Shad Shad Shad

[airborne_angler]

Thats all I read when I look at magazines talking about seasonal techniques.

My lake doesnt have Shad,I cant put info about Shad Migration,Shad Spawn,Schools of shad and shad boils into action like these magazines detail. There are no baitfish,only Fry and fingerlings of Bluegill,Bass and Green Sunfish in my lake.

So what good does it do me to read these articles? I dont benefit if I cant put the information to use.

Why arent there more articles about Crawfish,and things related to Crawfish. That information I can put to use, as theres an abundant population of craws in my home lake.

[Shad_Master]

I'm with you on this one - it seems to me like most of the lakes where pro torneys are held do have lots of shad (or other bait fish) as the main forage.

I suspect this makes 'em easier to catch and thus makes for a better tournament. 

[Hot Rod]

I suspect this makes 'em easier to catch and thus makes for a better tournament.

The presence of shad does not make fishing easier per say.  It does provide a great forage base for bass.  So shad can positively impact the number and size of bass in the population.   

At times trying to find/catch bass in a lake with a high shad population can be much more difficult than one without shad because they most often relate to deep water and roam more than other bait fish.  So the bass follow them.  Granted if you can locate shad you almost always locate bass but you still have to figure out how to catch bass that are often very deep and or suspending and not relating to any cover/structure.  To me that is the most difficult bass fishing technique with the steepest learning curve.

The best way to learn about crayfish is from personal observation because they vary so greatly from one lake to the next and season to season.  Walk along the shore and turn over rocks in shallow water and study crayfish habits/habitats/size/color (which changes season to season).  You can find a lot of research/information though through academic institutions if you "Google" it.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Thats all I read when I look at magazines talking about seasonal techniques.

My lake doesnt have Shad,I cant put info about Shad Migration,Shad Spawn,Schools of shad and shad boils into action like these magazines detail. There are no baitfish,only Fry and fingerlings of Bluegill,Bass and Green Sunfish in my lake.

So what good does it do me to read these articles? I dont benefit if I cant put the information to use.

Why arent there more articles about Crawfish,and things related to Crawfish. That information I can put to use, as theres an abundant population of craws in my home lake.

Do the articles talk about how bass ambush their prey?

Apply it to the baitfish you DO have in your lake. All those you mentioned are baitfish to me. Anything a bass can and does eat, to me, is prey.

Bass will use travel routes, ambush points, cover and structure whether they are chasing shad or other baitfish. You just have to know how to apply it to your specific lake.

[Bluebasser86]

In lakes without shad, bass will still do something that bass in lakes with shad do, follow the food! If they're eating bluegills and sunfish in your lake, find an area with bluegill and sunfish in it. Learn at what tempature they spawn at and keep that in mind while you're on the lake because bass will most certainly take advantage of bluegills grouped up on spawning beds. Craws are almost always on rocks. They are popular food in spring for big females because they are high in protein and help the eggs develop. They start to emerge from their winter holes shortly after ice out on most lakes and bass will start eating them shortly after that. Lots of the lakes I fish have no shad and I feel that most of the time they are easier to catch than in lakes with shad. In lakes with shad the bass move around a lot more and if you happen to be on the lake when the shad ball up thick enough to walk on it can be almost impossible to get a bite. Reading and learning about shad isn't a bad idea though, unless you plan to never fish a lake with shad in it  .

[fishfordollars]

I read an article not long ago in Bass West USA that stated one of those Arizona lakes now had a sizable population of shad in it and due to that the fishing had greatly improved. You might want to check with someone out there and see if that was not so. I have the mags here, will research it and see if i can't get you more info and the article.

Jack

Personally, i think that mag is the best on the market.

[WRB]

You are right, lakes that don't have pelagic bait such as herring, shad, specifically threadfin shad, the bass locations are different. Lakes with primarily demersal bait fish, the bass will stay near cover where that type of bait fish lives. Crawdads and other prey such as frogs tend to also stay close to cover or rocky areas that offer a place to hide and provide their food source.

