Angler targeting crappie smashes 25-year-old shad record

A Georgia angler who went fishing for crappie recently on the Ogeechee River ended up breaking a 25-year-old state record for hickory shad.

Christian Blake Jones of Swaisboro landed the 2-pound, 3-ounce hickory shad to erase a record (1 pound, 15 ounces) set in 1995.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced the record Tuesday via Facebook and in a news release, without quoting the angler.

“A day of fishing is good, but you know what makes it even better? A day you catch a new state record!” the GDNR’ Wildlife Resources Division exclaimed in the news release.

While 2 pounds, 3 ounces might not seem impressive, it’s an absolute whopper by hickory shad standards, and falls just 11 ounces shy of the all-tackle world record (2 pounds, 14 ounces) set in Florida in 2008.

Although hickory shad are not considered a glamour species, they put up a mighty struggle on light-tackle fishing gear.

States the International Game Fish Assn.: “Don’t let the species name fool you; there is nothing mediocre about the sporting qualities of this small herring. Hickory shad, like their larger cousins the American shad, are spirited fighters on light tackle, and can be fooled by small jigs and flies.’

Hickory shad are anadromous and spend most of their lives along the western Atlantic coast, from Maine to the St. Johns River in Florida. But they can be found in rivers during the spawning season.

Georgia’s spawning season runs from January to about May, depending on the region.

–Image showing Christian Blake Jones with his record hickory shad is courtesy of the Georgia Department of Resources