Shad - 2 weeks left

ardinn

So the shad are in.

I caught my first one on Wednesday, since then, I have done a lot of research and spoke to a lot of people and come up with the following tactics.

If you have never fished shad before, it's good fun and you should try it.

They are in St. Mullins, Carlow, for 2 more weeks max.

Disclaimer: - I only caught my 1st one the other day and have only fished for them once - I'm no expert, but have confidence in the below. If you have something to add, great - If not, comments like "sure you dont know what your at" aren't really helpful. A good few people pm'd me and on thread asked about them. So I mailed some very prominent anglers and gathered some info from a few experts! This is the resulting guide and I hope something in it can help some of you.

Tides

The tides are an hr before new ross if you have an app (which makes no fooking sense as its above new ross) but the apps i used on the day were all off and the tide changed in front of me 1hr before new ross so....

Anyway

Start midway through the drop, fish to low tide and a hr or three after.

So if the tide is

High - 12am
Low - 5:30am
High - 12:30pm
Low - 6pm

Fish from 3:00 am - 8:00 am and/or
3:30pm - 9pm

Method

Cast to the far bank, it's full of spawning holes, the shad get stuck, start to spawn and freak out at anything that passes them by. They get ridiculously aggressive.

You should have a pull every 3 casts. A fish every ten! - They are hard to keep hold of.

As the tide starts to rise again, the fish rise and start to disperse and move upriver.

During higher water you will get lulls and then a few pulls and fish and then lulls again. There is not a time you have no chance of a fish - they are there and will bite if you hit one in the right place.

Dont fish in the dark! The dont take.

Dawn or dusk is as always best. For all fish!

What to use

Lures -

TAZMANIAN DEVILS - BLUE
SAVAGE GEAR PSYCHO SPRAT - BLUE, BLUE STRIPE, SILVER.

The above lures are the absolute best - the sprat being a lesser known but better lure. I was in conversation with Terry Jackson (specimen hunter for shakespeare fishing) And over three days on the river, between 3 lads, they had 900 shad. The majority on the sprats! But a range of blue / silver lures will work. Try out a few!!

If anyone wants some of the lures pm me!

Thats all I got - Hope it helps and ye all get down and get your first shad.

Note

Shad are protected and not for eating - Practice Catch and release!

Happy Shadding.

davycc

Thanks a million that is a perfect reply! I have a few pysco sprats in my tackle case with some blue and black tobys and some Tasmanian devils in a mixture of blue originals and bright gold too. The going next Sat so hopefully I get a couple of hours good fishing before I turn back to Dublin..