Thread: Harris shad?

2" shad half alive. Said he grabbed a few put on hook still no bite.

that lake could stand to loose a few, i saw several while fishing last week swimming upsidedown just under the surface

Agree with Gobbler. Abundance of forage in the lake seems to have made it hard to catch em at Harris. Either that or I just am not good at the catchin part

I went bass fishing yesterday and fished both the Buckhorn Creek and White Oak Creek arms of the lake and the fishing was once again very poor. Yes, there were shad dying and seagulls (both) actively diving while others were sleeping on the water as if they were working shifts on the dead and dying shad. Once I saw what was going on: I knew the fish were likely gorged to the gills... so I decided to make the day a scouting and graphing mission. I saw early on that it appeared that only the smallest shad were the ones affected in this die-off event... as the average size was two inches and less anywhere I went. I reckon the last long cold snap was more than they could bare.

I only caught a single pound and half bass and a four-pound (or so) jack... both on a spinner-bait as quick as the bait hit the water. I must have hit them both in the head and the splashing and flashing blades probably caused the reaction bite. I talked to several others out there who fared about like me or worse than I did. Still a great weather day to be on the water.

Don't worry: I can assure you there's still plenty of shad that are not affected, as I saw huge masses of them everywhere in the main lake. I will not go back until the die-off is over... I can assure you it is a waste of time unless you just want to ride and look around.

Would be nice if more shad could go the same route, I think there are two issues with Harris:

* Fishing pressure has educated the fish
* So much shad it's hard to find gamefish and when you do, they aren't hungry

Guess we can complain or figure out how to get'r done. If it was easy it would quickly become boring

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I thought I would share: My youngest brother just called me to tell me about the bass tournament held at Shearon Harris Lake yesterday. He said that the tournament had 42 boats to enter... and at the end of the day, only two bass were caught.
I hate it for all the guys who fished this tournament and that it turned into such a non-event for them. After my bass fishing trip to Harris on Friday... and seeing the shad die-off for myself; I had a pretty good feeling that that's the way it might turn out.
Now, I do need to qualify what I've said a little further: This is strictly hearsay only at this point... so I don't tend to give it a whole lot of credence over and above that. Someone else on the NC Board might add a little more to this.

So bass are full to the brim( gills). So want be hungry again till after shad kill? 70- 80 good bass fishermen yesterday and 2 fish?

Think crappie tournament yesterday produced some good fish ? Don't know for sure?