Twaite shad
Alosa fallax · Mackerel, garfish and shoal fish
Also called shad
A protected species. If you catch one, handle it carefully and put it back alive.
A herring-like fish that is protected in the UK: it must be returned at once, and it is usually met by accident on bass spinners or mackerel feathers.[1]
How to recognise it
- Usually a row of dark blotches behind the gill cover, but the spot pattern varies and is not reliable.[2]
- Notched upper jaw, a single dorsal fin, deeply forked tail and large loose scales.[1]
- Sharp scutes along the belly. Twaite are smaller than allis (to about 2lb) and have fewer, shorter gill rakers.[1]
When and where
- Found over
- estuary, open water[2]
Sources
These notes are a draft: we gathered them from the sources above and are still checking them. We don't work out best times for this fish yet. The size rules come from the same checked byelaws as every other fish.