These schools of shad may be several feet thick, and at times will saturate the area from top to bottom, even in 20 feet or more of water.

If the water is calm, you can often see the shad dimpling the waters surface. With the aid of a graph recorder, you can quickly tell if there are any larger fish present as you ease the boat directly across the school of baitfish. Usually the fish will be either under the shad, or around the edge of the school. In some cases, a large school of shad will block out readings of fish under the school.

If this occurs, and the shad are situated over a bottom change, such as a drop or hump, odds are very good there will be some catfish present.

The majority of the action will be in relatively deep water, usually 20 feet or deeper. The fish may suspend just under the school of shad, or they may orient directly to the bottom structure, moving in to feed when ready, then returning to the bottom.

The use of a graph helps speed the fish-finding process up quite a bit. Drose notes that you have to be precise in locating and fishing for them. Haphazard drifting or randomly anchoring is not likely to produce anything other than random fish, and almost certainly won't produce catfish action with any consistency.

Most anglers begin each trip by catching the bait for the day. This is a simple procedure that consists of locating a school of shad and throwing a cast net in the midst of it. The best bait size is generally a 2- to 3-inch threadfin shad. Larger ones will work, but the smaller variety will result in more hookups than the larger ones based on the experience I've had.

After locating the fish, move upwind and drop anchor. Allow the boat to drift back over the fish before cinching the anchor rope down, thus getting right on top of the fish without disturbing them.

Since the water is typically 20 feet deep or deeper, most guides prefer to fish vertically in a tight-line manner. The basic rig consists of a very sharp 1/0 hook tied to the end of the line. About 18 inches above the hook is a 1- to 2-ounce weight. Favored rods are 6- to 7-foot medium-action rigs with baitcasting reels loaded with 20-pound-test Trilene line.

Drose and Woodham will normally hook two small shad on each hook, running the hook through the eye sockets. If the fish are suspended at a particular depth, then drop the bait to that depth or just slightly above. In most cases, the fish will be near the bottom and you'll be able to free-spool the bait to the bottom and then reel the rig up just a bit. It's very important to keep a tight line, as your reaction to a strike must be immediate or you'll miss the fish. Fishing with a slack line with the bait lying on the bottom will generally cause you to miss bites.