Saturday Hybrids at JPP

[aero320]

Took my first trip to JPP for the summer looking for hybrids. First I collected 3 dozen shad for the bait tank and headed down the lake. Ran over a few spots where I usually find fish and finally stopped on a point that held fish last summer. I have been fishing for crappie earlier in the year at Woods and just switched the boat over or live bait fishing. Used the trolling motor "anchor" feature to keep the boat positioned while I rigged all of the rods. As soon as one rod was rigged, I baited and placed in a rod holder. Caught a hybrid before the second rod was out. Pretty good afternoon but nothing larger than 8 pounds.

Also slow trolled jigs by only caught a drum, a crappie, and two yellow striped bass.

Boat traffic made it really rough and I got "roasted" in the sun. The cast net is not getting any easier to throw as I age!

Great way to start the summer on JPP.

[StriperFan]

Sounds like a good day, 8# is a nice hybrid.

[TNtransplant08]

Are there any good thin wire circle hook out there that won't kill shad?

[aero320]

TNtrans,

Those thin wire hooks will straighten out on a big fish. I use standard size 2/0 hooks and they do not kill the shad if hooked correctly. I put the hook in the roof of the mouth and out the nostril. That seems to work well. If you are hooking this way and your shad are dying, it is most likely temperature shock.

This time of year I fill my 30 gallon filtered and insulated bait tank with regular lake water and add and some Shad Saver. I try to catch around 3 dozen if possible. I also purchase two bags of ice on the way to the lake and place one of them in the take after all of the shad have been caught. Some additional Shad Saver will take care of the chlorine from the ice. Once I arrive at the fishing spot (usually way down the lake), I put the other bag of ice in the bait tank. If you put both bags in at the same time it tends to shock the shad. Staggering the ice bags seems to work well.

When I finished fishing at dark on Saturday, I had four shad left in the tank and they were as frisky as when they were caught.

[Alphahawk]

Sounds like a good day.



Regards

[MNfisher]

Awesome!

[aero320]

I re-read the my original post and realized I forgot to mention that I added salt to the lake water when the bait tank was filled with water. This keeps the shad's noses from turning red. When you aerate this concoction, you will get some foaming so a de-foamer will need to be used. I bought a gallon bottle of de-foamer online from a company in Florida that sells aqua-culture supplies. Just keep a smaller squeeze bottle in the boat. I have used the hot tub de-foamer that you can get at Lowes as well as coffee creamer in a pinch.