The BIGGEST gizzard shad I ever caught!

[CALVINIST]

I was on the St. Croix on saturday with Carp-Fisher (Ben). I was using a Reef Runner Lil Ripper. Suddenly I got a pretty good sized fish on. It fought like a smallie. When we got it into the boat, lo and behold, it's this gigantic Gizzard Shad. I didn't measure it, but it was probably at least 15 inches in length and a hefty 2lbs! This thing must have been on steriods. Anyone else ever catch a huge Gizzard Shad before?

[markkstanley]

Down south that's standard cutbait for cats and stripers. So I've seen them that size. This far north though that is one huge shad.

[buzzsaw]

Casey, I'm betting you were fishing for Giant Shad.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Whoa, I bet you just caught a state record

[Cyberfish]

Are you sure it wasn't a mooneye? the croix has lots of them and they look like a big shad with big eyes and teeth...

[CALVINIST]

positive. If you look on the dorsal fin it had a sort of long thread-like extension that trailed the fish as it swims no doubt. This is the exact same thing I saw on a pictures of gizzard shads doing a google search. Looked the same to me.

[hydro]

Look up "Carpsucker" as well. They have long dorsal fins that may look like what you describe.