Now THIS is a Shad!

[DTro]

WWG's first entry for King of the Shad:

[PDOGG]

Holy carp, never seen a shad anywhere near that big!!

[aanderud]

Did you catch that on a 7 inch bullhead?

[DARK30]

Cut bait for a week! Are they keeping records on those?

[wildcatcreek]

I bet that thing fought good. Especially if it were in the current. Those things can be pretty finicky on the end of a line.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

what was it caught on

[River Runner Z]

no wonder we could get many shad last year that one ate all the food

[Larry FlatCaster]

WWG's first entry for King of the Shad:

Dtro, that fake measuring tape gets me every time. Good One Mate!

Nice touch putting the the tiny zip lock in the backgrond.

[carpmanjake]

HOLY SH**! THAT IS HUGE!

[Shack]

Nice shad WWG

I mount that one and sell it to Bella's

[Flaco651]

Shad like that are always welcome!

Here's WWG's shads twin

[croixflats]

How do you tell the differance between a shad and a mooneye?

The shad are greasy and stink right? Are the fins darker also?

[wildcatcreek]

Dorsal and anal fins are a dead give away. Plus, I've caught so many mooneye and goldeye, shad don't even look similar to me.

[ricqik]

iirc, mooneye n goldeye have teeth on their tongue.

plus if u look at em(mooneye/goldeye) wrong they die.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Where were these taken at??

[ec30_06]

Flathead candy for sure!

[wastewaterguru]

Mmmmmmm Yummy.

I caught that shad on a crankbait that also caught an 18inch whitebass a few minutes prior to that shad.

I need some more.

[hanso612]

How do you guys interpret the the cut bait rule. Can a shad over 7 inches be used as cut bait. All other underutized fish?

In the desription of minnows many species including bullheads must be under 7 inches to be used as bait, but they don't clarify if it is live or cutbait.

Carp cant't be used ever,but Sheephead are used as cutbait over seven inches everywhere I fish, but rarely as live bait. Suckers can be used up to twelve inches,but no distinction is made about cut bait or live. What about redhorse?

If a cutbait distinction is made where is it? If anyone posted a likn to it you would be helping a lot of us out. Thanks, Hans

[DTro]

Hans, I forwarded the question to the DNR, I'm interested to see what they say.

[hanso612]

As you know, I'm a huge proponent of protecting our rights to use live bait. With invasives and virus putting our waters at risk and a noticeble change in the tide as far as catch and release and animal rights movements -the bottom feeders among us are a dying breed.

I worry about water quality and nobuddy pushes harder for buffers than I do,but that beeing said, I would love to be able to fillet a bait fish, use most of the parts for cut bait, and then dump the rest in the river. I don't beleive it puts water quality at risk.

Turtles have it cleaned up by morning and if they miss a few the gulls get it. On a lake the process is more questionable and wanton waste comes in to play if you are just using eyeballs-so it is not a cut and dry issue.

In the BWCA the forest service does't want campers to put fish out for the gulls and eagles-not because it attracts bears, but because it artifiscially raises the number of seagulls, who in turn, eat loon eggs. The lakes could actually benifit from the nutrients and the fish will die eventually and be absorbed by the lake only at a larger size. It's not a water issue it a culture issue.

That said, rivers have few loons and few campers to be offended by the sight of dead fish. So lately I have been pushing to keep minnow harvest and minnow use legal in our major river systems, even if they are contaminated(which they all are). I've been convinced(grudgeingly)that our inland lakes are too special to risk by moving water all over the state but I also see our livebait riverfishing for species that rarely live in inland lakes as a very special resource worth protecting with rules specific to each waterway.

I've talked to fisheries personel and some language was added for this new liscence regs, but it didn't go far enough to answer the specific question of harvest and using bait from infested waters only in those waters from which it was harvested. I was asked to wait until they had it figuresd out before I got an answer. It's been almost a year since I've posted on it and believe it is important enough to post again.

Thanks for forwarding the question to the DNR. Feel free to email me or call me at home I would love to strategies with you. Hans

[PierBridge]

I thought the 7" rule applied to transporting fish alive.