Name that Fish!

in search of more white perch, i went back to the local pond yesterday evening, about an hour before sunset.  on the second cast, i caught my only keeper white perch.  it was about 11”.  (sorry, no pic here.  do you need to see another image of a white perch on the ground?)

while there was some topwater activity, the recent warmer weather had me expecting more.  at sunset, i caught my second, which was a tiny one at 6”.  about 10 minutes after sunset, the topwater activity really turned on and there was consistent and plentiful splashes even less than 5 feet from the bank.  the water was boiling everywhere!  in the next 20 minutes, i caught 3 more fish (including losing one).  two of them were white perch and they were about 8-9”, which is undersized.  the last fish was 17.5-18”, but i’m not exactly sure what species it was.  maybe you know?  please post a comment if you do.  my guess is that it is an American Shad, although the mouth shape throws me off.

this fish fought about 3x harder than a white perch, so i first thought it might be a baby striper, but then it jumped a few times in the air, and i knew it couldn't be.

anyways, my guess for why the activity turned on so late is that it was too dark for all the predator birds to hunt (hawks and ospreys have been hanging around), and the fish felt safe.  it's amazing how many factors you have to consider to increase the odds of fishing success.  what a sport!