Back bay report/stupid question Fish ID

[bubbasdad]

Figured I would cover all the bases in one title, lol....hit our honey hole in the baaaaaaaaaack of raritan bay again tonight...a little slower than last week, not many snappers around, but got to tousle with a couple rat stripers...good fun on freshwater gear...here's one of the first ones we got tonight...

Later on in the evening, using the same swim bait down drifted along the current, Bubba hooked up with this guy....I am 99% sure its just a skinny striper, but the kid thinks it may be a herring? you can see how iridescent it is in the pictures, and the lines are not very pronounced...the fish was also dropping scales left and right, and didn't have what looked like a 'normal' striper dorsal along with a smaller mouth...also not the dot behind the gills...what do you guys think? (was about 14-15 inches, and attacked a soft plastic swimbait...here's the pics..


looks more like a striper to me in this pic..
but you can see the scales rubbing off already, too...although the fish looks dead there, he was released and swam off, although I know that getting sand on the little guy wasn't the best thing for him...