The shad effect. Like a new lake.

[keithdog]

In the pic posted here you will see a map of one of the lakes I fish most often. You'll need to click on the attachment at the botom of the page as I wasn't able to get it onto this page in picture form for some reason. Named Flint lake, this 89 acre lake is a naturally formed lake from the glaciers durring the ice age. It has no feeder streams or dams. Primarily a sandy bottom, with some areas that are muck. The various species in the lake are bass, bluegills, perch, crappie, pike, catfish, dogfish, carp, and the occational walleye. Not many walleye because they don't reproduce in this lake. Any left are from a previous stocking. Up untill now, the main forage for bass was small panfish, and other fry of the various species. And of course, frogs and so on. There were no shad in this lake that I know of. I've never heard of anyone seeing any shad, and never found evidense of shad in the bass I've caught over the years. But low and behold, they are there now. Not sure of when and how, but they are there and it has changed the lake completely. It will be interresting to see over the comming years how this all developes. I know very little about shad, and don't know if they will even reproduce or not. I've heard they need a stream to swim up to spawn but I'm not sure if this is correct or not. But I have noticed a few changes in the behavior of the bass. For one, they arn't where they used to be. In the past, I caught bass in this lake by working spinnerbaits in the weed beds and brush, cranking deeper weedbeds, and pitching into the slop or froggin the slop. And while I have caught the occational bass using these methods this year, for the most part, these techniques have given poor results at best, especially as of late. After ice out, the hollow bodied swimbaits were killer. But once late spring/early summer came on, the shallows seemed deserted. Some of you may have read my two recent posts about wolfpack bassin. This is the lake I was fishing. The bass used to be concentrating on the bluegills and other small fish that hung out in the weedbeds. But now, they are chasing the shad all over the lake. And I mean all over. They are busting schools of shad anywhere from the bank to the middle of the lake. They are not hitting the lures I used to use as they are not where they used to be. Now they are following these schools of shad wherever they go. And the bass appear to be thicker, heavier bass. Not longer, but bigger. Very healthy! How this will all work out will be interresting. If the bass and pike are chasing the shad, what will happen to the panfish populations? Will they become stunted due to over population? And what techniques will I need to develope as the seasons change? So far, I know I can take them with poppers, and soft plastic jerkbaits like flukes. I've caught close to 100 bass the past two outtings on these two baits. But I know there must be other baits that can be effective around shad chasing bass. I still get a few on crankbaits, but they won't hit any spinnerbaits I throw into the feeding frenzy. They seem to not be interresting in shallow cranks, swimbaits, and other baits I've thrown at them. They seem very specific about what they will hit. I'm currious how a Rapala shallow X Rap Shad in a shad color would work. Or maybe a spoon jerked through the school of shad. Different ideas are comming to me to try. So I'm interrested in any feedback from anglers who fish lakes containing shad. What can I expect as far as where shad will be at various times of the year, what lures you find to be especially good for fishing for bass when they are chasing shad, and so on. Unlike huge reservoirs, this small lake will limit the shad as to where they can go. There is a small short ditch about 100 foot long that crosses under a road through a large pipe that leads into another lake. No doubt shad will reach that lake soon if they havn't already. This introduction of shad will cause me to rethink my approach to catching bass, and it's all new to me. Any tips or suggestions any of you may have will be greatly apprciated. Oh, almost forgot. Can anyone identify what kind of shad I have pictured here? I'm sorry about the quality of the pic, but I only had a cell phone to take the photo with.