Has anyone tried or had any success using shad for crappie? I was tossing around the idea of taking my cast net and catching some shad for Crappie fishing instead of buying minnows. I usually catch a bunch in the 2 to 3 inch range and figured they'd probably work but I wanted to ask the experts.

I use cut shad on my jigs when the bite slows down. Works great for me.

When night fishing, I'd take enough minnows to get started, then thrownet some shad that came into the lights. They usually outperformed the minnows.

They love em

A lively threadfin 3-5" long is probably the best bait for crappie.

Shad for bait now that's just crazy talk.

If you can keep them alive, there is nothing better.

Gman

I have had good luck with them on Lake Mexia and have had some success in keeping them alive in a big round tub. If there are any corners they will bunch up and die. They also put off a lot of slime and I use a small bucket to change the water out frequently. Good luck.

welcome to the forum!

They sell a product called shad keeper and it works good to keep the shad alive for a few hours. Crappie love shad but they die quickly after placing on a hook. Best to use where the crappie will bite a dead shad as well as live or troll or jig with the shad tipped to the jig. This will give the sahd a swimming action even if it is dead.

Yes sir, I use shad in the 1"-2" length. But mainly in cooler weather, they would be tough to keep alive right now...

I was at RC last week. The bait shop was out of minnows so I threw my net for shad. The crappie liked them live or dead and a little better than my jigs. I was having more trouble with the hook set. May needed to wait longer for them to get the 2-3" shad in their mouth.

Put 1 cup of rock salt in 8 gallon round shad tank with aeroater pump. The salt sedates the shad so they don't kill themselves banging their heads against the sides of the tank. when you put them on the hook the lake water flushes them out and they are lively again.