Berkshire County MA shad?

[Ruy Lopez]

I'm middle-aged. Have fished a little in the past but have really started to get into this great sport this past summer. Lots of useful info on this site

 

My question, a lot of the lure advice out there focus on shad. In other words using lures that mimic or appear like shad. Are there shad in Berkshire county waters? Not sure if I've seen shad in in the local lakes. I've seen plenty of perch, bluegill, sunfish, etc. among others. Do shad exist out here in meaningful numbers?

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

@Ruy Lopez: First, quit bragging!  Some of us can barely remember being middle-aged.  ?  I know of no shad in the lakes I fish (Onota, Cheshire, Ashmere, Buckley Dunton).  Closest I've found is golden shiners. If you go to mass.gov and search for "Pond Maps", there is a fairly comprehensive list of lakes broken down by district; for each there is a rudimentary topo map and a list of known species plus stocking info (trout). Much is out of date but they are updating. Check out Onota and Ashmere for examples of the updated versions.  Never saw a mention of Shad in the local lakes. Hope this helps!  (By the way, imitating bluegill with flukes has been productive for me, particularly the Reaction Innovations Sungill.  Zoom flukes in baby bass are another option. But most of my fishing is with T-rigged worms.). PM if you wish - we can swap fishing lies and maybe I can answer questions - mostly about how NOT to catch bass in Berkshire County. 

 

Art

[Ruy Lopez]

Thanks for the info Grumpy!  My mind must be slipping!  I've been on that pond maps website a ton and it never occurred to me to connect the dots between the species listed there and the shad. Although as you say some of the info is outdated.

 

I've got a lot to learn about fishing but so far I've caught a few bass (at least enough to keep me coming back) and pickerel at Cheshire this year.  Ironically, I've had some luck with the 3-inch PowerBait Pre-rigged Swim Shad (in the shad color). I guess some of the bass haven't got the memo yet that there might not be any shad in the waters!!  Lately though Spinnerbaits have helped me catch a few.  I caught a couple trout this year. One at Richmond by floating some Powerbait and one by yo-yoing (I think that's the proper term?) a Thomas buoyant Minnow spoon off the pier at Onota.

 

Funny that you mention T-rigged worms, I tried that earlier this week at the causeway at Onota. No luck though but I am still learning how and where and when to throw one. That's the beautiful thing about YouTube and the internet. So much available instruction.  Sifting through it all can be a tad overwhelming at times but I love learning so it's 99% fun. Plus what else are you going to do on a rainy day!

 

I invested in a fishing kayak earlier this summer but have been out only a few times on that. Plan to use it a lot more next year. Most of my fishing at this point is from the shore. Okay I'm rambling now. Time to pack it in.

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

I mostly use a kayak too. Really helps at Cheshire for me if I launch from Farnum Road and fish some of the islands. Or, if you launch at the boat launch there are some interesting lily pads directly across the lake (frogs/worms).  As for shad patterns, I suspect that they may resemble some of the shiners, minnows, and young fish enough that the bass don't care.  I personally just can't bring myself to buy any of the shad patterns.  Definitely going to get out this week with the good weather. Won't be long until we'll be inside with lots of time to do research.

[Mr. Aquarium]

yea i fish in MA my entire life! very few lakes around here have an alewife population, unless they are seasonal spring run.  the main forage is perch, trout, shiners, sunfish. then you get some fish like banded killies which are heavily populated down on the cape.