Why Snagging Shad Is a Good Thing

If you've been bass fishing long, chances are good that you've snagged a shad.  There are several different types of shad. The most common in my area is the gizzard shad, which has a grey color.

Shad range from the size of your finger all the way up to the size of your foot.  See below.

One thing is true about shad.  You'll always catch them by snag.  They're filter feeders.  They constantly inhale water and feed off of microscopic plankton and organisms.

Don't get me wrong, you may hook one in the mouth area, like this.

That's not because the shad decided to strike.  It simply got close enough to the lure to inhale the business end of the hook.  Of course, this begs the question of why.

The answer is simple.  Be it a shad crank bait or a shad swim bait, your lure looked real enough to fool the actual shad into schooling up with it.  If it can trick a shad into doing that, the lure can definitely trick a bass into striking.  So if you have a lure that seems to snag a lot of shad, KEEP THROWING IT!

Plus there's one other thing.  Shad make fantastic catfish bait.  The shad pictured here were released unharmed because I didn't have my catfishing pole at the time.

Tight lines!