Minnow or fry identification help

[Buzz]

Ollie and I fished a section of the Elk River Sunday. It was a very productive day to say the least. We came to a fast water spot and started catching smallmouth consistently. On the upper side before the faster water the smallmouth were busting what we thought were minnows they had chased into the shallows. Come to find out they were attacking some sort of minnow or fry that was grouped up in what looked like a huge spawning bed that was nearly the size of a VW Bug. The small fish were brownish red as best as we could tell and there were thousands of them. The ball of fish was probably at least 3 feet across and  seemed to be several inches deep. After the smallmouth would attack they would scatter then come right back to the same spot. We didn't see any larger fish in the area besides the smallmouth. So the question is, does anyone have a clue as to what they might be?

[bfishn]

Cardinal Shiners are common in the Elk and turn red when breeding. I've seen big pods of them like you describe, but only in March & April.

[ollie]

That kind of looks like them, but I could swear they were more red all over.  Is this a pic of them full grown?  It looks like it so maybe what we were seeing were young fry.  We sure did slay the smallies though!

[bfishn]

That's just a picture I borrowed from the web, but the ones I've seen looked just like that, red mostly on the lower half. When spawning they do a lot of rolling on their side, so you get kind of a red/brown flashing appearance. Full grown they're in the 3" range (as pictured).

Walleye love 'em, I'd have to assume smallies would too. :-)

[Buzz]

Thanks bfishn. I saw the same pic of the Cardinal shiners last night when I was researching. It could have been them. The size was close, but like Ollie said they didn't seem to have the stripes, they seemed to be more solid in color. When the smallmouth would chase them they would jump about a foot out of the water. It was quite a sight. We also didn't see this anywhere else on the river.

[Johnsfolly]

Buzz and Ollie - I agree with Bfishn that these are most likely cardinal shiners. They are one of the few minnows in the Elk that have that red breeding coloration and would create a spawning school like what is seems that you guys came upon. Pretty cool story. I would have loved to have dropped in a #12 hook with a piece of worm to catch some of those fish to really confirm what species they were. Were you guys fishing from the bank or a boat?

 

[ollie]

We were boat fishing.  Just came up on this section where the bass were chasing them non-stop!  Had to stop and fish it!

[Johnsfolly]

Ollie - Still sounds like a pretty cool spectacle. I came upon a few shiner spawns this spring and none of them have been in water deep enough to hold a bass worthy of eating any of the minnows. Would have loved to have seen it. Sounds like the fishing was pretty good as well.

[ollie]

It was.  They would get back into a huge circle or mass wad then the smallies would pounce on them!  Sometimes 2-3 smallies at once would attack.  I will have to admit, it was a very memorable fishing day.  I think between us we were close to 100 smallies that day. 

[Buzz]

It was a spectacular day. I know what I'll be looking for next spring. LOL  I'll be heading to Academy soon to see if I can find some small jerk baits that might be a close match. Not to mention more flukes. I don't know how many they destroyed. I forgot how much I enjoyed fishing flukes.