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Shad 101

51K views 174 replies 42 participants last post by  Feetup1 
#1 ·
Its that time of year that the shad come out of the ocean and into our rivers and creeks for there spawing runs. They hit up the larger rivers, Cape Fear, Neuse and Roanoke and all the creeks and places in between. The typical catch in our area are of Hickory and American, also called white shad. Lots of people call these "poor mans tarpon" because of the acrobatics and great fight these fish give.

NOTE.... FOR THE 2013 SEASON you can only have 1 American Shad in the creel. The limit of shad is 10 with only 1 American shad. www.ncwildlife.org

Shad ID chart. The ones that favor our local waters and bite on spoons/darts are the Hickory and American shad.
http://fishandboat.com/pafish/shad/poster_id_shad-herring.pdf

These fish run in schools up the rivers and are taken by fishermen casting shiny darts/grubs and spoon combinations. These could be darts designed for shad or either assorted crappie jigs in a vast array of colors.

Normal tackle would consist of light spinning gear with anywhere from 4-10 pound test line. At times you can cast and start winding when the lures hit the water, other times you have to let the lures sink some and catch the fish deeper. Best to alternate styles of casting and retreiving and then let the fish tell you how they want it for the day. Normally early mornings and late afternoons or cloudy days, the fish run closer to the top of the water column. When the sun gets bright at mid-day they run a little deeper.

This is a normal setup...in this case a grub above a spoon about 12-18 inches.


Assorted spoons for shad...they come in silver, gold, with and with out feathers, red, pink/white, green/white, orange/white and other colors. There are assorted sizes and styles on the market.


Typical crappie grubs that work great also for shad...


This is a crappie jig and a shad dart.


This is a pack of grubs all with a jig head bought a Wally world for about 3 bucks.


The fly fisherman can easily cash in on the fly fishing scene. Using 4-5 or 6 weight outfits they chase there quary from banks or boats. You can use a floating line or an intermediate line for casting. I normally use a floating but keep a sinking line with me just in case the fish are a little deeper in the water column.

Here are some flies and set ups ...





Check out these links to Hickory and American Shad...
http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Fishing/documents/Hickory_Shad_profile.pdf
http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Fishing/documents/American_Shad_profile.pdf

Eating shad...

Shad are boney fish so be prepared to gnaw on some bones to get to the meat. Most take and dress the fish, put some deep gashes on each side so the fish can cook quickly and make the bones brittle. The best part is the roe or fish eggs. They make for a great shore lunch fried up and put in a piece of bread.
American shad are better to eat than the hickory but everyone has there own preferences.

Cut shad bait is great for catfish and stripers...:)
 
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#152 ·
Batson eglass lol. I'll make it look pretty but I'm not going to spend much $$$ on anything that I'm gunna be swinging around on a pier lol. I think I spent $13 on the blank, $25 on the guides, and $5 on the reel seat and the grips :D

I thought about bout getting a batson rain shadow blank instead but it was $45 versus $15 and I'd rather spend the money on my kinging rod rather than the plugging rod which will probably be beat to heck. Looking to build it on a Hercules inshore light.

also ncstatefisher look at your "hull truth" private messages. A friend of mine has a question about your rod dryer he sent you.
 
#154 ·
also a bit off topic but if you want to do marbleing get testors model enamel paints. They have a solvent you have to pour off but they have some awsome colors. Like you can find the exact color of a specific vintage car or the exact colors of a branch of the military. They are like 1.84 per small bottle and 2.85 for the large bottles. Both will last you at least a couple dozen rods. Hangar 18 hobbies in cary has them in the back.
 
#155 ·
Someone asked on another shad thread about the shad run time frame. I haven't been fishing for them long enough to give a good answer, but I think the main run will be between mid March to mid April. Someone will know better than my guess.
Not sure if the Grifton Shad Festival has a website, but if so, that would be a good source since they have a shad fishing contest. I do know that in years past, shad have been caught in January for this festival.
 
#162 ·
There use to be a ramp below the old closed pitchketle ramp called Pelican landing. It was within site of the 90 degree bend in the river and entrance to pitchkettle creek. I have not been down below core creek in a few years so I don't know if it is still open to the public. It was a pay ramp.

core creek landing is below Maple cypress but it is a mile up core creek so maple would be just as close probably. be careful in the neuse. there are old pilings in several spots that have a lot of damaged lower units credited to them. One is river right below maple cypress about 1/2 to 3/4 mile. these are old pilings that had walls attached to them for barges to get behind them, there is also 1 set of them just above maple cypress river right also and each of these probably has 20-30 broken off pilings


If you zoom in on this pic to the right of my sons head below the tallest tree you can see a set of these pilings. these come out a good ways from the bank at an arch and then parallel the bank ..they are aprox 50 yds long. these are this time of year below the water level as in this pic the water was low. I know of 4 sets of these.

added: the set of pilings in the pic is just above maple cypress

Water Cloud Sky Tree Lake
 
#167 ·
Never seen one get hit but I have heard it anchored upstream or just down around a bend....you hear a boat running fast and then hear a big thunk and no more engine noise. I would tow them back but that's kinda hard in a square stern canoe with a 2.5 hp engine lol.
 
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