As an economically important target species, anadromous Coilia nasus palys a role in both ecology and fishery in Yangtze River. According to the monitoring data collected by four study fleets in Yangtze River estuary, we analyzed the annual changes of the features and the stock status of C.nasus in the fishing season. The results indicated that there were significant differences in size distribution of C.nasus in Yangtze River estuary among the four year from 2008 to 2011. Furthermore, the mean fork length in 2011 was the smallest among these four years, and on the contrary, the dominant length in 2008 was 26-38 cm that was the greatest from 2008-2011. Moreover, the percentage of the larger C.nasus (W≥150 g) catch was dropping from 2008 to 2011 and that of the smaller C. nasus (W≤50 g) was increasing,which reflected that the miniaturization of C. nasus was evident. CPUE of C. nasus was decreasing by year in 2008-2011 and the lowest CPUE occurred in 2011 which decreased by 95.5% compared to the CPUE in 2010. The peak fishing period usually started from late March to middle April with the high yield in each year based on the catch analysis.