Shad Gear ???

Oabrook Abram · 12-02-2003, 06:31 AM

What (and when) kind of gear do you use when fishing for shad?

River Ranger · 12-02-2003, 07:06 AM

What gear you use depends on where you fish.Onthe columbia near Bonneville the current is swift so you'll need a heavier rod like a steelhead pole.On the wilamette you can get by with a trout rod and little led.Small spoons and jigs work well.Shad arrive in May.Good luck.
R.R.

Oabrook Abram · 12-02-2003, 09:03 AM

Thank You!! We go down to the Umpqua River near Winchester Bay for crabbing and Shad is the bait to use.

Grits · 12-02-2003, 09:20 AM

Do a search for shad and that will help you out. From a boat I use a jet diver and a small green grub. From the bank I use dick nites. Shad darts (trim the tail even with the hook) or bare hooks take there share of shad also.

Moley Molson · 12-02-2003, 10:00 AM

Last year was my first year Shad fishing at Bonneville on the WA side. I used a loomis trout rod fast action with 6lb test. What a blast.
we used about 1/2oz of lead(depending on the flow that day)...slinkies worked the best for less snags, and then about a 3ft leader to a white dart with a touch of chartreuse, with no hair. (I ended up buying a bunch of unpainted darts 1/16oz size and painted them myself) Cast upstream and drift it down, as soon as the dart started to swing at the end of the drift...fish on. Man those things fight hard on a little trout rod. I can't wait for the next run.

Oh yeah....don't use a dart bigger than 1/16oz. The 1/16oz outfished all other sizes we had.

blacktail519 · 12-02-2003, 10:36 AM

Im sure everyone has there favorite lure, But mine is by far the small dicknite spoons, The whit with red head head, has always been a big producer for me. But to be honest, When the fish are in you will not have problems hooking into fish(you shouldnt anyways),on the lure of your choice. I also always use my steelhead rods, due to the fact that when i hook up with almighty springer, I have a better chance of landing em!
And the shad still put up a preety good fight on these rods, especially in the swift current conditions. I hope this helps, And good luck fishing!

River Ranger · 12-02-2003, 10:43 AM

I use K-16 kwikfish but rarely catch any? [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

Oabrook Abram · 12-02-2003, 02:08 PM

Thanks!!! Great suggestions. We enjoy crabbing and most people I talk to say Shad or Clams are the best bait to use. This year we want to catch our own bait, but clams are to good to give to the crabs.

Aufish101 · 12-02-2003, 02:58 PM

Oabrook Abram:

Clams are too good for crab bait! Shad is good, and are fun to catch. Chicken, turkey, suckers, carp, mink, all work too.

Aufish101

ColumbiaKid · 12-02-2003, 11:06 PM

I've fished shad in all kinds of conditions and waters. Basically, use a medium heavy action rod and about 8-12 lb line. If from a boat, use a 3-way spreader (about 18-30" of lead line - depends on bottom substrate and vegetation)((about 24-36" of leader line)(use enough lead to stay on the bottom-the current i fish in I usually use 4 to 8 ounces of lead)(lure- use just about anything that is about an inch long... I have used crappie jigs, dickie nites, flik'r spinners, small spinners, floating flies, trout hooks and yarn... colored beads and hook... Triple teasers.... FST's.... small plug like a flatfish or wee steelie wart... Just make it small and colorful or shiny. USE SINGLE POINT HOOKS! Trebles almost always cause more tangles in the net and make it harder to release. Have a net ready! If from the bank, use small jigs or lures like those mentioned above. You can use a bobber setup and some weight with a jig in faster currents. Hold on to your rod, they hit hard a lot of times and you might even hook a steelhead depending on where you are fishing. If you aren't catching fish and other people are, make sure you move around, you might be missing them. Good luck. If you have specific questions, let me know. Remember, anyone can catch a shad.

greenbuttskunk · 12-02-2003, 11:21 PM

anything will work, spinning gear whatever. I go light just for fun sometime, but the best set up I've found is a light/med. steelhead drift rod with a ambasseduer 6500 or eqiv. spooled with 10'lb maxima or braided eqiv. You never know when you'll hook a springer or steelhead incidentally. I have, and it's a nice surprise. I'll run a 6-8lb leader off the main line. some of those shad are bruisers so I'd stay at 6lb line min.
GBS

Beefcake · 12-02-2003, 11:25 PM

This was my first year fishing shad from a boat. A couple of tricks that I learned were to use a crappie rig (leader with two or three adjustable spreaders) so that you can run 2-3 different lures at different depths without tangles. Usually, there is one hot lure for the day (may change every couple of hours). Once you catch a couple of fish on one lure, change the rest to match the hot one.

Also, it's important to move around until you start catching them. Where we fish on the Multnomah Channel, there may be 30 boats anchored fishing for them, but maybe four or five boats will outfish the rest 5 to 1. Shad seem to swim "single file", so you have to find the "lane" to fish. Sometimes one side of my boat will catch a million shad, and the other side will get skunked (usually the kids are on the hot side, and I'm the one getting skunked!). :grin:

Okay, this is the second time I have edited this because I keep remembering other tips. The other main thing to remember is that shad have very soft mouths, so you don't want to set the hook hard. However, they hit the lures so violently that you don't have to. Usually a shad will have the rod bent in half before I get it out of the rod holder, and I just start reeling (no hookset). You have to play them out with a light drag and let them run (they will usually take a few long runs straight down river), because if you try to muscle them to the boat, you'll rip the hook right out of their lips.

Darn. Do we have to wait til May? Now I'm getting excited again!

Good luck!

[ 12-02-2003, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: Beefcake ]