I am going to Stillhouse this weekend. how deep are the shad this time of year? would trying up in the river be a good place to start I have been told they will move up in the the rivers in the winter.

I am not familiar with that lake but yes shad will move up creeks seeking warmer water. With that being said I fished tawakoni 2 times in the last week and I caught all my shad in 27-30 feet

The shad have not been shallow. I would start looking at 25 feet.

Do any of you use a sabiki rig and do you bait it in any way?

Catfish like to roll and you don’t need multiple baits on one rig. Sabiki would get tangled up on big fish and could injure them. For cut bait most of us use a santee rig or a 3-way rig. Guys modify them several different ways. Go on catfish edge and you can learn the different rigs most of us use.

I assume your talking about using a sabiki for catching bait. I would imagine it would work for sunfish. I had luck netting shad on nearby Belton in 30+ ft of water recently. Only got big threadfins though no gizzards.

Shad are plentiful in 35 ft but you gotta have a deep net to get em. I wouldn’t use a sabiki for sunfish either. All you need is 1 hook for those as well...

I mean for catching shad

Thanks everyone for your input

guys use the Sabiki rig on American Shad and Skipjack Herring but Gizzard shad mostly eat algae and phytoplankton. Only way to catch Gizzard and Threadfin Shad consistently is with a cast net. If you want to get them in the winter you’ll need a deep hole taped net.