Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Skipjack herring (Alosa chrysochloris)

If I get a chance, I would like to add skipjack herring to our lake. Does anyone have any experience with them? I've read in some fishing magazines that they are a ball to catch. Any comments?

Norm is this what you are asking about ?

Alosa chrysochloris (Rafinesque, 1820)
Family: Clupeidae (Herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens)
Order: Clupeiformes (herrings)
Class: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name: Skipjack shad

Here is some info.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=1578

Norm, I thought Goldeye were much more common in the Missouri River up in your area. I do know that a lot of the river rats up there mistakenly refer to the goldeye as skipjack though.

here is a goldeye:


here is a skipjack:

I've ran across fish in this family, but they were always in cool running water. I'm thinking they probably wouldn't survive in a pond, but I may be worong.

Norm, I do remember a pond owner south of Lincoln that had Goldeye in his pond, they seemed to do real well in his pond and the owner regularly fly fished for them.

Thanks for the link, ewest. Yes, Shorty, most people call goldeyes "skipjacks" around here. Skipjack herring are in the Missouri River up to Gavins Point Dam but not common. Goldeyes are common but not valued although they are considered one of the best fighting and eating fish in Canada. Mooneyes are the Eastern species of this group. Although they won't reproduce in a lake, they are great fun to catch.

Surely someone has used skipjack herring for bait for catfish. Anyone?

Skipjack make great catfish bait. The two on the left were caught on skipjack and the 36# blue on the right was caught on chicken liver.

Skipjack herring are common in the Ohio River and have been dubbed the freshwater tarpon. People regularly catch them on ultralight and fly tackle.

I'm heading to Ontario in a couple of weeks, are the goldeyes also called whitefish?

Ryan, how do you catch the skipjack that you use for bait? How big are they? Can you give us some more information about them in Ohio?

I use a cast net and use whatever I catch whether it is gizzard shad or skipjack. Some are 8" or so long. It's just luck of the draw for me. The guys I see fishing (rod and reel) for them use Sabiki rigs or tiny jigs. The Sabiki rigs have 5 or six flies tied to a leader and are fished on ultralight spinning tackle, some guys tip them with wax worms some do not. I've heard that some use fly rods but I have never observed this.

I spent an entire afternoon on the river below Kentucky Lake (too windy to fish the lake) catching 3-tooth herring (same as skipjack???) on ultralight tackle and small rattletraps. What a blast! Great cat bait...

Ryan and Matt, about how big do the skipjacks get in your area?

8"-10" is max for me but I think the Ohio river record is around 3lbs. I've used them for cut bait. They really stink! I wear rubber gloves when handling them.

Found this on another NE fishing forum, thought I would post it for Norm as it shows a skipjack and a goldeye side by side.

Matt Clark... I also have fished for skipjack below Kentucky Dam when there were no spoonbill to snag. Well actually I was targeting white bass but skipjack were hitting like crazy. Very fun little fish.

Thanks, Shorty. This is the first time I've seen a picture of them together. These are two very similiar species. Does anyone know what two different ecological niches they occupy?

We have goldeyes and I love them. If skip jacks are as much fun to catch as goldeyes, we would sure love to get some.

As far as ecological niche.... dunno.

As fun as Goldeyes... I'd say more. Skipjacks are absolutely ACROBATIC on the line.

Norm looks like some overlap to me . Take a look and see what you think.

Alosa chrysochloris
Skipjack shad Main pg.
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=1578

SJH food items
http://www.fishbase.org/TrophicEco/FoodI...=chrysochloris.

Hiodon alosoides
Goldeye main pg.
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=2666

GE food items
http://www.fishbase.org/TrophicEco/FoodItemsList.cfm?vstockcode=2862&genus=Hiodon&species=alosoides

I hate to bring up a several-month-old thread, especially after having been away for so long, but I saw this one and couldn't help but comment...

This year I've been busy completing my final semester of graduate coursework in music, and am about to start student-teaching next week, so I've been far too busy to do much fishing. However, prior to this year, I frequently fished Cumberland/Barkley around Clarksville and Cumberland City, TN. Skipjack are quite prolific here. They do indeed make an excellent bait for blues and channels. I attribute this to them being such an oily fish. The smaller ones are often confused with the shad species which are also common here. They can be a lot of fun on rod & reel tackle.

In Cumberland City, the TVA has a steam plant, right around which there is a very large population of shad and skipjack, the skipjack mostly being in the 6-10" range. These draw in a fair number of catfish and stripers, so most folks cast-net for the herrings to use as bait. However, they can also be a blast on UL or fly gear. They seem to hit anything they can fit in their mouths, as long as it's white.

Further upstream, there is a creek which feeds into the main lake. There, I have routinely caught skipjack which could go 3-4 lbs. while fishing for LMB. Crankbaits and jigs mostly. The bigger ones fight pretty hard as well.

I have no experience with them in small impoundments, but would be interested in hearing the results!