Can anyone school me on catching shad in MA? I want to try to catch a pin fish shad this year. I'm close to the Charles and the Merrimack. Any help is appreciated.

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 7:17 am



Its not hard to catch them. Just throw anything. I have been slaying them in November and December on the Charles. I have caught them on just about everything from spoons, drop shot, jigs, crankbaits, spy baits, jerkbaits, etc. They are really a dumb fish. The good thing is there are a lot of other things in the river looking to eat them now!

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:37 am

Cool, so they're there all year round? I thought they migrated up the Charles at certain times. Are there any around still now? And do you catch them all over the Charles, or do you look near a particular type of structure?

Nice pics by the way! Those are some good sized shad!

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:20 am

Or is the Charles frozen now?

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:21 am

thats not a shad! i think your talking about an amercian shad!
the fish in the pictures are deffinatly not american shad!

amercian shad are the only shad you can get a pin for. the other shad we get are hickory shad! they are more saltwater fish.

but the fish in the pictures ive never seen before. they arent hickory shad or american shad

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 12:52 pm

Are you sure you can only get a pin for American Shad? It just says "shad" but doesn't specify.

I looked at some pictures and it doesn't look like an American shad. But it does look like a shad. Some other type perhaps?

Just looking at those makes me think "bass bait"! Live line one of those out during the spawn... oh yeah! Probably illegal though

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:11 pm

I'm no expert on shad, but that looks like a shad to me. Though it's shape resembles a white perch.

Posted Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:36 pm

Looks like a golden shiner to me. Used to catch them in Georgia all the time. Bass love to eat them. And they are stupid, like most baitfish.

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:26 am

I thought "shiner" at first, but the shape didn't look quite right to me. I've never gotten the big pondies to hit anything bigger than trout magnet.

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:43 am

the fin and shape of it look different. shad mouth but the body doesnt look shad like

shad are wide. entire body head to tail.

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:48 pm

Gizzard shad. The American shad are more elongated. I'll take some better pics next time. The point is there are a lot of them and they are easy to catch.

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:05 pm

ive never caught an american shad before! but i dont fish the major rivers im on a quite little stream! fight like hell tho!

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:59 pm

thelucky

Hi the fish on the picture is -Common Bream very slow growing fish where did you catch them?


Its not hard to catch them. Just throw anything. I have been slaying them in November and December on the Charles. I have caught them on just about everything from spoons, drop shot, jigs, crankbaits, spy baits, jerkbaits, etc. They are really a dumb fish. The good thing is there are a lot of other things in the river looking to eat them now!

Posted Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:08 am

catfishkid

Can anyone school me on catching shad in MA? I want to try to catch a pin fish shad this year. I'm close to the Charles and the Merrimack. Any help is appreciated.

Like other herrings, the American shad is primarily a plankton feeder, but will eat small shrimp and fish eggs. Occasionally they eat small fish, but these are only a minor item in their general diet.[1]

The sexually mature fish enter coastal rivers in spring or early summer, usually when the river water has warmed to 50 to 55 °F (10 to 13 °C). Cooler water appears to interrupt the spawn. Consequently the shad run correspondingly later in the year passing from south to north along the coast, commencing in Georgia in January; in March in the waters tributary to Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds; in April in the Potomac; and in May and June in northern streams generally from Delaware to Canada.[1]

In large rivers, such as the Connecticut, American shad run far upstream. So I only catch them in Spring and the only lure I used is - Shad Darts ( Best) you can get them at Dicks .

Posted Sat Feb 14, 2015 4:39 am

I AM BAFFLED. They supposedly added shad a few years back a couple times without success to the Charles.

Only consistent shad I know of is the CT River.

It doesn't look like a white perch, but they may appear a little different in the winter months.

They are all over the Charles and viciously take the lures you're using...

Posted Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:04 am

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