Your pond sounds great especially that the shad are surviving and spawning. I had to look up what a dark sleeper was.....Now I want one! Glad I spent some time this spring moving crawdads to my main pond!
One time this year, back in about April, I took my little pontoon out and threw nothing but a dark sleeper for about an hour and a half. I caught about 30 bass in that time weighing between 1/2 lb to 4 lbs. It's a great lure. I did not manipulate the rod at all, just varied my retrieve.
