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Has anyone had any success on Rusty’s Shad bait?

I cannot find fresh shad anywhere near me, so I decided to try Rusty’s Shad bait from my local WalMart.

I have tried it in many different bodies of water, such as the Mississippi River, Rock River, Hennepin Canal, Edwards River, Lake Storey, and my local private lake.  NOTHING!  Not even a nibble.  So, I switched to shrimp and I was getting all kinds of action.

I would like to give it some more time, but the chemical they use to preserve the shad may be a distractor to the real fish. 

Any feedback, and/or actual results would be greatly appreciated.

I use a thrownet to catch my own fresh shad.  This works well just make sure they are all dead before baiting them up.  Don’t wanna spread asian carp to new waters.

I catch them all the time at the Hennepin between Colona and Geneseo.  I used to use dip bait but I switched to the baby shad, mostly because they dont smell as bad.  I cut them in half to make em go farther, caughter mostly channels but a few flatheads too.

Cast net is the way to go! I have been doing it for years and feel fresh bait is the way to go, no preservatives or stinky slop in a jar.

I tried out the Rusty’s over last weekend.  No bites except one, and when I pulled it in, I had a baby striper on the wasn’t much bigger than the shad.

In all my eforts and many diferent baits I can say that Rusty’s Shad Bait is NOT worth it. I have tried it and it absolutely does not work in the waters I fish. Now the price of a throw or casting net will pay for itself in short order and it is hard to beat fresh shad as bait for Mr. Whiskers….

I’ve used the good ole Walmart packaged bait too, with not much luck, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever gotten even a bite using. For river fishing I usually stick with plain old nightcrawlers and if I am fishing one of the lakes nearby I go with Sonnys SuperSticky - Blood formula.

Ah, I would agree with you on Sonny’s. I resisted using any dip bait for a long time and an ole friend told me the channels were hitting it like crazy. I followed him to the “honey hole” and could not fish with two rods, the action was that fast. I did fill more than one stringer of fine tasting cats this past year using nothing but the bait you have mentioned.

enjy - same here, if they are really biting good, I too have had to give up and use just one pole using Sonnys…lol Thats ok with me though, I’d rather have a day like that than a day sitting there wondering where the heck all the fish are hiding ... ;0)  I am hoping the groundhog was wrong.. and we have an early spring.. I am itching to go fishing ....

We did a Review on Rusty’s Baby Shad and Wounded Shad over a period of 3 months last year fished side by side with fresh shad and other baits as well and Rusty’s failed miserably we even set up a trot line with 50 hooks and all the baits were still intact the next morning not even a turtle our advise? steer clear of Rusty’s.

Thanks for the review info.  Very helpful.

Welcome to the site.

Thanks! we review about anything out there and tell people the real deal, If it’s crap it’s crap.

I tried some “packaged shad” once.  Not sure if it was Rusty’s or another brand but either way it was a futile effort.  I agree with the general theme here.  Sonny’s blood is pretty good especially when the water warms up.  Catching fresh shad in the water you are fishing works really well.  As I can’t seem to master the deployment of a shad net…..anybody ever use an umbrella net with much success??