# Catching Shad?



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

I've been seeing guys post they are fishing with live shad for Striper and Hybids. 

How do you catch them? 

Dip net or cast net?

Where do you find them?

I've seen some flicking on top of the water, but never seen a "ball" of the them. I'm guessing you you could throw a cast net over the one you see on top.

I've never had much luck catching shad even in saltwater. The sabiki rig was my best tool for live bait.

Any way...wanting to try drifting shad for Hybids. Just need some shad!


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## BrandonH (Oct 15, 2006)

I've had mixed results catching shad. My best luck has been at the boat ramps on Somerville. The next challenge is keeping them alive. You need a round bait holder otherwise they won't live long.

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## TranTheMan (Aug 17, 2009)

From my observation the moment shads touched the cast net, they died. Fragile things.


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## bigfost (Oct 11, 2004)

The easiest way to catch shad is to go with Shadslinger. LOL

We fished this week and he told me to bring my big cast net.

We got out around the island and he said, "Throw over there." I threw and caught 2 dozen in one throw.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Throw the net when you see the dimples. Drop them in a five gallon bucket with a hand full of rock salt. Have a larger baitwell with added rock salt and use a bait net to transfer from bucket to baitwell.
They will live pretty good if not overcrowded.
Those are just the basics for using live shad.


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

There are three stages in live shad fishing.

1. catching the shad with a cast net. Easy

2. Keeping shad alive for more than 5 minutes. Darn near impossible

3. Finding and catching the stripers. Harder than keeping the bait alive.

Here is some help to make step 2 possible.
https://www.google.com/search?q=liv....1.69i57j0.15544j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


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## nikki (Apr 14, 2011)

shadslinger said:


> Throw the net when you see the dimples. Drop them in a five gallon bucket with a hand full of rock salt. Have a larger baitwell with added rock salt and use a bait net to transfer from bucket to baitwell.
> They will live pretty good if not overcrowded.
> Those are just the basics for using live shad.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


ICE to cool the water down as I keep many live for 2 hrs


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## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Sunbeam,

I need more info on #1!

The live well on my boat is huge, so restricted space shouldn't be an issue.

I've read in about a dozen places chicken liver is a good bait for Hybids. Sounds like it's easier to catch, easier to keep in a fishable condition but will not make them any easier to find!


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## Ken.Huynh (May 30, 2014)

Man catching shad and keeping them alive is a skill itself. A skill i am still lacking and fine it too much work. 

You can fish for hybrid just fine without live bait but you need to drift for sure. I also like feeling that bite. Plus lot less work in my option keep those shade and catching them. But you need to get some sock and drift. They donâ€™t like it when you park on them. 


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## texcajun (Feb 22, 2009)

I don't know much about shad, but what I do know is it doesn't matter how large your livewell is. If it has corners, they will kill themselves nosing into them. That's why live bait wells meant for shad are round or oval.



Captn C said:


> Sunbeam,
> 
> I need more info on #1!
> 
> ...


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## sewelljx (Jul 27, 2015)

texcajun said:


> I don't know much about shad, but what I do know is it doesn't matter how large your livewell is. If it has corners, they will kill themselves nosing into them. That's why live bait wells meant for shad are round or oval.


Agree doesnâ€™t matter how big a livewell u have ....need something round or oval. Shad slime and poop a lot right after catching them because of stress so best to put them in something like a Rubbermaid tub or even your livewell for a few minutes to deslime and give them time to excrete a few times. The biggest factor to keeping them
Alive is to keep them cool, they wonâ€™t last at all in warm water or water that has a lot of ammonia(waste). Best to have a long hose 20+ feet to fill your bait tank (20-50 gal is best) so u are filling with cooler water. Then add frozen water bottles to control temp., donâ€™t use ice as it has chlorine which will kill them quickly. Once in the bait tank add 1-2 cups salt per 10 gal of water and shad keep and they should be good at least a few hours. The brand/type of bait tank makes a huge difference, something with a filtration system will work better than something without. I fished for stripes a lot with gizzard shad out east on smith mountain lake and some of these guys had $500+ bait tanks. Best brands were super bait tanks and creek banks but they take 1-2 years to deliver. Adding aeration like a danco venturi was also very important. The more shad you have the more the aerator is important for O2 and co2 exchange.

