I am going to be fishing in a rowboat with my girlfriend and the lake we are fishing is known for good hybrid striped bass fishing. I want to fish them when we take a break. I can row the boat while she relaxes and still have lines in the water to possibly catch a great fish. Lake Shabbona, IL. I have the appropriate rods/reels/line just need to know how I rig the live shad up so it is in the strike zone.

 

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!  

 

 

if was me i would probably try the lightest hook i could get away with and freeline it...and then i would con the girlfriend into rowing while i fish hahahaha just kiddinggggg lol

My best bet has been to go through the bottom lip and up through the top.  But you have to check them often as this pins their lips together and they die.  Use a cirle octopus hook, as they love to swallow live bait, and this helps with not gut hooking them!

 

Jeff

My best bet has been to go through the bottom lip and up through the top.  But you have to check them often as this pins their lips together and they die.  Use a cirle octopus hook, as they love to swallow live bait, and this helps with not gut hooking them!

 

Jeff

 

Then fish it on a balloon:  

 

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/beaver-lake/2011/12/07/using-balloons-for-stripers/

Then fish it on a balloon:  

 

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/beaver-lake/2011/12/07/using-balloons-for-stripers/

 

i used to see this all the time at Smith Mountain Lake in the 90s, havent seen anyone there do it in years though

PM me if you want more details, but how big are your shad?  I am thinking they should still be pretty small and if so will be pretty difficult to keep alive for very long. 

In cases like this I find a jigging spoon casted and then have a live bait rod dropped over the side suspended at a specific depth. 

 

In your case, it sounds like you should drop one over side, and let one float further back and higher in the water column with a float.  Use as small of a circle hook and weight as you can get away with.

If they're big enough I like to hook them through the nostrils with the smallest hook I can get away with. I rig a floro leader to a braid mainline and a fairly large ball bearing swivel is my main source of weight. Catch a lot of wipers and bluecats fishing that way during the winter at the powerplant lakes. 

Then fish it on a balloon:  

 

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/beaver-lake/2011/12/07/using-balloons-for-stripers/

Another saltwater ploy is a rubber band around the girth and slip the hook under the band in front of the dorsal fin, this is a sailfish rig.  Live bait stays alive much longer this way, goggle eyes are $10 a piece.