I fished a lot in your area of the state when I was much younger.
Whenever we crossed a lake in the evening with calm waters, we would almost always see "shad" jumping in front of the boat.
These splashes were ALWAYS small. (I would estimate a fish size equivalent to a FHM, or just a little larger.) We never saw anything splash anywhere close to the size of the large (or even medium) Gizzard Shad that are shown in those threads.
Don't know if what my father called "shad" were truly shad? I was certainly never able to catch and sample those fish in my entire life.
Sometimes after we crossed the lake, we would see the exact same size jumps and splashes adjacent to structure near the bank. Frequently, there would also be a big swirl, and we would say the "bass are chasing the shad". We loved catching bass throwing a lure into those swirls.
Is that similar to your experiences on your small lake?
If so, can any of the Kansas experts (or other experts) explain what type of fish we were most likely observing?
