Southern Illinois bait search

Seems like bait is getting harder and harder to find anymore was just wondering if any one out there could give me alittle help finding some shad in the Southern Illinois area

Gar, when I was a youngster growing up in SI my Dad and I would frequent small ponds and throw a cast net and get all the bait we ever wanted. Also used to sein small puddles for crawfish and caught the heck out of CF.

Yea it used to be easy to catch just about any kind of bait you wanted but anymore nobody will let you get close to their ponds and all the small ditches that used to hold crawfish are being cleaned out and no longer hold water long enough for them to move back in, I finally found some good shad in the backwater and was able to get off work long enough to make a trip to Ky. to get a freezer full of skip jack

I don't know where you are close to but you can catch all the shad you want at crab with a throw net / shad drag ect...

I like the throw net around the bridges.

The shad have fallen off around here in mississippi to Im told its mostly due to the asian carp

Don't know about shad but here you can buy bulk minnows.:twocents

Anderson Minnow Farm-live bait farm nationwide delivery

Skip Jack makes some fine catfish bait.

we used to catch a ton of shad at spillway at rend lake with a cast net

Almost all the lakes are chock full of em. The problem is they are often scattered and sometimes deep. If they are deep you have to locate them on sonar and throw a cast net with a long enough rope and weighted to get down to them fast. Sometimes they are all over the first three feet of water column though and easy to catch. Late in the evening sometimes they are feeding on the surface and just about cover the surface. Mid to late summer they are usually over the deep water but shallow enough to catch easy.

In the Ohio you find places that have turbulent water or water breaking around something like a pier or concrete structure. You can throw a net or cast a jig for herring and mooneyes (skipjack). Gizzard shad will get around structure that has algae growth on it to feed. Like concrete walls etc.

Catch some and when the gettin is good and freeze them. Bring some with you when you go catfishing and if you don't catch any fresh for the day use the frozen...fresh is better but I have caught a lot on frozen too...better than nothing.