more about the shad. I have found that catching fish is better when there are less shad. But, the size and health of the fish are less. About five years ago I remember one of the lakes I fish had a serious shad kill after severe cold. Dead shad everywhere. That spring we caught huge amounts of fish, mostly large fish. But, they were thin and really hungry. The larger fish seem to be harder to catch when there are large amounts of shad available for them to eat.
One of the local lakes here was known for having good quality crappie. It was not part of the river system, but an impoundment and wasn't real large. Anyway, the lake had a couple of good years of hatches. Now, you can catch a limit of fish easily, but it is very hard to found even one serious quality fish in the lake. Wonder if the small fish are just eating all the bait. Will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next couple of years.
Shoals Area Crappie Association