Live shad for bait

[randallewis]

I catch shad for fishing w/ rods. I have a problem keeping them alive. I use a cast net and dump them into a 48 qt. cooler w/ half cup of salt with two aerators. Two hours later they are turning belly up. Any sugestions?

[Team_Flopeye]

Try a round tank,and dont put too many in.rednose and foam on water is the first sign of too many in the container.

[cook]

Yup,what he said!!!

[justme]

They are right.You want to use a round tank,they swim in circles,therefore if you have a corner in the tank ,they swim into the corner and exhaust themselves.And it needs to be big.For inside a boat a 55 plastic drum cut in half works very well.

[drifter106]

We have been using shad for years, especially when we start drifting. Here is what we found out that works the best for us...

When we catch our shad we put them in a freezer bag with a little lake water and then put that bag in a small cooler with freeze paks (blue plastic containers that you freeze up and put in your cooler). Ice is an option but then you have to deal with the water. This method keeps the shad "fresh" for as long as 6 to 8 hours. We have caught many a channel cat as well as yellows using "fresh shad". Cooling the shad stops bacteria from working on the body consequently you have the same "feel" of the bait as if you had just caught it.

Now if your trying to keep them alive the thing that kills them so readily is the scales that come off of them when you put a bunch in a container. You can put all the oxygen to the water you want but if you don't change that water once or twice those scales in the water are going to have an impact on the ability of the shad to breathe.

Right now in our parts of the woods shad are what we call in a "popcorn" stage. Give them another week or two and then they will not go through the net so easily.

Nothing like fishing with fresh shad....No.1 bait for a fish.


On a side note...we have taken these fresh shad and frozen them....used them later and caught both channel and flathead.

[Team_Flopeye]

Also If you plan on frezzing for anytime,lay them flat on newpaper and coat each side with borax ...when you use them they will still be fresher,even get blood from them.Old timer told me of it...best way I have even seen to use frozen shad.

[randallewis]

Do you freeze them in water or vacuum seal and freeze? I havn't had much luck in water. They are not very firm.

[Team_Flopeye]

Do you freeze them in water or vacuum seal and freeze? I havn't had much luck in water. They are not very firm.

No it dries them slighlty when laying them on paper,then place in reg frez bags.

[bobberdown]

A 30gal shad tank with aerator and a bottle of foam out works great for me. keeps 30 10" shad alive for 8 to 10 hours on a hot day. Tank cost about $235.00 with aerator.
Well worth the money when the big cats want to bite only live shad.

[drifter106]

Do you freeze them in water or vacuum seal and freeze? I havn't had much luck in water. They are not very firm.

Very LITTLE water and we use a heavy duty ziplock freezer bag. If it goes in fresh it should come out fresh within a reasonable amount of time. Never done it with vacuum seal although it should do you a better job.