Are Shad Baitfish In This Lake?

[Catch and Grease]

If I haven't seen big schools of shad swimming about does that mean there aren't shad here? I've seen good size bait fish near the shore but I don't think its shad, I fish a lake in South Georgia called banks lake. Is there a good chance this lake has shad and I just can't see them? Its a dark lake with low visibility, maybe they are too deep to see? I was wondering because I have some lures that imitate shad but if there aren't shad in this lake they may not be effective...

EDIT: Sorry if this is in the wrong section, I wasn't sure where to ask it...

[atpns1234]

I was kinda wondering in my lake as well.

[doyle8218]

I am sure the bass will bite a shad bait even if there aren't any shad.

[Raul]

If there is shad I´m not shure but I´m 100% shure that even if there is no shad a bass can be caught with "shad imitators" . My PB (13.86 lb ) was caught with a Rapala Shad Rap SR7 SD ( SD means SHAD pattern ) and that lure has caught me tons of fish and there´s no shad where I caught it, the same way perch has caught me tons of fish and there´s no perch, my first 10+ lber was caught with a Rapala Original Minnow size 9 RT pattern ( RT means Rainbow Trout ) and there´s no rainbow trout.

 

Knowing what´s in your lake serves no practical purpose, the only thing you need to know is if there´s bass.

[WRB]

I agree and disagree with Raul on this topic.

What bass think a fast moving crankbait represents as prey know one knows for sure. What we know is come color combinations work better than others at different lakes.

Knowing what prey is in the lake can be very important. Threadfin shad for example are pelagic baitfish and spawn when the water is about 70 degrees, about 2 to 3 weeks after bass spawn. When shad spawn they are in and around brush or wood and that is good to know. Otherwise shad are phytoplankton eaters and move out away from shore as the sun and wind moves the plankton into deeper water, the bass follow and that is good to know. Perch, bluegill,crappie, most minnows are dermasil fish that stay close to shore and cover and that is good to know cause the type of baitfish can determine where the bass are located.

Most Georgia lakes have shad or herring and a variety of sunfish, bluegill and crappie. Most Florida lakes have golden shiners, a wide variety of minnows and sunfish, bluegill etc.

Check with your local DNR, they will tell you what fish inhabited a specific lake.

Tom

[jhoffman]

put me in the it doesnt matter camp

[Paul Roberts]

First, to answer the OP: Shad may not be easy to see, esp gizzard shad. Threadfins can be more surface oriented and easier to spot. All will make their presence known eventually if you spend time there. However, there is a short cut: Either Google the lake and see what the DNR has to say about species present in the lake (and other related, useful, and cool stuff), or call or email them up and ask. Most managers, being public servants, are approachable. After all, you are one of their constituents. At least that's been my experience.

 

I agree with both sides of the baitfish/lure discussion above. Following is a post I made for a very similar question:

 

Bass are adaptable. They can feed on a range of prey almost anywhere in the water column. They have preferences though. And they have limitations determined by body shape (how effectively they operate in water), energetics (energy balance in obtaining food), and prey availability and vulnerability (diff things –most prey are not pushovers).

 

Bass being adaptable can change prey if needed, but in many waters they have a predominate prey type. In some waters it’s bluegills (shallower weedier waters, ponds, many natural lakes), others it’s shad (most often in reservoirs: gizzard, and threadfin in the south), some it’s crappies (esp in MW and S reservoirs), or yellow perch (esp in the NE), some it’s golden shiners (far south in weedy ponds and lakes, and some stocked ponds in the N). Young bass, or crappies, can be a staple prey item for mature bass, especially so on strong hatch years (this can influence the way you fish drastically). Crayfish are a staple in many waters too, in fact most bass waters have crayfish and they are often part of LM diets everywhere, but more so in some waters, places within waters, and some seasons (winter migrations make them esp vulnerable).

 

Bass change prey size as they grow so, to get big, bass need to switch prey type or age as they grow. At times, you’ll see waters in which the bass are thin, at a certain size indicating a gap in the food chain.

 

Not sure how you are trying to use prey info but I’ll suggest you don’t have to worry too much about what bass are feeding on to catch some. Again, they are very adaptable and will often respond to a variety of presentations. “Match the hatch” is harder to realize than I think many anglers realize. What works is often more influenced by sky and water conditions, bass activity level, where in the water column they are, and proximity to cover structure (what you’ll hear as “positioning”).

 

That said, as you get more familiar with your waters knowing what’s going on with the prey fish in your favorite waters can offer opportunities worth knowing, and revisiting year in and year out. As an example, I now fish small waters (ponds and small reservoirs) that are predominately bluegill based, so I have learned about bluegill locations and behavior in my waters –and the bass are there! The connection is VERY real. After that, all I have to do is deal with sky and water conditions.

