Big Shads?
 

Anyone know a good source for 12-15" shad bodies in colors other than solid white or solid chartruese?

Do you see much of difference in catching over the 9"ers. I never noticed a difference between the 9's and 12's and the 12's cost so much more and the tails seem to break of more easily. Curious.

Let me try to save ya all some serious cash.

Back in my " trolling days" and or when I mated for my beloved friend Capt George, when we trolled umbrellas we never used shad bodies. George showed me to use 2" vinyl blinds... I know what your thinking already... But we cut blinds into 9" to 12" long strips, punched a hole in one end, added a grommet and hooked em to the umbrella.. Piece of cake and they always worked well.

You can certainly cut them longer if you desire..

I also painted many of them different colors for contrast..

Looks a little ghetto, I'll give you that, but works like a charm:D

Were you using them for the bait hook or for the teasers?

bhl

Thats an impressive idea for the blinds and I'm sure they work well as teasers.

BF - I don't know if the 12"+ baits work better than the 9s but I have some transom boat rod setups I like for spring and fall. I'm talking deep, BIG baits. I have never used anything bigger than the 9" bodies on my board rods. I know some captains who specifically use the 12"+ baits in the spring everywhere in their spread with good success. I'm not investing that much time and money to switch over my whole spread though.......

Hard to find locally. Heck they're even hard to find online.

This place has a few different colors available, but they're almost $8.00 each. :eek:


http://www.krackenfishing.com.au/category-s/1840.htm

I picked up some 12" shad bodies from Ron Crabbe at the Solomons show a couple weeks ago, 2 for $6. He had a website at one time, but I can't get it to come up.....www.striperfishingtackle.com

His price for 6" and 9" shads are very good also BTW....

Just Teasers.

It sounds ridiculous, but you can;t beat the price and they really do work.

I buy my 12" shad at All Tackle in Annapolis.

My deep, deep rods are quite a contraption. I run them off the forward most rod holders, the ones that stick straight out the side with the rods parallel to the water - a lot of the local charter guys refer to them as the "Hip Rods".

The main line to a 16oz trolling sinker with a three-way swivel rigged off the other end of the sinker.

Off the one eye of the three-way is a 12' leader of 130lbs mono to a 24" umbrella with a 8oz parachute rigged as the bait.

Off the other eye of the three-way is a 6' piece 130lbs mono to a 28oz mojo with a 12" shad on it.

It hangs almost straight down...I put it out 30-40' and boy, howdy when a fish hits that thing ...hang on! Almost like a dumby line, except on a heavy rod!

Tawn- You must spend a lot of time at the gym during the off-season :eek: