food for predatory fish. It is often found in salt and
brackish waters, sluggish streams, bays or lakes . It doesn't like fast or swift rivers and
is not an anadromous fish.

However, it is a mud raker and extracts its food from organic matter and plants. Thats what
its speciallized "gizzard" is for thus its name. I didn't think this was what Jeff caught
becuase he specifically stated "...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 doubt that the Gizzard Shad would exhibit predatory feeding habits as
Jeff described.

Gizzard Shad
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/...d/gizzshad.htm
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...giz_shad.shtml

The American Shad are widespread and don't have to be just east coast rivers. In fact
American Shad were succesfully introduced into the the Pacific Ocean by Seth Green circa
1871. I believe they were originally from the Hudson River, NY. If Jeff didn't catch an
Amerixan Shad then it was most likely a Hickory Shad.

American Shad in the Tennessee River at Chattanooga
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/speci...ecimenID=43113

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

American Shad in the Tennessee River at Chattanooga
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/speci...ecimenID=43113


I was fishing 20 miles west of Chattanooga in Dayton.

From: "Jeff"

|
American Shad in the Tennessee River at Chattanooga
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/speci...ecimenID=43113

| I was fishing 20 miles west of Chattanooga in Dayton.
|

I don't know what the conclusion of this discussion may be but it has been the most phun
discussion in this News Group !

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm