More OH striper and cats

[Jim]

Next time I am out fishing, I will take pics of the shad tank and stuff and post it for your information. It is definitely homemade, so don't expect a pretty setup.

[Dakota]

Thanks.
QUOTE=Jim;17727]Next time I am out fishing, I will take pics of the shad tank and stuff and post it for your information. It is definitely homemade, so don't expect a pretty setup.[/QUOTE]

[TNtransplant08]

What is a down line? Live bait version of the dropshot?

[txnative]

A down line is a line fished vertically, usually with live bait. The simplest explanation is to picture a Carolina rig without the bead between weight and swivel. This gives you a rig with infinite options regarding depth, weight, line strength, and bait options (live, dead, cut, etc) since you aren't having to cast it. All you do is rig up, drop the line in, lower it to whatever depth you want, and stick the rod in a holder.


Chris

[Jim]

Originally Posted by txnative

A down line is a line fished vertically, usually with live bait. The simplest explanation is to picture a Carolina rig without the bead between weight and swivel. This gives you a rig with infinite options regarding depth, weight, line strength, and bait options (live, dead, cut, etc) since you aren't having to cast it. All you do is rig up, drop the line in, lower it to whatever depth you want, and stick the rod in a holder.


Chris

This is a good description. But the key is in "This gives you a rig with infinite options regarding depth, weight, line strength, and bait options."

You really need to balance the rig with weight, main line, hook size, leader size, bait size to adjust for depth, current, and wind. The key is too not have you line run out from the boat at much of an angle as it leads to poor bait control and many snags. Too much weight also leads to snags. The right combination of parts means the bait will stay right under the boat (20 to 80 ft down) and touch bottom occasionally, but not hard enough to snag. With it all right, you can slowly pull the rig over and through rockpiles and wood snags with few lost rigs. Many big fish bite right after it pops over a snag, ledge, or rock pile.

It is kind of like bass fishing with a jig along rocky banks where too light of a jig means you cant feel anything and too heavy means endless snags. Just right and the jigs slides along over the rocks hitting them but not snagging. That is the combination I am looking for with downlining on Old Hickory.

There are a few places that I can do multiple rods in the rod holder style downlining on Old Hickory, but mostly it is one rod in hand to feel your way through the holes and snags. Also, a big fish can quickly wrap multiple lines together and get away. That is both disappointing and expensive.

One other thing, use circle hooks. Live bait leads to gut hooking and circle hooks cut way down on this. Plus, the hook up rate is better.

Big striper and catfish should be released as there are plenty of eater sized fish out there.

Good luck,
Jim

PS - I still put a bead between the swivel and weight to protect the knot as any weakness in the rig will quickly be found by a big fish.

[nofish]

Originally Posted by Jim

I catch them with a cast net. It is sometimes the hardest part of the fishing trip. Other times it is one cast and all the shad you want.

Here is a medium size gizzard shad.



Keeping them alive is a whole other problem. You need to have a good bait well with filtration to keep them lively.

Jim

Generally when I throw my castnet into what I think is baitfish I usually just catch threadfin shad or a few skipjack, but I rarely get gizzard shad. Am I missing something? I guess my question is how do you find them? Me and a friend are going to go fishing for stripers at oh lake tomorrow and I'd like to try using gizzards. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bd-]

Gizzards tend to school near the bottom, unlike threadfin. I used to find them by going up onto a relatively shallow flat and watching for them "flipping" - meaning individual fish will occasionally come up to the surface and splash with a distinctive flipping sound. I'd throw the net where I saw a lot of fish flipping and usually do okay. You can also catch gizzards around dam discharges and other outflows where they stack up in the current.

Usually, when you see baitfish in large schools near the surface, it'll be threadfin rather than gizzard shad.

bd

[nofish]

Originally Posted by bd-

Gizzards tend to school near the bottom, unlike threadfin. I used to find them by going up onto a relatively shallow flat and watching for them "flipping" - meaning individual fish will occasionally come up to the surface and splash with a distinctive flipping sound. I'd throw the net where I saw a lot of fish flipping and usually do okay. You can also catch gizzards around dam discharges and other outflows where they stack up in the current.

