Shads

[peelersuzi]

Do any of you lads keep a note of what colour shads fish best each month as the season goes on. We starting in april on Catch22 and got 3 more booked with JFK

 

[splishspash]

me and a few mates have fished regular with alan (JFK) over the last 4 yrs using a vaiety of shads, we prefer storm but they have recently slashed the number of different colours down to just 4.as you probably know no two days the same at sea and what fishes the best one day might not do the same on another,when the fish are there in good numbers they will take almost any shad you put in front of them but when they are playing hard to get me and the lads always revert back to the favourite storm 5" blue herring shad,in my opinion out of all the shads we tried over the last 4 years these have been the more productive all year round.
hope this helps.

 

[peelersuzi]

me and a few mates have fished regular with alan (JFK) over the last 4 yrs using a vaiety of shads, we prefer storm but they have recently slashed the number of different colours down to just 4.as you probably know no two days the same at sea and what fishes the best one day might not do the same on another,when the fish are there in good numbers they will take almost any shad you put in front of them but when they are playing hard to get me and the lads always revert back to the favourite storm 5" blue herring shad,in my opinion out of all the shads we tried over the last 4 years these have been the more productive all year round.
hope this helps.

Cheers for that ! Heard some good reports about jfk so we got booked up early . Some lads that i've spoke to say rhubarb +custard are good early on in the season then once the macky are in drop onto the blue.

 

[northeast1]

Colour wise i dont think it matters that much as the fish go for the injured style movement of the tail mainly but white, orange and blue the colours i use the most but i always say twin tails outfish shads 3-1 in my opinion

 

[northeast1]

Colour wise i dont think it matters that much as the fish go for the injured style movement of the tail mainly but white, orange and blue the colours i use the most but i always say twin tails outfish shads 3-1 in my opinion

 

[oldessox]

I'd agree with Richy , I don't think the colour matters much at 100ft deep in the North Sea, movement and possibly size are more important , I think a cod can " feel" a bait fish as it swims past by the vibrations and does the same with the shads, I use plain lead pirks with no colour on them at all , they work every bit as well as silver, reflective or glow in the dark pirks.
Anglers are all the same though, if we catch on a particular colour , or see someone else catch on a particular colour, it's hard to persuade us to change to something else, me included, if I'm catching on a green shad and lose it , I'll look for another green shad to replace it, even though I'm sure a red one or a white one will catch just as many fish.

 

[Graham B]

I'll agree with Ray on that one regarding Pirks. I used to spend a fortune on them being all flashy and last year fished with mainly plain lead ones and the catches were exactly the same as compared to someone on the boat using a shiny pirk.
One or two gummi mak eels attached assist style to the top eye of the pirk cut down on snags as well!

Graham.

 

[lambengland]

Richy will you post up a pic or something of how you rig up twintails?

 

[northeast1]

Same way as shads but twin tails look like Longatine swimming away and the twin tails cause alot of vibration, used them for about 14 years now and was one of the first people to try them, fish tek sent me and a few others out some to try if we did a report back...thats all i use now fish tek twin tails and storm shads.

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

Not one for discounting anything I tried twin tails on a number of occasions last year and had mixed results...

...Rich - under what circumstances do you fish them? IE slack water or a ripping tide?

If the fish are fishing hard on the bottom for crustacea - is this the time to bring them out?

A few situations over the last 3 years has seen mark x Codling be stuffed full of star fish and crabs and shads only seemingly work by foul hook - so would this be a time to bring out the pseudo prawn?

 

[northeast1]

Fish them in every way the same as shads, no change in the set up, speed you wind, distance from bottom etc. I just find they move more in the water and fish well but if fish showing then they go wild for anything really its as always down to what a person likes using.

Our days i only use about 4 different sets of gear and dont try anything else as i am happy with my 4 fav rigs/lures/pirks etc

Wont be long until we can all start losing gear and catching fish rather than just talking about it...am going down the boat in the morning to cheack it over and do the odd thing to give the fix a boost

 

[Codcrazy]

Got to agree with the twin tails, first year I used them last year, only used the orange tiger in 2 sizes, certainly found they outfished shads on pretty much every occasion, having said that virtually all of my fishing last summer was on the rough ground not wrecks, I took the view that in fairly shallow water their movement and shape was a good resemblance to the squat lobsters that I was finding when gutting most of the cod kept. As Richy has already said, fished them no different to shads.

 

[northeast1]

Just got back from the marina but it was a costly one, a stone was chucke dup at 70mph on the coast road and took my front window clean out, its a good job the glass is designed to stick together and the full window came inwards...was rather cold until i was able to get into a safe area to stop. Could purchase a life times worth of shads and twin tails for the cost of this repair if the insurance wont budge on the fee they have stated

 

[The Jester]

Really unlucky that if you had windscreen cover, i thought it was a £60 excess... surprised the window came in thought, the laminated windscreens are designed to fracture but not collapse unless its a really bad impact...

 

[northeast1]

S*it happens, it had a 15mm crack then when i got on the coast road it went from top to bottom of the window then the window started to sag with the laminated sheet holding it all together but before i pulled in the glass cut the laminate i think and the glass turne dinto two large bits with a crack running from window wipers to roof.

£65 for a repair but cost of a new one i am unsure yet.

Never mind soon be spring, things happen.

 

[Kartonkel]

Do any of you lads keep a note of what colour shads fish best each month as the season goes on. We starting in april on Catch22 and got 3 more booked with JFK

I think its all down to visibility and a bit the way you fish

Visibility: sometimes hard to judge from the surface. When scuba diving it could be crystal clear at the surface and dirty at the wreck or vice versa.
The rule would be: bad visibilty= bright colours or white and good visibility=blue or sardine green etc

Rule of thumb: the further out and the further away from rivers the clearer the water

Fishing technique: close to the wreck/bottom = white or bright

Higher up ( so that the fish takes it looking towards surface) black, blue or green

Time of day and weather: the more light, lesser colour

Best tip remains to looknat the others. If one catches on white, put a white on
Thats my experience

 

[garry36]

Is it best to use booms or a Portland rig with shads as last year I used a basic 3way swivel and had my fair share of tangles thanks garry

 

[The Jester]

I just use a basic 3 way swivell, i tried the booms and had tangles with them as well. I think if you give the boat time to start drifting and you control the speed of the drop, the shad should stay clear of your mainline...

 

[KeithB]

I just use a basic 3 way swivell, i tried the booms and had tangles with them as well. I think if you give the boat time to start drifting and you control the speed of the drop, the shad should stay clear of your mainline...

Same here, I think a lot also depends on the quality of the line you use as well, I had a large spool of Tuna Tuff Stuff line 60lb bought from Jims of Cornwall that was great, sadly it's gone and is no longer available. I just use 60lb shock leader between the shad and 3-way now, any old line for the short sinker length.

 

[The Great Wallsendo]

Just think of the cost when it snags

Keep things simple - 3 way swivel is as simple a paternoster you'll ever get