Question about shad

[Danny2072]

I'm at lake wappapello and I'm seeing huge schools of shad in a cove not too far from the spillway in 9 fow. I've been fishing for a couple of hours now and I've only caught one dink.

My question, do I go fish in deeper water or stay close to the bait? Water temp is 45.
Im spider rigging double minnow rigs with a few jigs mixed in

[crappieseeker]

If it is not illegal I would catch some of that natural shad and fish with it.

[crappielimits]

Are you sure it is shad and not the distorted water from spillway?

[Danny2072]

Yup, had my cast net in the boat, first cast I caught over 40 with my little net. Tried using them as bait, no bites on them.
i wound up going out to the channel and caught a few in 29 fow about 14 foot deep on minnows. All were dinks tho

[DockShootinJack]

If it is not illegal I would catch some of that natural shad and fish with it.

Hard to beat using what they are eating for bait.

[thill]

I was also thinking you should net some of the natural bait and use it.

Could be, the fish were simply full, if all that bait was there. Try going back at the crack of dawn, and see if they are feeding there, IF you are confident that there are fish in that area. It could be that the bait was there because no predators were attacking them in that area. Hard to say!

-TH

[DockShootinJack]

Have also noticed that netted shad get hit allot better when they are under the bait ball or out off to the sides. Out where the strays would be. Most of the time that's where the bigger fish are also. Picking off the ones that are injured or away from the school.

[kickingback]

Did you change colors to find what they were hitting?Did you try different sizes and lures? Did you go all the way to the bottom and crank up one turn at a time to find them? They are deep here in Texas due to the cold. They are holding deep and are slow to bite in the cold water. Let the jigs sit still or troll them at .5 mph or less. Also try some scents on the jigs. That may entice them to bite better. If you caught one, then there is a good bet there are more. Just need to find the right combo.

[Danny2072]

Did you change colors to find what they were hitting?Did you try different sizes and lures? Did you go all the way to the bottom and crank up one turn at a time to find them? They are deep here in Texas due to the cold. They are holding deep and are slow to bite in the cold water. Let the jigs sit still or troll them at .5 mph or less. Also try some scents on the jigs. That may entice them to bite better. If you caught one, then there is a good bet there are more. Just need to find the right combo.

no i didnt change colored jigs, I wound up swapping the jigs I was using with fresh shad. And yeah I staggered depths and caught most around 14 foot deep. I mainly fish with minnows, havnt used jigs much.
Thanks for all the advice, I don't have a lot of experience fishing for crappie in the cold.

[Hanr3]

I have not had much luck fishing bait balls when they are boiling.
Crappie push the bait into a holding area, then feed like an all day buffet bar. Gorge at first, then nit pick the rest of the day. Makes catching them with live bait difficult. Try for reaction strikes with just about anything other than live bait.