Top Ramen Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 I've been searching for tips on fishing the Freestyle Shad but almost everything I've found has been about the floater and I have a slow sink. Any tips from those of you who have been successful with it would be very much appreciated. Also, if it's been thoroughly covered in a thread that my search didn't turn up, feel free to post the link and talk smack about lack of search skills. Background: I fish almost exclusively in central Texas. Lots of grass beds. Lots of cover such as laydowns, docks, boulders, etc. Water clarity ranges from "holly crap I can see the split ring I dropped over the side" this time of year to heavily stained by the end of the summer. Shad are a pretty important forage fish here so I am a bit frustrated I have not done better with this bait. My experience with slow sinking hard baits has been almost entirely with the Triple Trout 7" or 8". I have done pretty well with them, so I am very confident the Shad will work if I can sort out my technique. I suspect the primary problem is that the TT just fishes faster and is more of a reaction bait and I need to sloooooow down with the Shad. No matter how far I count it down, it pops right back up on anything but a snail's pace retrieve. So, fill my head with your swimbait knowledge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke V. Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 The best retrieve I have found with SS shad is the one you hear about the most. A slow roll for the most part, with a twitch(making the bait do a 180), pause(after a twitch or rip). I also love to make the bait blow up when the water gets warmer in the morning or evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtelarkin08 Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Just throw it in and near the thickest cover you can. Don't be scared to chip the paint a little Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Ramen Posted March 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 I've been throwing it a lot and mostly slow-rolling it with the occasional twitch that makes it turn around. But, it just doesn't seem to get bit, even when the 7" TT is getting killed. It's really frustrating at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick M Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 They dont work, pm me and i'll take them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Ramen Posted March 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 They dont work, pm me and i'll take them I was waiting for that comment. : 0 P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emjay Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Reel it so you can see it creating a wake above the water or just slowly reel it in subsurface. To each his own but twitches and 180s have done nothing for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPEEDBEAD Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 Just throw it Simple and effective. Really all you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Ramen Posted April 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 Sounds like I have been doing the right things with it; just haven't been lucky. Monday was really frustrating because I stuck two nice fish on the TT in about half an hour but the second bent out a hook. So I switched to the Shad but got nothing, not even a follower, in over five hours of fishing. I'll work if for a few more hours on Monday and see what happens. Thanks to everyone who posted up info; it's very much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalliebigs Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 TR -- I've had the exact same experience as you. Frustrating to say the least. Mostly now I just stick to whats been working after give what I'm trying to "prove out" first shot. I wish I knew why my results are so different than others. Different people (or water) just seem to "click" better with different things I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Ramen Posted April 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Well, I threw that thing for eight solid hours on Lake Austin today and I finally caught one fish, just a few minutes before I was done for the day. It's nothing special, just five and a quarter, but at least that damn shad isn't a virgin any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke V. Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Awesome man. What retrieve worked out for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5-20 Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Nice going, man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Ramen Posted April 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 I tried every possible retrieve during the course of the day, rotating them after 6-8 casts on each style. The hit came when I was fishing a huge scattered grass bed. There were scattered patches that were about the size of a living room along a quarter mile of bank. The weeds stop about 2 ft. from the surface but the bottom was about 8 ft. So, I was kind of burning it over the weeds, then pausing it just after it would pop into an open space and then doing the twitch, turn around thing a couple of times, then off across the next patch of grass. Had to make really long casts because the water clarity is unreal this time of year. She crushed it right as I did the turn around when it came into an open spot. She's not a big girl but she was pretty spunky and managed a short tail-walk with a bunch of my line out. Because the cast had been so long, she was totally spent by the time I got her to the yak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arai Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Congrats man......I need to get out there with you one day and chunk some swimbaits from the yak! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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