Shad at Deer Creek

[Shawn L]

The shad are starting their run. I heard that the dam was letting out a lot of water and decided to go further down to the mouth of Deer Creek. I caught my first fish of the year in the calm waters here.
Fish 210.jpg

[Pc4sun]

The shad are starting their run. I heard that the dam was letting out a lot of water and decided to go further down to the mouth of Deer Creek. I caught my first fish of the year in the calm waters here.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]11381[/ATTACH]

Are shad good to eat?

[whiskerfish]

Are shad good to eat?

Great question! I know the catfish sure love them. :-) I've never had one myself, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else eats/has eaten them.

[Cowpokey]

Are shad good to eat?

April Fools was almost two weeks ago...

I doubt very many people know if they are good to eat, they are not legal to harvest.

[HJS]

Hickory shad and American shad (aka: White shad) are totally catch & return year-round in MD, no harvest. They are a delicate fish and stress easily... so keep them clean and return them quickly. On the other hand, gizzard shad (mud shad) are open to harvest year-round. Unfortunately, gizzard shad are slimy, smelly and totally unpalatable.

[whiskerfish]

April Fools was almost two weeks ago...

I doubt very many people know if they are good to eat, they are not legal to harvest.

I knew they aren't legal to keep and use as bait in MD. Most of my "shad experience" is with gizzards as I'm originally not from the Eastern seaboard. This conversation has prompted me to learn a bit more about American and Hickory shad though.

[HJS]

Here's a good link to a Maryland DNR site that has fish ID pictures and a short write-up about each species. Click on American shad, American gizzard shad, and hickory shad for more info.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...acts/index.asp

[Shawn L]

Went back out to the mouth of Deer Creek today and took my daughter with me. Not sure what kind of conditions we would find with all the recent rains and while it was a bit muddy the conditions were pretty good. I fixed her up with a pair of waders and put her on a good spot. In no time at all she had a fish. After a couple of hours she caught about a dozen shad. Fish 305.jpg
While the waters of the Susquehanna were moving pretty fast the waters inside Deer Creek were pretty clam and there were a number of pleasure yaks out. Not sure how much longer the run will last but on ultra light tackle its a blast while it lasts. All in all it was a great day with my daughter.

[Shady]

Nice job, I may have to try to make it up there again this week.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

[Memory Maker]

...nice job ...... Great to see you taking your daughter fishing ...... A special time building memories ..... Congrats.


I Fly fished Deer Creek last Sunday ....... Water was down but I still caught 10 to 15 on red/yellow fly and a chartruse fly ....... The other 3 guys caught about the same