Baitfish Running the Gauntlet

This video isn’t the greatest but I still thought it was kind of of cool. These tiny baitfish, hundreds of thousands of them, form a line and swim upsteam along this concrete wall, hour after hour, day after day. Pelicans and predators are gulping them up by the thousands. The baitfish are unphased and continue to swim upstream until their death. I usually see the bait panic, then a swirl, and finally the back of the predator that just had a easy meal. Ever wonder why the walleye fishing can be tough this time of year? Here a a visual….

Attachments:

1. 12-sec-bait.mov

Lock wall in hastings?
Yeah it is certainly a buffet table affair in some areas, day after day.

I enjoy looking at the clouds of baitfish on SI and seeing how they hold together when a fish attacks the school.

Saw something similar near shore on Pepin this weekend, pretty cool! Also the best demonstration of how species (fish in particular) survive and evolve by quantity and the law of large numbers.

Yup, up by the dam. Been watching this for a week now and I’m seeing no signs of the baitfish population dwindling. The pelicans are like whales – scooping them up and filtering out the water. Fat and happy.

I have never seen so many emerald shiners in the pool 2 system. It’s unreal, and the fishing sucks cuz of it. At least the fish are getting fat and healthy though!

It was around 2006(?) when my customers would complain about the noise from the shad at L&D 3. Just before dark it would sound like rain, then when it was dark, it sounded like hail.

Bait balls would run into my hull and make a thud.

Low water years seem to add to the bait fish populations…maybe to even out the stress of high hot water?

At the Harbor Bar Marina there’s swirls on the inside of the docks. I’m guessing it’s gar having a feast.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

I have never seen so many emerald shiners in the pool 2 system. It’s unreal, and the fishing sucks cuz of it. At least the fish are getting fat and healthy though!

It can definitely make fishing tough on the river. It’s also why a large Pool 2, 3, 4 walleye is exponentially heavier than some of the skinny runts on Mille Lacs and other Northern MN lakes.

My first time fishing Mille Lacs I thought the first “nice” walleye I caught was sick. Then I quickly realized that wasn’t the case…they’re just not built half as thick as river fish.

Based upon what I’ve seen on 2 the last few weeks it’s gonna be a grind for fishing due to all the bait. Unless something changes and spreads them out.

I thought there were a lot of big shad last fall. You might be able to walk across the river on their backs this year.

buckybadger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>LabDaddy1 wrote:</div>
I have never seen so many emerald shiners in the pool 2 system. It’s unreal, and the fishing sucks cuz of it. At least the fish are getting fat and healthy though!

It can definitely make fishing tough on the river. It’s also why a large Pool 2, 3, 4 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye is exponentially heavier than some of the skinny runts on Mille Lacs and other Northern MN lakes.

My first time fishing Mille Lacs I thought the first “nice” <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleye I caught was sick. Then I quickly realized that wasn’t the case…they’re just not built half as thick as river fish.

No doubt, and I hear ya on the Lille lacs thing! Lol.

And I agree with Matt, above^

This year the shad are as plentiful in terms of biomass—if not more so—than the shiners. That’s my experience, for what it’s worth.