A couple of friends of mine were fishing for cats today on the Matabasset river, maybe about a mile from where it dumps into the Connecticut. There was a school of fish in there, which would surface periodically. They started throwing white twister tails at them and managed to hook a couple but not land them. One was small, maybe 6" , the other was around 24" or so, they both fought hard and managed to shake loose of the hook close to shore. The big one left behind a scale, just smaller than a quarter. I think they may be shad, any ideas?
6" & 24" ???? That's a wide range...I'm thinking crappie but 24" would cancel that, maybe white perch, but 24" again don't add up. If there was only a scale on the hook, that means it was snagged to begin with and may have fought like a bigger fish...unless you got a good look at it. In that case I dunno??? Shad don't surface this time of year normally.
I think shad. Gizzard shad. A friend of mine gave a similar report, same spot, same week. He got a better look though and described a single spot behind the gill. Although he said the fish he saw were all bunker-sized. He also mentioned the pike were harassing them pretty hard.
Carp where jumping and thrashing all over the place on the Matabassett today. Lots of big ones, some maybe 20+lbs. Too bad I wasn't fishing for them. Don't have the patience. There are lots of shad in there too, but the big thrashers were likely the carp and probably foul hooked. They'd be pretty easy to catch with a bunker snag.