OF ALL Britain’s fish species, there aren’t many rarer than the twaite shad – so you can imagine why Robbie Northman was left ‘lost for words’ when he landed this one.
Targeting the North Norfolk coast, Robbie was hoping for bass, and had caught a few small schoolies on lures before he connected with something that arched his rod right over.
“I wondered if it was a bigger bass, but I was unsure, as I felt a fast-beating tail and saw a few acrobatics,” he told us.
“Eventually, the fish hit the surf, and I was lost for words. It was a species I didn’t recognise, so got a quick picture before swiftly releasing it. I later identified it as a twaite shad – a fish I’ve only seen illustrated in books.”
Twaite shad are on the red list of threatened species in the UK. They must not be caught by design, and any landed must be carefully handled and swiftly released.
