A buddy of mine caught this fish with me this weekend. We were trolling on Texoma with rattle traps and he reeled this in. We measured it at 16 inches. We weren't sure what it was. Neither of us had ever caught one. So, we started asking around. At first we were told it was a large gizzard shad. That was incorrect. Then we asked some guys at the local bait shop who told us it was a skipjack herring. I sent the picture to a friend who is a guide and he said that it was a skipjack herring, which some people also called a goldeye. Well, after doing some research on my own, it's clear the fish is a goldeye, which is NOT the same as a skipjack herring. So, had an interesting weekend dealing with fish identification, and thought I would post the results. Skipjacks and goldeyes look similar, but for me there are two big differences: 1) Goldeye have teeth and skipjacks do not. 2) The dorsal fin on the goldeye is way to the back and even with the anal fin. The dorsal fin on the skipjack is much further up on the body of the fish.

Tennessee Tarpon

Shad

Sorry, but the fish is a goldeye, which I stated in the first post. Here's what helped me identify it.

Wisconsin Fish Identification-Goldeye

My buddy caught a goldeye trolling a rattle trap almost exactly 2 yrs ago. I tried to find the post I made about it but couldnt.

After reading some more on them, apparently they make great striper bait and they love rattle traps, which is exactly what we caught it on.

Allegedly they make great catfish bait too, they are real oily. Couple of the guys said blues love them.

I caught one about 15 years ago on Texoma. I took a picture of it to the Athens fish hatchery and they could tell me what it was. They have cool teeth.
I also caught a large Pocoo (/ spelling?) in lake ray hubard. Some one must have released it.

BIG

I netted it and brought it into the boat and pulled the hook from its mouth. My buddy says, "Go ahead and lip it with your thumb." Ha. NO WAY!