# Hooking Shad guts & heads..



## Garyoutlaw77 (Feb 3, 2005)

Fishing Shad guts or heads has been a classic catching pattern for a long time - I have used Octopus hooks circle hooks khale hooks baitholders and even XH aberdeen but always feel I could be hooking/holding more Fish..What do you like best ?


----------



## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

If I am fishing for Blues on the Ohio,off the back of a anchored boat, tight lining and using big shad heads, I like use a 8/0 Gamma Octopus Circle hook, with the shad head hooked through the nostrils.

If I am fishing for flatheads specifically, Ill use the clickers and hook the shad head the same way but use a 8/0 Gamma Octopus J hook. 

My experience has been if its a good hit, i tend to hook up on most fish, if its a little peck peck pecker, I seeem to miss many of those, i attrbute that to a smaller fish, say, less then 4-5 lbs. 
My opinion here, your milage may vary.....

Salmonid


----------



## Fish Scalper (Oct 31, 2009)

We used to do something a little different on the West Coat with Anchovies, maybe it will work with Shad. Take a piece of safety wire longer then the bait and make a real small hook on one end. Cut the head off the shad at a 45 degree angle leaving the guts in place. Run the straight wire from the head end through the body and out the tail. Hang your leader loop on the wire hook and pull the loop through and out the tail. Pull the leader up and then stick the hook in the back meat, buring the shaft in the gut cavity. Snug it up, hook it to your snap and toss it out. The shad will spin on the bottom in a river or head down if drifted along and your cats should swallow it head first. Worked great on Sturgeon, Salmon, Stripers and Catfish out in the Sacremento Delta.


----------



## H2O Mellon (Apr 5, 2004)

I've seen the wire setups before but never tried it.

As for me.... If it's a slow bite I'll try a number of different hook combanations. I seriously think how you hook your cut bait matters. I used to always hook shad heads through the eyes but a certain very good catfiserman told me that sometimes a cat, especially a blue will take a shad head from the nostrils first therefore feel the metal hook before the shad head. It sounded legit to me, so I try to keep that in mind now.


----------

