White River Shad

[Darryl Morris]

Just wondering if any of you familiar with the White River know of any good shad holes. Looking for 6-10" (or better) gizzard shad for striper fishing. Thanks in advance...!

[slabbandit]

Hey Darryl, How do you guys keep 'em alive? We used to catch them in the Ark. River for catfishing when I lived in L.R. but they died quickly.

[Arkie John]

Darryl,

I was talkin' with a guy that lives on Lake Catherine and he told me the Gizzard Shad are in the tail waters at Carpenter Dam. It isn't the White, but it's the closest place I know of to get good-sized ones.

I'm still in the plannin' and buyin' stage, but I'm about to build me a holding tank for my shop (about a 300 gallon size) and a transport tank for my truck. I'm not going to hire out but just want to keep enough for myself and my brother sos we can keep our freezer full when we want.

The Gizzard Shad make all the difference, but they are hard to keep, as you know. I have been doing a lot of reading and listening to local guides and looking at their set-ups and am about ready to launch, in a few weeks.

Hope you find 'em on the White but if not, this is the third source I have encountered that said the Gizzard Shad are at the dam most of the time. They collect them with a net, sort them and place them in a bucket of salt water so they will purge themselves before you put them in the transport tank.

Most dumb them down with some kind of drug for the trip and revive them in well water with a certain amount of salt and Shad Keeper.

Let us know how you do.

aj

[LMBarnett]

Have you talked to anybody about the "shad Hole" in PB on the AR river? It is located just upstream of Island Harbor (free boat launch), where the "poo plant" dumps (pun intended) into the river.

[Darryl Morris]

Hey Darryl, How do you guys keep 'em alive? We used to catch them in the Ark. River for catfishing when I lived in L.R. but they died quickly.

Much of what AJ stated is how I've learned to keep them alive. Using a throw net we catch them and immediately place them in the tank of the shad boat or a large tank in the back of the truck. The water is treated with salt and blue. It is aerated and circulated. A key at this point is not getting too many shad in your transport tank. Approximately 200, give or take, is max for about 400 gallons. Once we get them home they are placed in a 1,000 gallon tank that is also treated. The water is replaced twice per day for the first 2-3 days.

[Darryl Morris]

YEP, know about the Carpenter Dam spot AJ and the AR River spot LMB at the pipe near the end of the airport runway. Unfortuneately, the shad are not always there in those two spots. Really looking for new ones to have options.

[coondog550]

DARRYL the shad hole at pine bluff has all ways got shad at it if you need somone to show you where it is i would be glad to

[Darryl Morris]

DARRYL the shad hole at pine bluff has all ways got shad at it if you need somone to show you where it is i would be glad to

Sounds great. By chance can you give me a gps coordinate and I'll look it up on a map?

[TreeMyDog]

I caught some 5-6" gizzard shad with my cast net yesterday evening, right at dark, immediately below the dam at Lake Conway. They were trying to run upstream into the thin water onto the concrete base of the dam where the water was running.

I would think they would be gathering just about anywhere there was a weir or dam with some water flowing over or leaking through it.

Just a thought... Have you tried the dam on the White River at Batesville? I don't know if the cooler water from up north would affect the upstream run or not.

[coondog550]

i dont have it marked on my gps but when you wont to go just let me know i will send you my #