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Thread: How do I need to hook shad for trolling?

  1. #1
    lswoody Guest

    Default How do I need to hook shad for trolling?


    I caught some shad sat. with my cast net and hooked them behind their top fin. I trolled them at a snails pace, after checking them they were all dead after about 30 minutes of trolling. Should I have hooked them through the nose? Thanks, lswoody

  2. #2
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    Default Hook them though the lips or nose and slow down so they won't drown

    Hook them though the nose and they will appear more natural to the fish when you are trolling them. Now if you are fishing them under a bobber and not moving then you could hold them though the back or tail and that should not matter too much.

    Others may suggest something different but that is my 2 cents. LOL


    Quote Originally Posted by lswoody
    I caught some shad sat. with my cast net and hooked them behind their top fin. I trolled them at a snails pace, after checking them they were all dead after about 30 minutes of trolling. Should I have hooked them through the nose? Thanks, lswoody
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  3. #3
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    Default

    Gizzard Shad are very hard to keep alive. If you are trolling then I don't see why you would need them to be alive.

  4. #4
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    Default shad

    I've had the same luck as Crappie66, with the shad. They are very hard to keep alive, even in the bait bucket.---Pooch

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    Talking

    The reason they won't stay alive is the lack of correct oxygen levels that they need to stay alive... They must have current type situations to stay alive... They also stress very easily when captured... Keeping shad alive has been a practice by catfisherman for years ... And very few will tell you that they have had success if any...I reccomend just settling down with medium sized shiners and you should see about the same results...There is always the what ifs, but it wouldn't be worth the trouble to try and figure out how to keep them alive, I don't think that you would gain enough of an advantage with shad versus minnows.....

  6. #6
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    Default trolling

    I hook them through the eyes... but I only troll in the winter....I never have a problem with them dying. :rolleyes:

  7. #7
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    Default Shad

    The only times I have ever used shad for bait is in the tailwaters below a dam. We caught the shad there, either using small nets or just using our bare hands. We placed the fish in water taken from the same exact place and as soon as we put the shad in the water, they start floating. Since I only use the shad in the tailwaters the current keeps the shad moving giving it the like life appearance. We have caught wipers, white bass, walleyes, SM bass, crappie, and the annoying LM bass on the dead shad in the fast current. The dead shad also make excellent cut bait for catfish. Many lakes don't have the shad present and the fisheries biologists do not want to see shad in those lakes so I guess it is good that the shad aren't easily kept alive, allowing for easy restocking in other lakes. There is a situation here in Indiana at a popular lake where they spent a lot of money on a fish kill to eliminate the shad, and somehow the shad are back and reproducing at a fast rate.

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    Default

    A friend of mine kept a 50 gallon drum in the back of his truck and he had a pump mounted in it to keep the water circulating like a current, this worked very well with keeping shad alive. They have these little mesh net bags you can hang over the side of your boat that water flows through and it will usually keep them good if you are not moving too fast. Good luck to ya

  9. #9
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    Default Gizzard Shad

    Which lake is that in IN? Is that the one that they drained last year and then killed all the shad and filled it back up this spring. West Boggs?

    Patoka Lake was another example of the DNR getting rid of the Gizzard Shad before the lake was filled. But somehow Gizzard Shad returned to Patoka Lake in 1996. I find Gizzard Shad in the strip pits that I fish which is hydrologically connected to the Ohio River Via Pigeon Creek and Blue Grass Creek during times of flooding.

    I have also read that Gizzard shad are easily stressed and very difficult to keep alive in captivity.

    Lots of people use cast nets to capture them in the River and then use them for bait. I suppose they are using them for catfish bait by cutting them up and putting them on the hook.

    Are Threadfin shad hard to keep alive like Gizzard Shad? I am just curious if anyone knows anything about keeping Threadfin Shad alive?



    Quote Originally Posted by crappie66
    The only times I have ever used shad for bait is in the tailwaters below a dam. We caught the shad there, either using small nets or just using our bare hands. We placed the fish in water taken from the same exact place and as soon as we put the shad in the water, they start floating. Since I only use the shad in the tailwaters the current keeps the shad moving giving it the like life appearance. We have caught wipers, white bass, walleyes, SM bass, crappie, and the annoying LM bass on the dead shad in the fast current. The dead shad also make excellent cut bait for catfish. Many lakes don't have the shad present and the fisheries biologists do not want to see shad in those lakes so I guess it is good that the shad aren't easily kept alive, allowing for easy restocking in other lakes. There is a situation here in Indiana at a popular lake where they spent a lot of money on a fish kill to eliminate the shad, and somehow the shad are back and reproducing at a fast rate.
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  10. #10
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    Default This has been a good thread

    Crappie 66 makes a good point about problems with shad in lakes. Our local fishing hole has started stocking saugeye in an effort to reduce the gizzard shad. The shad get way too big for the crappie and bass to eat by their second season in the lake.
    We'll pick up the ocassional injured shad fingerling and use them for tipping a jig. Liveliness doesn't seem to be much of an issue if the jig is moving. - Roberta
    "Anglers are born honest,
    but they get over it." - Ed Zern

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