When do the Shad usually leave the RI salt ponds for the winter?
I'm bored and was thinking of trying to catch a few for fun.

They have been around / they were there Friday & saturday ...................... there was a bunch two w eeks ago .

Thay are larger than the bass the last two times out ><><

Still there as of Saturday
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I was there Saturday <<M<:faga:

So years ago I use to fish the Great Island Bridge in Dec for the Shad. Quarter OZ gold Kastmaster and we would crush them. One night I had a Shad on and it got eaten by a Bass of huge proportions. Now I'm fishing a little 5' graphite rod with a Penn 4400.. 10 minutes and I did get the fish up to the rocks but it was just too big to handle and I couldn't get down to when it was to grab it. IT WAS IN THE 30# range.

Later that night I met a guy who had the back of his truck fitted with 2 large live wells. He was catching Shad and going up to the short wall at Georges and livelining them. He said he hooked and lost monsters every year. This was probably 2 weeks before Xmas.

Very cool. Thanks guys.
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When I was just back in MA from MD in the early 2000's and still a rookie at striped bass one late October day I caught a shad at west wall across from short wall. Quickly replaced lure with a big hook on the same swivel and live lined the shad. Soon line was peeling off and when I tried to turn fish the swivel straightened. My first big fish lost due to pilot error. Drag too tight, swivel vs knot for hook connection. I assume more folks use shad but don't seem to advertise it.

Back in our younger days some of the CT posse used to try to convince me to join them chunkin shad in soco at nite for whoppers. They did well if i remember. Slammer blues too
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I have tried them off the West wall, gottem near the now Matunuck oyster bar. No fish that night on shad they wanted eels. I think it was mid October. I have caught them in front of Georges this time of year, not sure how long they hang out for.

its a sure sign of winter.....


when guys think about catching shad for fun