Montreal shad hunt 2013

[MuskieBait]

(06-04-2013 08:23 AM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  

(06-03-2013 11:54 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  We all started fishing with shad darts, but these darts were soon gobbled up by the hungry and vicious river bottom. So Michael and I resorted back to something that had worked for us in Virginia on Hickory Shad - a 1/16oz jig with a 2" plastic grub.

For the record, I did not tie on a single shad dart all day. I was using only jigheads in the 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 size tipped with 1.5" and 3" grubs. I still had shad darts in my tackle tray... nobody asked for more .

I wonder if we would have done better if we had been using shad darts... everybody around us was using shad darts and not doing any better than we were. However, technique is part of it. I wonder.

The heavier dart would probably allow you to reach the current seam more often, but you often have to start retrieving it so it does not snag bottom. The dart does drift some distance during the retrieve...but more in a swing fashion rather than drifting in parallel with the current like our light jigs did. If it is merely about reaching the seam where the shad are holding, then absolutely the dart helps (But then the question is...why not simply use a heavier jig? My only concern with a heavier jig is the larger hook matched with a small 2" grub...)

Something tells me that the dart is shaped in such fashion so that the sloping face of the dart may actually help the jig plane in the water a bit...pushing it a little higher so as not to snag bottom as easily. With a round jighead, the more aerodynamic shape wouldn't allow the water to cause the jig to plane. Now...how about using a stand up jighead or a banana jighead that has similar wide sloping profile?

I really don't know...the guy next to us who gave Eli the darts did landed 3 on the dart...I landed 2 on the jig and you landed 1 and lost 1 on the jig...but sample size is too small and the difference is too little to be statistically significant (don't mind me...up all night working...)

Maybe we can test it one day. Rig up two rods, one with the dart and one with the jig, work the same current seam at the same distance...and see if dart outfish the jig.

But Pat mostly use jigs to catch his Hickory Shad and occasionally some American Shad...it does work very well for him.