Cuaght this in my cast net (not the striper of course, the one below it). It is 16 inches in length, and kind of thin, streamlined. Mouth opens wide like a striper or other bass, no sharp teeth like a blue. Curious as to what it is.

Thanks.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/navedjafri/album?.dir=/4bb6

I'd like to know as well. From the picture it looks just like two fish I caught tonight on the York River. I used 'em for striper bait, but no takers. They almost look like some type of shad/shiner mix.

with the tail it kind of looks like a menhaden but the head doesnt

A shad! Or a Threadfin Hearring.The photo was taken a while after the fish was dead.

Specifically hickory shad i wanna say

I'm thinking hickory shad because there is that dark spot behind the head, but it's tough to tell for sure without being able to see the shape of the dorsal fin.

My guess looking at the pictures and my field guide is that you have either an Alewife, blueback herring or an American Shad, all members of the herring familiy. The greenish dot behind the gill plate is a characteristic all three, the American Shad usually has one or two more smaller spots behind the initial one behind the gill plate (operculum), the Alewife and blueback only have one single spot. The three species are difficult to distinguish without counting the gill rakers, 39-41 on the lower limb of the first gill arch for the Alewife, 44-50 on the blueback herring and 59-73 on the American Shad. The American shad is the largest, between 20-24", Alewife and Blueback between 12-15". If it is an American Shad, they are illegal to possess.

71Whaler,

I'd say it was a Blueback Herring. It's not an Alewife, because the fish you have, it's lower jaw extends past the upper, alewifes don't. And I don't think its an American Shad because the tail section(caudal peduncle) of the shad comes to a point where as yours is squared off. I've got a book by Vic Dunaway, and it goes on to describe the Blueback to have a single spot behind the gill plate and appear to have stripes that are really raised scales, and that fish looks pretty scaly.
So you are legal!!

--Don

The good news: it's an American Shad. The bad news: OK, up against the wall, buddy. You're under arrest for possession..of an illegal fish.

threadfin herring cobes love em almost as much as bunker

It's a hickory shad. The lower jaw protruding out is the way to tell.

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/f...ml#americanshad

Decent site - but still can't tell whThing is (and I catch 100 or more hickory shad every year on the Rappahannock River. That thing does look like it has been dead a while. I think the way to tell difference between hickory and American is 1. the size and 2. the number of gillrakers

I have never caught or seen an American so im gonna guess hickory.

Here it is>>>
Blueback Herring

It looks to me like bait!!!
Yeah, i'm thinking herring. It does look like a hickory shad also though. I can't imagine any shad are in here now anyhow.

OK Guys--with help from another site, it is definitely a Hickory Shad. It definitely had not been dead for a while. I caught it around 9 pm, put it on ice, and took this pic around 11:30. Hard to get fresher than that. It looks the way it does for two reasons--one I decreased the pixels on my camera so I could try to post it directly, and so the quality of the picture is low, and secondly. it bounced around in the boat a little before it went in the fish box--then that fat striper bounced around on it for a couple of hours. Actually is a very pretty fish--streamlined and attractively colored. I'll find out how it tastes tonight--I hear they are very bony.

Definitely not an American Shad--totally different fish (thankfully).

Thanks for the input.

Naved

One thing I noticed .The Blueback Hearring`s tail fin is Rounded The fish in the picture has pointed tips on the tail fin.

Your probably right on the Hickory Shad ID, however all of these possibilities (Alewife, hickory shad, blueback, etc) are very closely related, all part of the herring familiy, and so can be difficult to ID. As for freshness, most fish start to lose color and "freshness look" as soon as they die and that is why the best time to take a picture is right after they are caught. I think that is what was meant by the statement about the fish being dead awhile.

Let us know how it tastes. Don't much like herring myself but I hear you can use them to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest

I caught one of those in my net under lesner. They are very muscular! The meat on them is not worth the trouble of all the bones some of them serve no real purpose and seem to come from nowhere I ate mine three months ago and am still coughing up bones

Looks like a blueback herring, but I've never seen one that big.