Is it a shad or shiner? I snagged 4 of these big boys & caught 4 bass also. All released....one of the guys that showed up to fish the same area as me wanted to keep the fish I caught & smoke it. I don't think it's edible, but he wanted it so I gave it to him.

I want to say that it is a shad, maybe gizzard but the tail does not look right

Looks like a big gizzard shad. I have caught similar fish on lures.

Definitely Gizzard Shad

Never had smoked gizzard shad.  

Never had smoked gizzard shad.  

Me either, very difficult to get them lit  ;D

Just imagine LBH at how aggressive the Northern strain of LM bass are and if they had a forage fish that size to feed on. How big and fat do you think they could get that kinda stuff blows my mind. The forage baitfish for Bass up here is like the size of a small minnow (2-3in long).

Due to the torn skin at the shoulder, no visible dorsal thread and the lure blocking the jaw configuration, I'm not able to positively identify this fish.

However, the lack of a shoulder patch and an upper lip that appears to overshoot the lower lip suggest a skipjack herring (grow to 20).

Most significant to me are those "small eyes". The eye-diameter of threadfin shad and gizzard shad occupies about 35% of the head height,

while the eye-diameter of the skipjack herring is only about 25% of the head height.

Freshwater Shad

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/gizzardm.jpg

http://www.dec.ny.gov/images/fish_marine_images/gizzshad.gif

Freshwater Herring

http://myfwc.com/Fishing/images/raverart/Skipjack-herring-sm.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/images/skipjack20051213RichardWoodruffrecordWH.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/freshwater/fish/shad/skipjack/angler/&h=336&w=490&sz=41&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=6dnTCwzpX6pokM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dskipjack%2Bherring%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

Roger

I think it's a Gizzard Shad, too. The thread on the dorsal fin is probably laying on the other side of the fish. The nose is blocked from view. The spot is not necessary.

Looks just like this fish:

http://www.tnfish.org/PhotoGalleryFish_TWRA/FishPhotoGallery_TWRA/images/GizzardShadDouglasNegus_jpg.jpg

I caught a mass amount of though's last summer.

Have woundered the samething...{ What is this Fish ?}

I ask a few from around here...They called them Cubb's. :-?.

H.B.A.

Over here, this is a chub.

T-rig,

I believe that's the same fish we also call a chub, but I must say that I've never seen one with carp-sized scales like yours

Here in the states we use the umbrella term "minnow" to describe 3 baitfish: Chubs, Suckers and Shiners.

The chub minnow is the most hook-fast (used them a lot in Canada), the sucker minnow lives forever but the shiner minnow is generally the most productive.

Roger

I dont know about the 2nd and 3rd, but the first is on a sexy shad  

Here's another big chub.

Hey T-Rig, what's your rod and reel set up in the last picture?  It looks real nice.

Rod looks like a Cabela's Fish Eagle.

I have a hard time believing that the fish ghost is asking about is a Gizzard shad.  I agree with Hawg Bass Assassin and it looks like some sort of a chub to me but the problem with that statement is that there are as many types of chubs as there are soft plastic baits.