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## sewelljx (Jul 27, 2015)

sewelljx said:


> Agree doesnâ€™t matter how big a livewell u have ....need something round or oval. Shad slime and poop a lot right after catching them because of stress so best to put them in something like a Rubbermaid tub or even your livewell for a few minutes to deslime and give them time to excrete a few times. The biggest factor to keeping them
> Alive is to keep them cool, they wonâ€™t last at all in warm water or water that has a lot of ammonia(waste). Best to have a long hose 20+ feet to fill your bait tank (20-50 gal is best) so u are filling with cooler water. Then add frozen water bottles to control temp., donâ€™t use ice as it has chlorine which will kill them quickly. Once in the bait tank add 1-2 cups salt per 10 gal of water and shad keep and they should be good at least a few hours. The brand/type of bait tank makes a huge difference, something with a filtration system will work better than something without. I fished for stripes a lot with gizzard shad out east on smith mountain lake and some of these guys had $500+ bait tanks. Best brands were super bait tanks and creek banks but they take 1-2 years to deliver. Adding aeration like a danco venturi was also very important. The more shad you have the more the aerator is important for O2 and co2 exchange.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I forgot, cast nets are like golf clubs youâ€™ll need a few with different diameters and mesh size. The larger the mesh size the quicker it will fall, and the heavier the lbs per ft the quicker it closes. Yo do the live bait thing right like other techniques it will take time, experience, and a lot of specialized equipment.

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## Ready.Fire.Aim (Sep 22, 2009)

Went fishing couple times on Texoma with guides for stripers. They caught and used live shad. 

Guides had large, round, aerated live bait tanks mounted between center console and engine. Held about 50 gallons of water. 
Shad stayed alive for half a day, probably wouldâ€™ve lasted longer but we headed in around noon. 

Took my wife and 2 daughters. We caught and released 89 legal size stripers. 
It was incredible.

Texoma is known for having huge shad populations, thatâ€™s supposedly how it grew the state record bluecat, plenty of shad to eat.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I use my boat live well most of the time now even though I have a 30 gallon shad tank.
The boat live well is in front the console like many cc boats.
Shad are very easy to get where I fish this time of year so I catch about 20 and add rock salt and they stay alive until I use them up or feed them to Wilbur (resident egret at marina) when I get back. Doing it this way itâ€™s critical not to put too many and crowd the tank. One too many and they all die.
If I use them all and need more I pull the plug and drain the live well on the way to get more.
Then I can start with fresh water and salt.
It is really important to put them in a holding bucket or something like it while they shed scales and waste before putting in them in the live well like has been noted.
This might be the way some folks would use live shad who donâ€™t want to go to the expense of a large shad tank until they see if itâ€™s a method they want to invest more in.
I use the large threadfin shad, 6 to 8â€ for both hybrid/Stripers live. For big cats drifting I keep them alive until Iâ€™m ready to use. Then I slit their stomach some to get the smell going.
Gizzard shad are hard to come by where I fish.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

for you hybrid fishermen on Conroe and Sommerville you can use extra large trotline minnows. This time of year catching shad can be difficult besides trying to keep them alive. I have a tank I used to buy large trotline minnows by the pound from Oakhurst and keep them at my house. They are easy to keep during the cold months. During the warm months catch shad or buy large trotline minnows. The trotline minnows stay alive in a live well for a long time with a little air bubbler going. Just another option to think about.


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## Hoytbowhunter (Jan 15, 2009)

shadslinger said:


> Throw the net when you see the dimples. Drop them in a five gallon bucket with a hand full of rock salt. Have a larger baitwell with added rock salt and use a bait net to transfer from bucket to baitwell.
> They will live pretty good if not overcrowded.
> Those are just the basics for using live shad.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


This is the best result I've seen, I fished with a guy in conroe that said shed will lose their scales and if you put them in a tank right away they will injest their scales and die.


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## nikki (Apr 14, 2011)

the scales will clod your Aerators unless you use the right filter and the roaches will eat the handles on rods as they clean up the scales left on rod handles.


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## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Thanks for all the replies. 

We had one white bass cough up some shad Sunday. I'm not sure they were an inch long...they were about half digested but there was 5 rolled up in a ball about as big around as my thumb so they are still a bunch of little ones out there in Somerville.

I'm thinking I need a plan "B" in place of trying to use shad. The trot line minnows sounds like an idea...if I could find some. I know there is a place that sell stock tank fry...they might have some.

What about large crappie minnows?

I bought some Saturday to try on some crappie...some were decent size.


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