They recently stocked my local river (Charles River, Ma) with American Shad.  A few quick questions if anyone has an idea.

1)  Best bet of lures to catch larger shad that will also catch bass?  I'd prefer to catch bass but if the bite is slow I'd like to fish something that might catch either.  

2)  What impact will the stocking have on Bass?  The Charles naturally had trout, shad, salmon and pickerel but were stocked with bass, carp and pike once pollution wiped out the trout, salmon and shad in the 1800's.  I'm thinking it's just more smaller fish for the bass to eat but shad can eventually get quite big.

3)  Am I correct that over time this should improve the Stiper fishing every Spring as the stiper move into freshwaters?  I've always heard that they "follow" the herring, I'm assumign herring and shad would only improve this.

1) For the lures a Shad Dart, will work amazingly on Shad and can also catch you Bass. Go to Cabelas to find them.

2) As far as I know, the Shad don't affect the Bass population as their diets are very different. You are right Shad do get big, but once females lay their eggs they die. And the males don't grow a large.

3) I have no clue.