Gizzard Shad life cycle ??

[AndyS]

They seem to live in our big rivers but we seem to hear very little about the life cycle of this fish.
In 1999 over 8,000 Gizzard Shad passed through the fish ladder on the Raritan river and over 3,000 passed through in 2000 and 2002.
One time floating down the North branch just above the confluence I witnessed great shoals of bait fish, they looked like peanut bunker. I had to rub my eyes because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Massive schools of bait, guessing now they were Gizzard Shad. That was the only place I saw this, never on the main stem of the Raritan or any other river. You would think with those kind of numbers you would see fish busting on bait and massive schools of Gizzard Shad fry but I never see any.

[ScowardNJ]

They show up in huge numbers every spring in the tidal headwaters of the Hackensack. They get pretty big and stink to high hell. Sometimes schoolie bass are chasing them. The juveniles are so thick in the upper river that Suez removes them from the Oradell Resivior treatment plant’s intakes with front end loaders. You can see huge schools of them cruising around the res. They also run up the river to the trout stocked areas in River Vale and Old Tappan.

[thmyorke1]

I've seen big groups of baitfish in the shallows of both rivers, branches and main stem. Once a stack of young fallfish on the south branch. But I don't think I've ever seen any shad schools other than American shad

[FASTEDDIE29]

If your fishing rivers constantly and "NOT" wearing polarized sunglasses you have some issues!!! You have no clue what your missing!!!
#buysomecostasforxmas

[AndyS]

Funny how they seem to enjoy brackish water also.

[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by FASTEDDIE29

If your fishing rivers constantly and "NOT" wearing polarized sunglasses you have some issues!!! You have no clue what your missing!!!
#buysomecostasforxmas

True. It's like x-ray vision at times.

[saxmatt]

I've seen huge schools of them in the Millstone River.

[Mark B.]

The schools that I've seen are juvenile American Shad.

I’ve rarely encountered schools of juvenile Gizzard Shad.

I believe the reason is that they grow very fast, as they can consume both animal & plant material, due to their bird-like gizzard.

As you know they get quite large. Consequently, only large predator fish can handle them. The reason NJDF&W stocks Mercer Lake, Deal Lake,……with Esocids.

[Heronimo42]

They're thick in Carnegie and I've caught LMB's that have GS tail's sticking out of their throats. Gizzard's are actually fun to snag on light tackle.

[Ken Lyons]

Do American Shad get above the dam at DIP?