This was many years ago, but I vividly remember fishing on the banks of the Leon River with my grandpa during the white bass spawn, and he caught a fat 18" gizzard shad on chartreuse crappie jig. Caught it in the mouth. We measured it, but never weighed it. I remember him saying it had to be around 3 pounds. He kept it and cut it up for bait.

Gizzards don’t eat fish so your grandpa probably got a lucky snag in the mouth most likely.. I’ve caught plenty of them ripping a swim bait through a school of Shad but those are snagged. I don’t doubt that they can be snagged by swim baits or crappie jigs and even occasionally a lucky snag in the mouth but that’s the angler running the bait into the shad and not vise versa. Most likely that’s what happened with your grandpa on the Leon River. I’m skeptical because gizzards just don’t eat fish.

I don't doubt that a bit. Could very well have hooked the outside of the lip as the jig went right across it's face. I don't recall how exactly it was hooked and I doubt he could either if he was still here. I just remember watching him pull the jig out it's mouth. That detail wasn't important, we were both just blown away by the size of it. I've seen some big ol gizzards since then, but nothing close to that one.