Anyone familiar with the seasonal habits of golden shiners? I’m from the Northeast and they are a pretty big forage species in a lot of our lakes and ponds. I was out earlier this week and saw activity I had never seen before. They were schooled up over a deeper hole (15ft) and were boiling at the surface almost like they were being chased but there did not seem to be any other fish on the mix. Do they do this for any reason or do you think they were actually fleeing? There were multiple groups doing this sporadically. Generally when I see golden they are schooled around weed patches but those have not grown in yet. 

Maybe spawing? Not super familiar with golden shiners, but other species ball up like that to spawn. 

Possibly there was a Mayfly hatch going on (there is around here right now) and they were schooling up and feeding on them on the surface of the water

Not sure but it seems baits in the color gold shiner are popular down here in south Florida, especially for peacock bass. 
 

Sorry that didn’t answer your question in the slightest!

On 4/18/2025 at 12:56 PM, Kirtley Howe said:

Possibly there was a Mayfly hatch going on (there is around here right now) and they were schooling up and feeding on them on the surface of the water

Hmmm this seems likely they are just starting to come out, although I didn’t see a ton of them on the water yet 

 

Not spawing, they do that in June and later.  Probably feeding on mayfly nymphs that rise to the surface.

They school all the time, and just like any fish they feed so a hatch as mentioned is likely. They get big up here I have caught a 13 inch shiner on a minnow bait in NH.

If the shiners were in a tight school that is protection behavior something was feeding on them. 
Golden shiners spawn by laying eggs on vegetation or in other fish beds.

Tom