Trav ?

[kevin wcmo]

what are your thoughts if a guy could find some 4-5 inch shinners, and using them down on the lower part. if so how would you go about rigging and also fishing them? thanks.

kevin

[Trav]

I dont know. I spose if you can keep them alive you might catch something. Keeping them alive would be the hard part.

It has been quite a number of years, but I used to catch shad and chubs up in bull for night fishing off my dock. But I never kept them alive, they were put on ice after I caught them.

I spose a good rig/tactic for live shad might be your basic lindy rig and then drift right above the bottom. Just be aware where bottom is. That rig could snag up very easily.

I would take a couple dozen rainbow fingerlings over shad. Wink. You find someplace to buy them let me know. Haha

[hoglaw]

Are you talking shiners or shad? Shiners are a little hardier I think. The only way I can keep shad alive is with as big a bucket (or livewell) as possible, and multiple battery operated aerators. They still die quickly if it's warm at all. For river fishing live shad (I've only done it in the warm stretches of the White and other South Arkansas slow-water), I've always used a float and no weight. They stay close to the top, and fighting the weight wears them out quicker I think. For tanney, maybe you could try a three way rig with a heavy weight so you can tight-line the swivel off the bottom? Shad won't go for the bottom, but I'm not sure about shiners. I'd give the three way a shot, casting downcurrent and tightlining to keep the fish up. Free-lining is an easy way to do it as well, especially if the shiners are pretty hefty and can survive multiple casts.

Might want to be careful about the rainbow fingerlings, I think trav's being sarcastic but I know it's a big ticket here in Arkansas.

Are there sculpins in Tanney? I assume there are since they're in the rest of the White. Skip the shiners and go catch sculpins if you want to bait fish.