Shad Show

[MarshCappa]

Wading in Duxbury late this morning and WHAM 2 feet in front of me these fish are busting all over. Scared the b-jesus out of me. They were shad. They didn't take anything I offered and needless to say I didn't have these shad darts i've heard about. They put on quite a show for 30 or so minutes. I moved and started catching micros. Anyone no anything about Shads? Other than darts what do they take? 1st time I've seen them that close.

[Clammer]

Got three the other night in a place i,ve been fishing >. just about 20 years ........ never caught one there before ....

anything small //

small rubber , metal . even F/W small swimmers

[Rappin Mikey]

Willow leafs will work almost as good as darts. That 36# fish I caught in April had a 21" shad in it's belly. Something must have been chasing those shad to have them bust the surface like that. The shad aren't feeding this time of year. The reason why they hit is pure aggression towards the dart.

[Raven]

they kinda fight like trout.... ya have ta piss em off tho...

just enough.. and those mini shad darts you sometimes cast many times

before you hook up.... we'd anchor in the river and let the darts wiggle

in the current and after awhile wham... up at Hadley

those itty bitty darts in several colors...work pissah.

[2na]

I caught hickory shad one night on a back beach. They were breaking out all over the place and I thought that they were schoolies, but they wouldn't take my swimmer. I tied a fly out in front of the swimmer I was using and the show was on! They'd take the fly and when they felt the hook would come 3-4 feet out of the air. Soft mouths - I had to loosen my drag to next to nothing or it would tear out.

I livelined one for a couple of hours with no success.

[Nebe]

I always keep 2 or 3 cocohoe minoes in my surg bag incase i run across a pack of schoolies, so when i run across shad, i take the cocohoes and cut them in half and slide them on a small jighead. Its not perfect, but it works..

[nautibuoys]

Shad darts, willow leafs and anything with a small gold hook. In fact, a couple small gold hooks themselves behind a dart or other jig will catch shad...

[Joe]

Cocahoes....got a picture of shad that took a Cocahoe someplace...
I was on Block in June about 10 years ago and shad washed up alive - I got in a beef with a blackbacked seagull over my wish to liveline it and his to eat it...

[ThrowingTimber]

A simple white bucktail teaser will work to catch shad. From there you can add a little yellow a little flash etc etc. If you tie, try tying "blondes" or "blondies" in various colors, they're a pretty simple tie.

[SirWinston]

I landed a (hungry?) shad on a 1/2 oz bucktail with cocohoe tail yesterday. It bypassed the teaser ahead of the bucktail (which is what I had caught all my shad on this year) - surprised the hell out of me.

I've managed a couple of schoolie/shad double headers this year, which is new for me. I wouldn't have thought that they would run together....

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by Nebe

I always keep 2 or 3 cocohoe minoes in my surg bag incase i run across a pack of schoolies, so when i run across shad, i take the cocohoes and cut them in half and slide them on a small jighead. Its not perfect, but it works..

Thats why I carry a 4x 4/0 treble w/ me as well

[Steve K]

A few years back I caught several large shad, about 8 pounds, on the Merrimack using storm wildeyes. I believe that they were american shad rather than hickory shad.

[riverrat2]

If you cought a 8lb hickory it would be a world record by about 4 pounds I believe. Marshcappa most likely saw american shad apposed to hickories.

[Salty]

anything small will work, kastmaster ,crappie jigs, teasers.

[MarshCappa]

Originally Posted by riverrat2

If you cought a 8lb hickory it would be a world record by about 4 pounds I believe. Marshcappa most likely saw american shad apposed to hickories.

Yea I'd say they were the American. Do Shad stick around the entire season? I've never really targeted them before but have heard local guys talk about them all the time. We have rivers here where guys get really psyched for the Shad run and they get here weeks before the stripers. Are they good to eat and what's the size limit?

[riverrat2]

I am not sure of the size limit but they arent very good to eat in my opinion. The roe is thought to be a delacy but not my cup of tea. They are a blast on light tackle but can be extremely frustrating. They do not eat when they are in the rivers and the only reason they hit a shad dart is to move it out of there way. There mouths are paper thin so you have to use little to no drag. Poor mans salmon.

[Pete_G]

American shad are notoriously finicky. A good shad angler with the right darts will make an angler next to him with less experience and the wrong offering look quite pathetic. At some American shad spots you'll find willow leafs to be just as popular an offering as a dart. Occasional catches can be made on other items, but the effectiveness just isn't there. I grew up on the banks what I'm fairly sure is the only American Shad run in Narragansett Bay so I have plenty of time under my belt dealing with the American shad. Chartreuse green with a chartreuse body is my favorite dart. Always tipped with Flashabou. If you watch American shad in a fish ladder, they sometimes snap randomly at debris in the water. But something they almost always take a shot at is a shad scale drifting in the water. Flashabou in sort of colored like a shad scale. I've never caught an American in saltwater, but I've caught a whole bunch in freshwater.

Hickories are different breed and sometimes very aggressive. Fly anglers trying to catch schoolies sometimes get irritated with them. Basically if it's small a hick will try and eat it if it's in the right mood. A white fly is as good as almost anything. Obviously darts work too.