Anyone try these shad for cats?!

I've never had any luck with any prepared bait of any kind. The fresher the bait the better it will be for catching cats. That being said for the price it might be worth a shot. Personally I'd go catch a carp or two, remove the scales, fillet them out and cut into 1.5" strips from top to bottom and use them. Good luck what ever you decide to do.

Went to Barr Lake hoping to score a dead shad or two... but no luck.

Go to McIntosh Lake in northwest Longmont. Lots of dead shad there .

H mart in Aurora sells fresh gizzard shad. Pretty cheap too. My buddy throws the whole head out. Also try salmon belly also available at H mart.

I have fished for cats many years in Texas and live/cut bait is always best.. caught small channels with the shads/stink bait as a kid/adult nothing huge..

got to cherry creek you can get all the fresh shad you want. take it home and vacum pac it. save it for summer and you will get plenty of cats

I've used the preserved shad & had some success. Absolutely agree though that fresh works better. If I'm casting from shore, I don't know of anything better than a hunk of skin on carp.

Catching a fresh carp can be just as hard has catching a big cat. I used to buy a fresh one at an Asian market. Haven't run across a store here, might be worth snooping around your local specialty markets.

@captcat#1 - go to Cherry Creek... fresh shad -

How do you get fresh shad in CC? My understanding is rules prevent cast nets on that body of water (or pretty much anywhere else in CO)?

I think he's also talking about picking up "fresh dead".

I went up to Lake Macintosh up in Longmont yesterday... there were many dead shad - I think I was there about a week (or so) too late... 'cause they were RIPE...

I've picked up a few in my bucket - it's gonna be a skill to toss it out without splattering it on my back. But at least I got some.

^^^ Reading your description of casting them put a gnarly visual in my head! lol

you can use cast nets on some lakes. i got to windsor lake in may with cast nets get up to 50 shad. then take them home and vacum pack 1 at a time. best big cat bait hands down.i have a phone full of cats from 15lbs to 30 lbs all on shad.i wish i knew how to post pics on here, but if you dont beleave me come look at the pics on my phone and you will need a few minns to see the all. so in short yes shad works

We need those pictures capcat#1.
If you want to, launch a new post over on the plus side & some of us can probably help you get them uploaded.

I'm sneaking out to the garage with my wife's new vacuum sealer. Probably about to get locked out again.

Not Colorado, but some tips I'm learning here in SC for catfish.

Fresh is best, live or dead but fresh. Frozen is doable, if they're not OLD frozen. (I caught about 100 and froze them and they worked well for the better part of the season)

I don't know how Colorado feels about it, but down here, chicken. Thighs cut into strips/chunks works very well also. I've seen lots of different "secret" sauces Garlic powder, cherry cool aid powder and the like. I've tried both of those methods and just plain chicken as well. All 3 work, the best was the cool aid ones though for me. Again, fresh (within the last few days and kept in the fridge)

If I remember right, cherry creek is ripe with shad most summers, great place to get them.