I caught a new species on the fly rod...Gizzard Shad. The day had started out as a trip for panfish. I went out to a local lake at first light to play with some bluegills. I heard a bit of splashing down in the creek below the lake's dam. I went down to investigate and found water filled with good sized Gizzard Shad. I forgot all about the blue gills and spent a few hours with these guys. Caught a mess of them up to about 18"-20" long. They put a serious bend in my 5wt Hardy glass rod.
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Wow, I've never seen one that big. The only gizzard shad I've seen we used for bait for stripers in Lake Hartwell (SC).
ReplyDeleteNice catch.
Some of these fish were better than 20"! I never new they were around. I did a bit of asking around and turns out they come up river to spawn every spring. They are around for a few weeks than gone... Most of the folks I talked to said "don't waste your time with them because you can't catch them on bait or lures" I guess they never tried flies!
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