Menhaden
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Shad, Bunker, Mossbunker, Pogey, Shad, Alewife and no telling how many other names, are all describing the menhaden. There are two prominent in Florida: the Gulf Menhaden (Brevoortia patronus), with one large spot behind the gill cover with several smaller spots behind it, and the Yellowfin Menhaden or finescale (Brevoortia smithi) with only one spot behind the gill cover. They grow to approximately one foot and are very similar in appearance to the freshwater shad, but are not the same fish. Menhaden are extremely oily, which is why they have been commercially netted for so many years for the oil and meal that can be produced from them. Just check out your next box of chum. The main ingredient will be Menhaden. They are many people's "secret" bait for almost all species, using them alive, dead, or cut. When we talk about "white bait" this is the bait of choice. They should be hooked just like all the other baits: For drift trolling (can't fast troll them like a Ballyhoo because they roll), hook them through the nose, for bottom fishing, through the nose or over the anal fin, and as cut bait, they should be cut diagonally and hooked over the top of the cut surface.
Menhaden are plankton filter feeders and can only be caught with a cast net since they won't bite a hook. Sometimes when you see bait "striking" or rolling on the surface, it is a school of menhaden making surface slurps of minute surface food items. They have a very distinctive smell if you are downwind of them. They are a very fast moving fish, and usually by the time you see them on your fish finder, they have moved far enough away from the boat so that you cannot net them. We try blind throws of the cast net in the area where we can see them flipping on the surface; this usually will produce bait. Menhaden are also very intolerant of low dissolved oxygen and will die quickly in a poorly aerated live well but that's ok because a dead Menhaden is better than many live baits. They rank tops on our baitlist. | |
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This page was last updated 12/6/2003 |
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