Shad

There's one spot along the Ohio River in my area where the water is shallow for a few feet until you come to the dropoff, where the river gets deep quickly. Last week it was a great spot to see swarms of small fish darting around.

An old guy started up a conversation with me as I tried to get photos. The water just wouldn't let me get a crisp photo. He started talking about those little fish were young shad. And he showed me a bucket of larger shad that he had caught.

I asked why he needed so many. He said he was using them as bait to catch catfish out in deeper water.

For what it's worth, gizzard shad is the fish species found most often in the middle Ohio River, according  to a survey done last year by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.

I don't know a whole lot about fish, but I'm trying to learn. Sort of.