 

In larger waters, you’ll often be dealing with larger scale preyfish migrations, as Tom mentioned –especially with shad, perch, spottail shiners, alewife, smelt, species that make more use of more open water. However, while bluegills in ponds tend to be homebodies, in many lakes mature ‘gills will move a distance to find spawning gravel, and they tend to move deeper in summer off deep weedlines.

 

As you get deeply into your fishing, you’ll want to get to where they show up and when and where they are vulnerable to bass. Predators are super athletes, but so are their prey.

 

QUOTE:...on 12 May 2014 - 08:21, said:

The reason for asking is I didnt know if there were certain times of the year that were better for throwing bluegill imitators or baby bass colored lures. I have bluegill colored crankbaits, and baby bass colored cranks and flukes. I didnt know if they started feeding heavy on these species at a certain time.

 

Ah...just saw this. Don't expect that lures colored like preyfish represent those preyfish in the bass's eyes. For bass eating bluegills, you'd be WAY better off putting a shad colored lure (or a fluorescent pink one) in the right place doing the right thing than a bluegill colored one a couple feet off the mark. Again, what works is often more influenced by sky and water conditions, bass activity level, where in the water column they are, and proximity to cover structure (what you’ll hear as “positioning”). IF you get all this down, on each cast, (no small order) that's when it's time to play with "hatch matching" colors. But you'll already be so busy catching fish that you won't probably have time, or care, to change.

[Catch and Grease]

Thanks for all the replys guys, I wanted to know about the lure because I have three hard shad swimbaits I picked up and haven't caught a fish out of this lake with any of them, maybe I'm just not fishing them right or in the right places. They look pretty realistic in the water so they do imitate shad pretty well.

[Paul Roberts]

If every shad in the lake were able to be eaten, and your lure looked enough like a shad, your lure would be eaten too. There are a couple things wrong with this in reality:

 

-Every shad is not eaten. Bass work hard to catch their prey and many starve trying. There are times and places where bass find an advantage over their prey, and they exploit those. If those conditions aren't met satisfactorily than bass won't bother. They hold their precious energy in reserve for when hunting success is most likely. Some years are tougher on them than others.

 

-Your lure (any lure) only "looks like a shad" to bass in certain (and often rare) circumstances.

 

It's really not just a chuck-n-wind game, unless occasionally getting lucky is good enough. It's more about recognizing and finding opportunities and cashing in. There is no small amount of luck involved there too. But the more you know, the more experience you have, the more luck you'll recognize and find. If it's all new to you, then a lot is going to slip by. Keep at it. The quickest road is an education that includes knowledge and experience.

[WRB]

Very few small hard shad swimbaits work as good as a shad colored crankbait. 3" to 3 1/2" is about the size of shad bass like to eat and crankbaits fall into that profile. Hard swimbaits 4" or less look great but fished slow like a swimbait simply haven't proven to be as good as soft plastic swimbaits.

Another problem is when bass get on a shad bite nothing works very well with the exception of fly lined live shad.

Tom

[Catch and Grease]

I bought two hard swimbaits the other day and I guess I shouldn't have gotten them then... they are both H2O express lures and look great in the water but aren't producing. I'll fish them both a lot more this weekend and if they still don't catch me some fish I put them away.

 

 

 

[WRB]

I bought two hard swimbaits the other day and I guess I shouldn't have gotten them then... they are both H2O express lures and look great in the water but aren't producing. I'll fish them both a lot more this weekend and if they still don't catch me some fish I put them away.

I have no idea how long the lures you posted are? The top swimbait doesn't have a shad profile, not sure what the coloration is? The bottom swimbait is a bluegill and can be good during spawn and post spawn. Black Dog makes a good 4" wake bait Shall Cracker G2, 5" Shell Cracker that is excellent. Matt lures also makes a 5" Hard Gill that is excellent. 5" hard swimmers work! Try Matt's soft U2 Gil series in the 4" size, they work.

Tom

[Catch and Grease]

They are both 3 and a 1/2 inches long and the top one said on the box it was a jointed shad swimbait so I figured that's what its supposed to look like, a shad.

http://m.academy.com/shop/Product_10151_10051_22556_-1__true?color=Baby+Bass&N=10001&Ntt=swimbait&Ntk=All

There's a link to the lure on the top

[wordfactories]

This thread had me wondering about Shad in general.. I found USGS pages on both
 

Gizzard Shad: http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=492

&

Threadfin Shad: http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=493

 

There is a neat map of the United States showing the dispersion for each, as well as further details. 

[BigBassLoveSenkos]

Bill Dance must read this forum.  He covered this topic in his show today.

[Bankbeater]

Check with your DNR. If they manage the lake they will know what is stocked for baitfish.