Shad for sturgoen

Who sells? Gander?

Give it a try if you like.

EVERYONE I know that’s used the freeze dried shad sold in stores has the same story. Total waste of money.

Gander in Woodbury had it the last time I was there.

3 fatheads and 1/2 crawler works good and easy to come by.

Walmart has the preserved shad. They come in a vacuum sealed bag with oil. Problem is that they usually put some type of scent in the oil, garlic or anise. If they packed it in straight shad juice or blood I bet it would work better.

B, have you ever opened those packages?

The shad are like wood.

I never say never, but ANYTHING works better then that freeze dried stuff.

Although I would have to agree natural oils might make a better bait.

I agree on the don’t waste your money statement. They don’t stay on the hook and I have never had luck with them. To clarify “Luck with them” I mean fishing for walleye

where u located?

Quote:

---

EVERYONE I know that’s used the freeze dried shad sold in stores has the same story. Total waste of money.

---

I beg to differ,off meds, not bad as a late night snack.

But Stuart, you drink PBR too.

Quote:

---

But Stuart, you drink PBR too.

---

Thats why I snack on the shad,need something to get that taste out of my mouth.

I don’t have the freeze-dried stuff, I have the preserved stuff… little to no luck there, either.

It tears off the hook too easily, for one thing. Shad are soft fish… soak them or remove all the moisture and they’re softer yet.

Id ask around in the catfish forums .. I suspect someone out there has a couple extra bags in their freezer.

Dont waste money on the store shelf stuff, it doesnt work. Your better off with crawlers, fatheads, or cut sucker.

I am planning a trip to the Wisconsin River North of Madison. I will be bringing some shad for bait. Would Fresh Shad (day old) or rotten, stinky shad (week old left outside) be better?

I can get them from 3″ to about 8″. Would whole 3″ or 8″ shad be better or cut ‘fillets’ from the 8″ shad work best?

I realize that most of you guys can’t even use shad so maybe the answer will be “try it all and see for yourself”. Well, that’s fine too, just thought I’d get some opinions first.

Thanks for any help you might provide…Ken

Quote:

---

I realize that most of you guys can’t even use shad so maybe the answer will be “try it all and see for yourself”. Well, that’s fine too, just thought I’d get some opinions first.

---

We can’t?

We can’t use a net to catch them if it must be thrown. That eliminates cast nets… But we can fish for them or use big dip nets to harvest them. But we can sure use them for bait… we just can’t use game fish for bait.

At least that’s the MN thing… dunno what else you might have been referring to.

As for how to use them, I’d start with semi-decayed whole 3″ and maybe take some fresh to try as cut bait by just cutting them in half.

For the 8″, I’d either cut the head off and then continue cutting them into slices about every 1″ or so, or, like you said… fillets. I’ve had my best luck using sucker fillets, so that may be the way to go.

Best suggestion is take all 4… fresh and “aged” in several sizes. Toss one of your options out for about 15 mins. If nothing, reel in and try the next option till you start getting hits. If you’re in WI you can put out 3 lines at a time, so you can cover your options pretty quickly.

If you try all of them and nothing bites, either move spots, try something else entirely (Sucker? Crawlers? Stink?), or re-start your cycle and leave the stuff out there for more than 15 mins… up it to 30 mins or something.

One thing I’ve learned tho… channel cats are pigs for whatever they’re in the mood for, so it won’t take too long for them to bite when you get the right bait in the water. If they don’t bite… they’re just not there.

Just my advice… worth every bit what you paid for it.

If you want to make the effort preserved shad can be a great summertime catfish bait. I used to scoop up the dead ones in the spring and salt them in layers in a 5 quart pail. Hook them through the eyes and hold on. I agree the freeze dried ones are junk.

Just an FYI unless you’re catching them from the WI river when you go It’s illegal unless preserved

Skunk, I would prefer 3 to 4 inch shad as fresh as possible. Fresh frozen is awesome as well…so I’ve heard.

Squeezing them in the belly area to pop the swim bladder and letting the juices flow has put quite a few fish in the boat.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advise everyone. I’ll be using all I got. And yes, they are preserved.

L8R…Ken

Quote:

---

Thanks for the advise everyone. I’ll be using all I got. And yes, they are preserved.

L8R…Ken

---

Best of luck with that.