Research Completed: Mussels vs. Shad
Well I told all of you I would give you the findings of my research. Under my dock, I have tires I tied to the pilings that are standing straight up like they are going down the road. Now I thought that would attrack fish, but instead it attracts fresh water mussels that are as big as baseballs. I gathered up about 20 (there are hundreds under my dock) and cut them open. The cartledge part will bait about 5 hooks with a large (can tread it on a #2 hook several passes) piece of meat. I can bait about 3 with the rest of it which is very soft like a chicken liver. I baited 92 hooks before dark and caught 22 cats (2-6lbs), 1 carp (strange huh?) and an aligator snapping turtle that weights 35lbs. All of the hooks that did not have fish on them were clean. Now when I use thread fin shad I catch with my cast net, I do about the same, but there are many hooks with rotting shad on them the next morning. I have found that the mussels are like candy to about every species in the lake, but they do not stay on the hook for more than 6 hours. I imagine many are eaten by hungry brim. The mussels are work to prepare for bait, while the shad are pretty much catch and bait the line. I thought about baiting half of the line with shad and the other half with mussels, but one line is better than the other two. I think mussels are a great bait in a survival situation or if you are able to find them for river fishing. If you try the mussels, let me know how you do.
