So today at GV I caught a lot of shad... It seemed like simply pulling them up form the 45' water was enough to stun and even kill them. I would put them in my LW as usual and most if not all of them would be floundering around as if they were dyeing.

comments?

dying

Most fish die when pulled up fast when pulled from deep water when its cold. When I crappie fish in the winter, when I pull one up fron deep water, it dies pretty quickly. A lot of states require that you keep the crappie that you catch in the winter regardless of size because they die.

water is so cold they went into "hibernation"

you yanked em and they woke up when the warmer weather hit em

Shouldve burped em!

barotrauma, thermotrauma, and just plain old trauma

Burpping a shad might not be the easiest thing to do espesially two 3 inch ones lol.

The temperature of the surface water you put in your livewell was probably a lot lower than the temp of the water the shad were in down deeper. When they hit the cold water they went into shock. I usually just put them in a ziplock bag and throw them in the bait cooler. No need for the extra weight with a livewell full of water.

Man i know the few times my feet hit that cold ice water I went into shock. Takes my breath away for a few sec. lol. Try not to let that happen to often. Happened last yr at the dock though. Man hard to stay afloat with 50lbs of clothes on. And none to put back on makes for a weird drive home lol.

You use one of those needles that you air up footballs and basketballs with!

I just throw them over my sholder and pat their backs.

Soooo, could I turn o hooker in to a gizzard with this method?

Shad is a whimp fish! They die quick when caught. Throw them on ice when you catch them. Being a whimp, that's what makes them such good bait. Ice them when you catch them. No matter what time of year.