Shad Question

OK I go out and buy a 7 ft cast net and a aerator so I can start using shad for bait. So I go out yesterday and make a couple of throws and dump the minnow right into my live well and put the aerator in it and take off to go fishing. When I started to fish I see most of shad are starting to die. Well the thunderstorms drove us off the lake so I started to empty out my livewell and there must off been over 100 shad in it and its only about 8 gallons. So now I know why they died real quick. Sure did not look like that many when they were in the net. Being a newbie at this my question is how many shad do you normally keep in a five to eight gallon area and how is the best way to keep them alive.


Zeepo

That sounds like a lot to me for the size of the livewell. One thing I learned was to take a 5 gallon bucket and put the shad in it (with lake water) and leave them sit for about 10 minutes then dip them out and into your livewell. When you first put them in the tank they poop a lot. The concentration of ammonia gets really high and that's what kills a lot of them. I also use a blue liquid that you can get at most sporting good stores. It's called G-juice or something like that. I've had pretty good luck using this method.

Maybe 2-3 dozen for that size. I think my baitwell is about 10-12 gallons and shad die fast in the summer

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Originally Posted by sah

That sounds like a lot to me for the size of the livewell. One thing I learned was to take a 5 gallon bucket and put the shad in it (with lake water) and leave them sit for about 10 minutes then dip them out and into your livewell. When you first put them in the tank they poop a lot. The concentration of ammonia gets really high and that's what kills a lot of them. I also use a blue liquid that you can get at most sporting good stores. It's called G-juice or something like that. I've had pretty good luck using this method.

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Do you the blue liquid in both the 5 gallon holding bucket and the your baitwell?

Shad saver helps allot and can be bought at many bait stores. Having whatever you put them in being round helps cause in a square livewell they will swim into the corners and basically beat themselves to death. Small amounts of ice to keep the water cool without getting it to cold will help in this summer heat.

Just the livewell.

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Originally Posted by zeepo

Do you the blue liquid in both the 5 gallon holding bucket and the your baitwell?

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Add a little feeder salt to the water. It helps with there slim coat and keeps there scales from coming off as bad and getting into there gills.

Shad can be notoriously hard to keep alive in a Livewell. The guide we used at Texoma used salt like was already mentioned. Rounded large bait tanks as well.

Been having good success catching and then catching fish using shad. Its fun but really messes up your boat. My next question is how hard is it to cast net shad in the winter months. Have not fished much in the winter so do not know if shad are a good bait in the winter and if they are easy to catch. Mainly fish at Clinton and would think they would be around the marina as this is where we are getting them now.

Zeepo

They will be deep and you'll want to use your electronics to find them

Round bait tank really helps with shad plus some type of shad saver what ever brand. just chunking them in livewell will not work most times.