Shads

[Quest]

What Shads would you recommend that I use for pike fishing?

 

I have heard that they are good.

 

 

Thnaks

 

Quest

[Peter Waller]

I use cheapo soft bodied shads, best prices in your fave Sea Angling magazine.

[Newt]

Peter - would a 9 inch one be too large?

[Quest]

How do you use them?

 

What colours are the best.

 

The lake I fish tends to be coloured.

[Peter Waller]

I've tried 9" with no great success, Newt. The fact that they were in a dump basket suggests no one else had had much luck either!

 

However the 5" jobs certainly do the job. I thread a trace through from nose to where the vent might be. I do that with a baiting needle. I then put a floro pink bead on the trace followed by a 5/0 barbless circle sea hook. The bead stops the eye of the hook pulling into the body of the shad. I then work it as a sink and draw dead-bait.

[Dick Dastardly]

Better than a bead is a button,this spreads the pressure more especially on big soft baits.

 

Although I dont rate shads in general as high as Mag Grubs,Super Sandras,Dawgs,Ugly Joes I have used them quite a lot.Despite prefering the afore mentioned lures in the bigger sizes I jhave to agree with Peters comments on 5" shads being better thasn the larger ones.I think this has to do with the shads action and apearance.

[fenboy]

Peter,

Do you let the circle hook hang loose, or do you nick the point lightly into the shad to make it virtually snagless?

Also, have you considered threading the trace to where an adipose fin would be (in a member of the salmon family) and putting a little weight into the belly of the shad to compensate and keep it on an even keel, as it were? I ask that because, again, it would stop the hook from fouling.

 

I understand that you don't strike takes on circle hooks, but simply wind in (I've read that). Does that still apply? If so, how long after a take (or pluck) before you start winding?

 

I want to try your method, but I'm still trying to get to grips with the physics of it all. I have several (unused) circle hooks in front of me as I write this and they SHOULDN'T work (I know they do, but they go against all the instincts!!). I'm desperate to attain the confidence required to actually fish them.

 

I do hope you'll share your expertise, Peter, because I'm sure I'm missing out here.

[Peter Waller]

I let the hook hang free, for whatever reason circle hooks catch fish but ride over branches etc. The idea of snaging the oint into the bait makes sense, but I have never tried it, never thought of it to be truthful.

 

I take the hook out at the vent because that seems to to be in a good hook up position. It works so I have never tried elsewhere. It also acts as a keel.

 

I use a bead, rather than a button, because they work and they might give the impression of blood from the vent, might act as a strike point. I would use buttons on real baits.

 

I don't stop winding when I feel a pluck. I don't think a live fish would stop swimming either! I just keep going, when it becomes a take I just keep retrieving until all hell lets loose.

 

When using deads for sink & draw I could never get in the way of stopping the retrieve and letting the fish take the bait as such. Too many years lugging lures about and old habits die hard.

 

[ 15. January 2005, 08:49 AM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[yog]

Try the halographic shads about 4-5in,fox do some good ones,i"ve had some half decent pike on the "fire-tiger" from the drains.

[Andy Macfarlane]

I found that fluorescent pink was the most productive colour.