As a bank fisherman it is that time of year where shad are becoming very difficult to find unless you have relatively easy access to the creeks that hold large numbers of gizzards. I am not one of those fortunate fellows so I am considering using chicken breasts. I have read that they are a decent alternative to shad, but nothing beats a big ole gizzard head IMO.
What are y'all's personal experiences when using chicken breast as a substitute?

Also, I will be soaking it in Dead Red. I bought some a while back, and have been looking for an excuse to use it!

It works sometimes sometimes it don't - I'll use it even when I have shad -some poles chicken some Shad
I usually soak it in Dead Red.

I've caught plenty on chicken livers and I've found chicken wing bones in the stomach of a catfish, so imo, they're not too picky about what part of the chicken they eat.

i just used chicken breast the other day, banking it. one soaked in cherry kool aid powder and the other one in dead red. i got 4 cats on the kool aid. and 2 cats on dead red. all little eaters of blues and channels. i perfer kool aid because if u soak it over night it stays on the hook a lot better than dead red the next day. first time using chicken breast too.

Catch the majority of my fish (blues and the occasional channel cat) on chicken breast soaked in cheap vanilla and a little bit of garlic. Biggest blue I caught last year was on chicken breast soaked overnight in a bag with clam juice.

I've been doing pretty well with chicken breasts lately. Most of the time I don't soak them in anything. I haven't caught any monsters, but I have been catching teens and a few twenties on it lately.

I used to have my doubts about it until Kansascatman brought some on a fishing trip with me and then I started to use it soaked in dead red and started catching some real nice fish, it is not my preferred bait but when bait is hard to find I can say from experience that it will catch some fish

How do you folks hook the Chicken-Breast? Slice it; cube it?
Soak for how long in-"Dead-Red"?
Been reading 'bout this here.
Trying to learn something new.
Thank-You.

I appreciate the info guys. Went and bought some breasts and have them soaking in dead red as we speak. Not sure when I will get out and use it, but it is nice to have some bait prepped and ready to go. Hopefully I will catch some shad, but it's nice to have a backup/variety.

You can slice or cube it and run a hook thru it, I had mine soak overnight in a gallon ziplock bag, some people use it right out of the package without soaking it in anything and have some success with it, if you have never used it before then you will still have some doubts until you catch that first fish, I mainly caught eaters and teens on it but I'm sure a big fish will bite it, good luck to you guys!

Not to take a way from anything above..But why not chic thighs? (i would guess tougher and cheaper..)Used plenty of chic hearts/Gizz/livers..and had good luck..Never used meat soaked in Kool Aid or dead red... Put it on my bucket list now

Chicken gizards work just as well as the breast. May even stay on the hook better. I open the package and spray them with just a touch of secret sauce ( WD 40). You can dust them with Kool-aid too.

WD 40? That's a new one to me. I will have to try that one out sometime! You get good results with that?

What about a little anise oil in the mix.You don't hear much about it anymore.

WD40?

Really?