The only time shad are close to cover is during night and low light time periods, otherwise the threadfin shad are off shore following their food source phytoplankton. Gizzard shad eat both phytoplankton and zoo plankton and other small aquatic creatures and tend to stay close to cover for longer time periods.

Deep water in lakes with only demersal baitfish is not a good bass location; any area where weed/grass cover, tree's, brush, rocks and docks are the locations the sunfish, bluegill, young of the year carp or bass, suckers, sculpin, chubs, frogs, crawdads, salamanders, worms, larvae, small animals like mice should be located and the bass will be close.

Crappie are pelagic fish, spawn near shore cover, then move out into the water column and come back to cover to feed. If your lake has a crappie population, then the bass may move off shore to feed on them.

Most bass lakes have a combination of both types of bait fish; pelagic and demersal.

WRB

PS; Bass Angler magazine is new and Bass Anglers Guide magazine are other good publications to consider. Bill Murphy's In Pursuit of Giant Bass is one of the best resources for information regarding bass fishing with crawdads.

[rboat]

I used to fish some smaller ponds and lakes that did not have shad, yet the bass would tear up lures that were shad shaped and shad colored. Give it a try.

[booyahfish]

try the new lateral perch jig.

or also may have to give JJ's magic a try

[gobig]

IMO speedbead nailed it. Its all about ambush points. It does not mater what the prey is, Bass use the same type of locations no matter where you go. Points, humps, ridges, creek channels and flats. Any cover is just a bonus.

[Shad_Master]

I suspect this makes 'em easier to catch and thus makes for a better tournament.

The best way to learn about crayfish is from personal observation because they vary so greatly from one lake to the next and season to season. Walk along the shore and turn over rocks in shallow water and study crayfish habits/habitats/size/color (which changes season to season). You can find a lot of research/information though through academic institutions if you "Google" it.

This is what I meant by "easier" - everybody talks about "matching the hatch" - but that is "easier" to do if they all are the same - I can't remember a pro tournament where the talk was about keying in on the crawdads (not to say there hasn't been one) but the discussions about holding tournaments on certain lakes because of the "shad spawn", "shad migration" or "blue herring" for instance are common.

[scrutch]

A nearby lake has a gluttony of shad and IMO it is not as good of a fishery now as it used to be before the shad when the DNR stocked it with trout. 

The fishing is so much more difficult now because you have to stay on the schools of shad.  They move so fast, and unless they're on the surface, it's nearly impossible to follow them.

This may change this spring when I add SI to my boat.

[jeb2]

A nearby lake has a gluttony of shad and IMO it is not as good of a fishery now as it used to be before the shad when the DNR stocked it with trout.

The fishing is so much more difficult now because you have to stay on the schools of shad. They move so fast, and unless they're on the surface, it's nearly impossible to follow them.

This may change this spring when I add SI to my boat.

No doubt it will. That's a big thing I use my SI for, looking for shad bait balls off to the side of the boat. My 'birds earn me a lot of fish I'd have driven right past otherwise. Happened just yesterday. Idled through a couple of my regular spots looking for shad balls. Found them on my 3rd spot and kicked butt. The other nice thing about SI is you don't have to drive right over them to see them, so you don't spook them as quickly.

[SENKOSAM]

A_A you might like to read my essay, Lure characteristics that define the sight and sound choices available to bass anglers - four parts, in the Luremaking section. It gives a different perspective why certain lures work better than others.

Once upon a time I used to try to make sense of why fish eat lures that resemble nothing in their normal diet, but when you consider all the odd lure shapes, colors and actions fish respond to, many of these articles logically don't make sense - unless you have a big imagination and want to believe everything you read.

I do go along with the need to know my local seasonal prey patterns such as forage fish size, location, school potential and depth. To me, that stuff is useful year after year.

The waters we all fish vary from north to south, east to west, even within our own states and counties; it doesn't make sense to generalize with specifics.

I'm no longer confused choosing lures based on forage alone and I rarely believe fishing articles that mention specific lure brands.

Frank