Just curious when the cast nets should be brought out... Are they still too deep or should they be moving shallow with warmer water?

What lake? For the dfw lakes the shad will be all over the banks in a few weeks, spawning. But you can probably catch a few now shallow.

Shad always will work when you can get them. Umbrella rigs are working well according to some of the guides at Texoma. I caught 7 stripers up there Friday on Bombers and road runners.

I wonder how they fish the umbrella rigs?

Depend on water temp.

How do you keep shad alive? Seems like whenever I catch them with my net, they die like 5 seconds later. Is there a special way to hook them so they stay alive?

If you don't have a specialized shad bait tank, use lake water, a 5 gallon bucket, throw in a handfull of any type of iodine free salt, I use water softener salt (50 lb bag $5), make sure once you catch the shad to put it in a holding tank for a minute so that eliminates some of the scales before you net them out into your bait bucket.

Hook them throw the bottom lips and out through the nose.

You have to be careful about how many shad you can keep, this set up will keep 10 - 15 shad going for a couple of hours.

^ add as much aeration as you can. 2 of those portable minnow bucket aerators usually does the trick

Awesome, thank you!

The holding tank or pre holding tank is key. Allows shad to eliminate excess waste and throw off scales prior to placing into holding tank for fishing. Without this step ur tank is full of scales and waste, clogging the best of the aerators.

Scales also clog the gills and kill the shad. They sale round buckets that are about 2-3' across and that way you can dump you net easily without the shad getting on the floor. Leave them in the big bucket a few minutes and then move them to your bait bucket.

quote=Dipson]If you don't have a specialized shad bait tank, use lake water, a 5 gallon bucket, throw in a handfull of any type of iodine free salt, I use water softener salt (50 lb bag $5), make sure once you catch the shad to put it in a holding tank for a minute so that eliminates some of the scales before you net them out into your bait bucket.

Hook them throw the bottom lips and out through the nose.


What size and type hooks do ya'll use?

I like to use live perch when I can catch them. I mainly use live bait for hybrids on lewisville. The perch last longer and the hybrids seem to love them. I've built a few perch traps that I soak the day before in the ponds in my Neighborhood. I'm also terrible at a cast net so this works for me

Bassthumb!! Perch traps!lets go set some tonight! I am taking the boat out today I think with a few guys. Are you going to run yours? Plus you I can throw that net!