Usually, when you see baitfish in large schools near the surface, it'll be threadfin rather than gizzard shad.

bd

thanks for the help.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by bd-

Gizzards tend to school near the bottom, unlike threadfin. I used to find them by going up onto a relatively shallow flat and watching for them "flipping" - meaning individual fish will occasionally come up to the surface and splash with a distinctive flipping sound. I'd throw the net where I saw a lot of fish flipping and usually do okay. You can also catch gizzards around dam discharges and other outflows where they stack up in the current.

Usually, when you see baitfish in large schools near the surface, it'll be threadfin rather than gizzard shad.

bd

Good description. Also make sure it is a mud bottom flat. Lots more gizzard shad feeding on the mud bottom and you wont snag your net in the rocks. Also, make your first cast count as they get spooky and harder to catch the more throws you do in an area. Let your net hit bottom as Bd said they school near the bottom. Usually they are harder to net than threadfin shad.

Good luck,
Jim

[Jim]

nofish,

If you get skipjack, they are the best bait by far, just super hard to keep alive. Use them first and hold on

Jim

[TNtransplant08]

I don't know where you are located at but if you are ever at the Jefferson springs boat ramp on priest in Smyrna you can often catch all the wizard had you need there. There is a mud flat about 100 yards south of the ramp. I once found a dead gizzard on the bank that was the size of a dinner plate. Biggest shad I ever saw.

[TNtransplant08]

Also thanks for describing the downlone. I was curious what that was.

[Dakota]

Where did you buy the pump you are talking about here?.

Originally Posted by Jim

Dakota,

A 5 gallon bucket will work OK for a few big shad or more small ones and the air will definitely help, but the shad foul the water fast so filtration or water changes are needed. This is especially true with gizzard shad. I try not to use them unless I have to as they are tough to keep.

I have gone through a bunch of different bait tanks. I used to use the square ones in my boat, but they are not good except in the winter. I think I can keep about 4 big shad alive in one for about 4 hours before they are completely beat up. I have a pump on the livewell that I can run on a timer and it has to run almost continuously to keep them alive. It works for threadfin shad OK, if the water is not too warm.

Corners in a livewell are not good for shad as they get caught in them easily and struggle a lot. This leads to more stress, higher oxygen demands, bruised up noses, and more fouling. A red nose on a shad is a sure sign of a stressed bait and one that will not be very lively.

My current shad tank is a big bucket (20 gallons I think) from tractor supply, wrapped with insulation, and a wood lid. I put a recirculating pump on it and a homemade filter. I have a second pump that I can pump water into or out of the lake/tank for water changes.

Without the filter, 12 shad lasted about 4 hours at most. Now they are doing great after 4 hours. Big improvement. Adding salt to the water also helps the shad a bunch. I put a cup in to start and less after water changes. The salt helps with stress and the slime coat on the shad.

The other good thing about the shad tank bucket is that I can remove it from the boat when not livebait fishing, so it doesn't use up all the floor space.

You can buy super nice shad live wells for $300, but I am way to cheap for that If I was a guide or only fished stripers, it may be the way to go, but for the limited number of live bait striper trips each year, the bucket works fine.

My latest project is building tuna tubes for holding skipjack. If I can get this to work, it will be great for trophy striper. Still in the planning stages, but I don't really need them for another month or so.

Jim

On using salt,use sea salt or non iodine salt.The iodine will kill them.

[Jim]

Hi Dakota,

The pumps are just the usual livewell pumps that you can buy at Basspro or walmart. Nothing special. I think a 500 gph for the tank recirculator and an 800 gph for the empty and fill. That is mostly because I had extras of those in my boat junk box, so I used them. I doubt it is really that important. Any should work fine.

Jim