From the top of the cap I could see a dozen at a time, but there were many more. In the old clay pits on the north side American toads were trilling. This was four days after they began to call on the sunnier south shore. The river was a cool 46 degrees. I've heard shad called handsome, sleek, shiny, and colorful their scales in the first light of evening, reflect a most lovely shade of lavender-lilac.
Some shad exhibit a yellow color phase, believed to be a genetic variation.
This amber to sunflower-yellow hue can be strikingly beautiful. People have been celebrating the annual shad run for several millennia. Some of these were half an acre in size. Fires and hot coals were set around flat stones on which shad were placed for slow cooking and smoking. Lilacs had begun to bloom, about three weeks early.