If the obsession baffles you then maybe I haven’t emphasized the importance of Shad but it is in fact our “founding fish.”
I also want to give a shout out to Paul Greenberg whose article on getting over it and using whole fish for economy and environment was handed to me by my mother early last summer. (Shout out to my mom, too!)
I’d handled a whole fish or two before then but I’m trying to make a more concerted effort to dive in, use the whole thing.. fish on day one, fish salad later, stock with the bones.. pungent compost later..
I enlisted the aid of my friend Abbsworth for these quality photos, they actually aren’t as grody as I expected.
You can expect at least two more shad-related posts before the season is out..
gently remove roe sacs 
remove intestines 
remove lungs 
post-rinse pat dry 
sauteeing roe in lots of butter with onions