I've lurked around here for a while, but this is my first post. I'm a long time bluecat fisherman who nets shad for cutbait. I've always carried a shad tank and keep my shad alive until they are cut for bait. That's a proven effective strategy for me. A guy with a decent reputation tells me I'm wasting space & weight in the boat, and I don't need to carry a shad tank. He puts his in a ziplock bag and keeps them cool. I plan to do some testing this spring to see how well his suggestion works but I know there are folks with experience on this forum and I would like to hear their experience with this subject. I know a lot of guides in the winter just dump the baits dry into an ice chest and use them days later. I can see that in the winter but as the weather warms, I question if that's an effective strategy? If you don't keep them live, is it beneficial to salt them with non-iodized salt?

Thanks in advance for input. My apologies if this has been covered in the past and if so please direct me to the thread.

I'm a bank fisherman, but I leave my shad in the net and stake them out at the water's edge. I'm guessing a similar method would work in a boat.

I'm a firm believer in fresh bait, although I don't believe they need to be kept alive all the way up to the point that you're going to cut them. I catch mine and throw them in a ziplock bag that I keep on ice. They'll be good for up to a couple of days but no more. I generally only use what I'm going to fish with that day. I always keep them in a ziplock and don't throw them in the ice because I have a theory that the chlorine in the water affects the flavor of the shad. It's definitely not going to hurt to keep them alive. As far as the salt goes, I haven't experimented with that. I probably wouldn't just because that's not what fish experience in the wild. I think that kind of depends on what kind of catfish you're going after. I believe that wouldn't be a problem for channel cats but blue cats will always prefer fresh killed shad over anything else.

Just to add to my previous comment, this fish was caught on shad that I caught the previous day. I caught this one in Tennessee this past week. He weighed 91 pounds and was caught on 4" threadfin shad.






We caught our shad around 6 PM the previous day and this fish was caught around 3 in the afternoon the following day so it was definitely not completely fresh.

^ what Skeetmaster (Geno) said.

Cut dead bait works just fine and no need to keep it alive just on ice, and the bigger the shad, gizzard shad, the better. Cut up into chunks they leave a bloody oily trail in the water, and when I have enough bait I change it out frequently. I have used old bait quite successfully, two or even three days old if it's on ice.

One other important thing. Freezing shad doesn't really work as it goes to mush and loses its structure, although the bigger ones less so.

Now that I have said big cut chunks of gizzard shad works best, then Geno goes and catches that monster blue on a thread fin shad!! Oh well, back to the drawing board (as always...hah!).

Geno, seriously well done my friend, that right there is the catch of a lifetime!



Catching specimen fish like that are what I spend a lot of nights dreaming about.....and yes, it's an addiction!

***edit: I was going to add 'just smile Geno, it's not a crime', but then realized he is probably straining lifting that monster up lol! ***

Fresh dead on ice. I've used them up to 48 hours when it's cold. I don't bother with freezing anything. The only time I need anything alive is Flathead and Striper fishing.

I would go with the guy’s opinion that is holding the big cat.

Thanks for the responses.

I like live bait, but if you’re only saving them to cut up then yes it is a waste of space. Put them in a bag to keep them dry and put them on ice.

I fish the Tennessee River every weekend. That is a nice fish. Is that on Nickajack? I like to throw my castnet on rock piles, which is why in the winter I use cut bluegill. Much cheaper on the wallet.

WOWOWOW What a fish! Congrats my friend.

Fishin Nut, I sent you a PM.

Catfish Dave throws his in salty ice water. It almost freezes them and he has no problem catching big catfish on them.