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Thread: In your opinion how much has a bunch of years of no shad kill changed fishing

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    Default In your opinion how much has a bunch of years of no shad kill changed fishing


    I am a structure fisherman trolling is ok and I catch a lot of fish, but I love to cork and fly fish in structure. I fish Douglas lake in east tn, well its closest to my house, and we have always relied on rocky points to fill our limits but its getting harder and harder to find crappie on them, its like they don't need the ambush advantage, there is so many shad top to bottom they just swim around and gorge on schools. I would gladly give up a few weeks on the lake for a good ole fashion shad kill.

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    Question Harley ....

    Quote Originally Posted by harleyrider04
    I am a structure fisherman trolling is ok and I catch a lot of fish, but I love to cork and fly fish in structure. I fish Douglas lake in east tn, well its closest to my house, and we have always relied on rocky points to fill our limits but its getting harder and harder to find crappie on them, its like they don't need the ambush advantage, there is so many shad top to bottom they just swim around and gorge on schools. I would gladly give up a few weeks on the lake for a good ole fashion shad kill.
    Douglas Lake's Shad are Gizzard Shad, aren't they ?? If so, there's not likely to be a "shad kill" unless the temps drop pretty quick, and at a most inopportune time (for the shad). Gizzard Shad are pretty resilient, when it comes to cold water. Threadfin Shad are the ones that are temp sensitive, and are likely to be involved in a "kill". Even so ... shad kills can make feeding all that much easier for the Crappie as they don't have to ambush, just hang around below the school and grab those that are fluttering down.

    Have you tried the rock bluffs, as opposed to the points ?? And, have you tried any cuts or pockets in those bluffs ?? (don't forget about the bridge pilons )

    ... cp

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    you may be right years ago we had shad kills on the lake and the banks were white with shad, but not in a long time. I don't know what kind of shad they are,we have had some cold winters where the lake froze but no dead shad.I'm glad I found this site, there are some pretty smart fisherman here. Feb. is almost here my favorite time, good fishing to all.

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    Got up early and had some time to scan through the pages look for topics I may have missed. -- Bump.

    I understand what you're talking about Harley. Lake Greeson is experencing the same thing. When the gizzard shad fry and threadfin shad population is high they have plenty to eat. When the food source is ample some of the crappie can school up and follow the shad in open water, but some with be on cover near the shad schools. This might make the fishing a little tougher and for us to fish differently, however I think the benefits are worth staying the course. I have noticed a dramatic improvement in the health and size of our crappie. I believe this is due to two factors - an increase in protective cover and an ample food source. An ample food source also feeds the super preditors and the takes the pressure off our crappie giving them time to grow bigger and increase their numbers. Three years ago our single trophy of the day was a 15". Now there is hardly a trip go by that we don't catch multiple 15"ers. We have caught plenty in the 16" year class and in 2007 six in the 17" class have been boated. All our crappie are thick and healthy and the bodies, tails and fins don't show any signs of stress.
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    Yes Douglas has Gizzard Shad.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Charger4404spd
    Yes Douglas has Gizzard Shad.
    hey charger, we must be neighbors. I guess the dominate shad has taken over and shad kills are over. You must fish douglas, was there today nothing, sat' nothing. yet limited both weekends befour on our structure, go figure. hows cherokee

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    I live in Morristown now, will be moving back to White Pine. Cant tell you anything on the Big Indian, I havent had time to fish, building a house so I am working every weekend

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    I lived in Morristown until a couple of years ago...wish I'd took more time off work to fish Cherokee!

    Those shad kills aren't all they're cracked up to be. There's a lake just north of where I live now that got a shad kill a couple of years ago...unfortunately, the shad kill got the majority of the crappie, a lot of other panfish, and a good bit of the green carp too. I would rather work hard for slabs than fish all day for nothing.

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    I don't know your lake, but has it recently got Hydrilla in it, say the last few years? I know once this lake got it things changed totally. Back then I was a bass angler 100% and we were structure fishermen to the hilt. Fishing tree lines, stump fields etc. Once Hydrilla moved in the entire way of fishing changed a great deal.

    This may or may not be your problem, but I know that made a huge difference in where and how we fished if we wanted to continue catching fish on this lake.

    You may have a totally different problem, but this ins one thing I know changes a lake. Now we have lost our Hydrilla beds and finding crappie has changed greatly over the last 4 years here. Many of my really good spots are now just sorry spots and I had to go looking again.

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