Shad Darts ?

[wfauby]

i wanted some shad darts and the local stores didnt have any so i went on line and found a guy that makes them in MA, woos lures...i emailed him, he made some suggestions, i said throw an assortment together for $20 bucks and sent me the nice assortment pictured. He emailed me a list of what he was going to send, i put a money order in the mail and voila...nice shad darts. Check him out. Nice guy.

[Cliff]

Those look great! Sometimes I use them in trout streams on a lite tackle set up. Hopefully I will actually use them for shad this spring, I hear they make a nice run up the Delaware river.

[Yak Fish]

Those look great! Sometimes I use them in trout streams on a lite tackle set up. Hopefully I will actually use them for shad this spring, I hear they make a nice run up the Delaware river.

They run right up through the flats to deer creek...another reason its my favorite place. I've fished them for years and it's a blast. Same time as spring striper by the way.

[wfauby]

i have caught them in the Potomac @ the Wilson Bridge and Fletchers boat house is a prime place for them. i am going to see if the crappies and perch will hit them at Blackhills Lake over the next few days. Has anyone used one of these "hungesser" spoons? they make them very tiny...down to 1/24 oz. Im not a big jigger but when it gets cold its hard to beat a silver buddy...i like the profile of this spoon and the hair makes me want to bite it..

[bignose]

I pour and make my own shad darts (it's the former shop teacher in me), along with my spinner jigs and bigger jig heads for stripers.
Pouring lead needs to be done in a safe environment due to fumes and lead particle residue.
I don't pour enough to sell them commercially, but I have been known to give a few "samples" away.
Locally, Tochtermans, up in Baltimore, usually has a huge selection at a reasonable price, and they are great people to work with. They also have a huge selections of the do-it molds and tying supplies upstairs.

I use darts and nungusser spoons in tandem, or two darts, one heavy, one light as a part of my shad fishing rig. The nungusser spoons by themselves are probably too light to be cast, even with an ultra light rig.
I use a small ball bearing swivel and tie two leaders to it, a long one-24" for the spoon or lighter dart and a shorter one, 12-15" for the heavier dart.

The picture of me that you see with my postings was taken this spring by John Veil, just upstream from Fletcher's boathouse in D.C. We were using the rigs mentioned above.

[jsquare]

If you get desperate, Bass Pro carries the darts and small spoons in the panfish section, usually on an end cap.

I've used the small spoons in tandem with a shad dart as well, and it works at fletcher's. Fishing out of the row boats at fletcher's, I have also caught some fish just letting the spoon drift back in the current, wobbling back and forth as the river flows by. This is a boring way to fish, though, and I prefer casting. This works if you are out with people who can't cast or get tired of casting.

[J.A. Veil]

The picture of me that you see with my postings was taken this spring by John Veil, just upstream from Fletcher's boathouse in D.C. We were using the rigs mentioned above.

Stu mentored me that day. We stood nearly side-by-side on a rock and cast out into the current. His rod, reel, and line could cast 5-15 ft farther than mine -- that made a huge difference. He outcaught me at least 3 to 1. Part of that was his experience and skill, but part was the ability to get his shad darts into the target zone where the fish were. Despite my deficient catch rate, it still proved to be the most productive catching day of my fledgling shad career.

If you have the chance to fish with Stu, go for it. He knows his stuff and makes lures that catch fish.