[CentexCat]

I know it’s a random question, but I’m beginning to wonder based on my latest experiences.
I have done way better when using shad from the same river I go to catch catfish then if I use shad from a nasty pond that has shad. Of course catching shad at the pond is way easier. My theory is that the shad innards smell differently.

Does anyone have any input/thoughts? Thank you in advance!

 

[spokey9]

They probably do smell different to a cat but I doubt they'd turn their whiskers up at a shad because of that...

 

[Luckydawg13]

Hope you don't mind me jumping in on this but I was wondering the same thing about bluegills that come out of a pond and used in a river

 

[Robo]

Jst my experience but I've got a pond full of perch I've takin them to lake for cut bait and cant catch a thing on them. If I take time to catch them at lake I'll catch fish I have no idea why but I've done it 3 times. Fish in pond will wrk on river though.

 

[Jbuck]

This is nothing more than speculation on my part but even if they can tell the difference I doubt they would care. I think for a predator/scavenger it is just an opportunity thing. I often wondered why an inland fish would eat a chicken liver or shrimp, pretty sure it's not something they encounter in their body of water naturally. Having said all that, I cannot explain why on some days heads out fish body chunks or shad out does skipjack.

 

[wisgobbler997]

Even if they can tell the difference I don’t think they have the ability to reason or that they would care if they could.

 

[River_monster91]

never had a problem, sometimes i catch fish sometimes i dont. if i dont i dont think its a bait issue as much as a presentation issue.

 

[Osage78]

I can't speak for shad but for perch/sunfish I have found no difference in results while fishing but I cut my bait.I catch 99% of my bait from a creek in town but recently had some pond perch mixed in & there was zero difference.

I think a hungry catfish says hey I smell lunch & hammers it .

I prefer my wife's cooking but if I smell a good meal at my daughters house I'm just as hungry from the odor

 

[swampratt]

I fish the in Gore OK. There is a grain barge there on the river.
Easy to get shad around the barges and I have found on many trips those shad eating grain do not produce as many fish as the shad from the river away from the barges.

I also found in that river and in local lakes 45-60 minute soak on the bait and you might as well remove it and re-bait.
Yea you will eventually get a cat to hit the old bait but they sure hit the fresh way more.

This is not 1 or 2 trips this is years of fishing.
Frozen shad does not produce like fresh shad either.
But it is better than nothing.

I also found if you are not netting shad where you bank fish you will not catch as many fish as a place that produces shad.

 

[SecondChance460]

Sadly here in Illinois we must use fish from same body of water we are fishing. So we dont have the luxury of catching farm pond fish and fishing rivers with them. But we have used Skip Jack we have caught in Ky or Tn, freeze them and bring up to fish the Mississippi along the Il/Mo border. AND FLAT HAMMER CATS!!! I know those blues dont care where they come from for they know where there are going!!!
This is one of the reasons we have gone to using Asian carp more these days for they are so prevalent in our river ways nowadays. And a few Asian carp in the boat and you have bait all day long. I throw em on ice, (just to keep the boat cleaner. Cant talk the wife into cleaning it, YET!!)

 

[bowhunter63]

Good question, I dont know about shad but we caught bluegill from a pond and used them in the river for Flathead. They worked good. But if any fish can it would be a catfish.

 

[Luckydawg13]

Sadly here in Illinois we must use fish from same body of water we are fishing. So we dont have the luxury of catching farm pond fish and fishing rivers with them. But we have used Skip Jack we have caught in Ky or Tn, freeze them and bring up to fish the Mississippi along the Il/Mo border. AND FLAT HAMMER CATS!!! I know those blues dont care where they come from for they know where there are going!!!
This is one of the reasons we have gone to using Asian carp more these days for they are so prevalent in our river ways nowadays. And a few Asian carp in the boat and you have bait all day long. I throw em on ice, (just to keep the boat cleaner. Cant talk the wife into cleaning it, YET!!)

There is know way that I would go out of my way to eat a Asian carp or any other carp for that matter

 

[River_monster91]

There is know way that I would go out of my way to eat a Asian carp or any other carp for that matter

i hear the asian carps pretty good, im not gonna eat em butbthats the word on the street.

 

[truckgrandpa]

I fish the in Gore OK. There is a grain barge there on the river.

Do yo ever fish Lake Tenkiller?
I fished there, a few times, some 55 years ago.
It was the clearest lake, heck, the clearest body of water I've ever seen.
I was wondering if it's still as clear as it was in my youth.

 

[SecondChance460]

There is know way that I would go out of my way to eat a Asian carp or any other carp for that matter

What l was saying is that l use them for bait, not to eat myself!!!

 

[Luckydawg13]

Lol I thought you were going to have your wife cook up some for dinner

 

[gtsum2]

It doesn’t seem to matter where I fish. I caught and froze about 50 hickory shad this spring in the Roanoke river when they were coming in to spawn…I’ve been using them (along with chicken and fresh cut perch, bluegill or bass) all year and many days they are the best producer. There are no hickory shad in the lake I fish…(threadfin and gizzard shad are in there).

 

[SecondChance460]

Lol I thought you were going to have your wife cook up some for dinner

we have ate Asian carp on several occasions now. We have baked it and fried it. Was different. But not to the point of throwing it away. Filleted n scored just like common carp. Cooked it outside on the patio JIC.

 

[Raymond Stansbury]

I know it’s a random question, but I’m beginning to wonder based on my latest experiences.
I have done way better when using shad from the same river I go to catch catfish then if I use shad from a nasty pond that has shad. Of course catching shad at the pond is way easier. My theory is that the shad innards smell differently.

Does anyone have any input/thoughts? Thank you in advance!

If the catfish from different sources taste differently...people say that Blue cats over 4 or 5 lbs taste bad. There is a group of trot liners who get large blue cats from Lake Ouichita in Arkansaw. They all say that the ones which come from that lake taste great reguardless of size.
This at first will seem off topic...years back when I kept snakes for pets I read a story about one that starved it's self to death because his owner died so the smell of his owners hands was not on his food any more.

 

[swampratt]

Do yo ever fish Lake Tenkiller?

I have fished and rent a cabin there at times.
The lake is not as clear as it was 30 years ago but still pretty clear.
You can sit under water by the cliffs and watch the fish swim by.

I have hand fed fish worms there as have my boys and I told them if they slowly put their hands together with a perch between them that you have been feeding you can catch it.

They both eventually caught one.
Only took about 10 minutes.
Yea 2 minutes or so under water before you need to come up for air though.

I like fishing the Arkansas river in Gore better than Tenkiller though about 13 minute drive down the hill.
I snag for Paddle fish every year below lock 16.
This is one my boy caught. I think he landed 8 that morning.
Kept this one and quit snagging.

Wife caught this one and quit snagging.

That river looks stained but the fish from it are very clean and tasty as it is almost always flowing.