This is my first post, I am a new member of The BISC. I have a question about shad vs shiners. I fished Bluestone Sat and Sun caught 1 White Bass. I used shiners....H20 really stained, alot of logs up to the fork.
I have a new center console with a 33 gal bait tank at the rear of the drive staion. This system exchanges the water with whats in the lake, Kills the shad. Walt at (Bait shop) tells me he catches as many Stripers with shiners as he does shad....
I ordered a keep alive oxygen infusor with filters system this morning that I can use in the existing bait tank. This way I can keep it enclosed and not exchange the water. This also creates a current in the tank to keep the shad schooling in the tank.
My question is does it really matter....I have made 4 trips to Ivey Hill and Clarksville in the past 5 weeks.....I even had Ramrod go out with me on my boat one very cold day....I still have not caught a Striper.
Is there a real difference in the bait?
Give me some advice for this up coming weekend....
PLEASE Thanx

When the water temp is in the 60's and below the stripers prefer small baits but as the water temp rises they tend to bite larger bait like gizzard shad. There are other times when all they want are herring. It pays to have some of each until you find what's working best. When it's really cold it's nice not to have to throw a cast net and still catch stripers with store bought minnows.

Bait bucket, We've all been there, We fished 15 days in January of 2003 without a bite one day it was 18 degrees, but don't give up this year I only had one bite in january and it was a 22lber with a 24 inch girth so it pays to stick with it. I only use shad, I've never had much luck on anything else. The post before mine mentions different sizes and i agree with that but I've noticed if I use 5 to 7 inch shad all sizes of stripers will hit it. For me the key is fishing more lines, using planter boards and some free lines, and in the summer down lines. Good luck hope this helps. fishingrod

don't forget to try trolling some bucktails, chartreuse and white are good colors. Striper fishing may be a bit tough with most of them trying to go up the river to spaw n

someone say up river? I second that motion

The rivers are slam packed with stripers right now. Boaters are claiming catches 20 - 40 fish a day. Most are small fish, only a few have been over 26".

Monsterbuk