Hatch?

Got out on pool 13 for a little while today to run the boat and make sure everything is working ok. Fished for about 90 min and caught 4 keepers- biggest 2 about 3 lbs, the others 2. There was quite a bit of bait out there- very small (1″ fry of some sort)- do you think these are a fresh hatch or last years shad?? I couldnt see them real well but It was odd, almost like it is in june or july- pods of the fry swimming around the shore. Any guess as to what these were?

BB,

I found the same thing up on pool 4 yesterday. I found some 56 degree water and it was loaded with these little guys. They were so thick, I was snagging them with a rat-l-trap. A good question that I would like to hear an answer to. Another question I have is do bass prefer these little guys or will they seek out larger baitfish?

My partner&I seen the same thing on pool 13.Although they seemed to be common in skinny water near the bank.Opposed to water that was deeper.My thoughts of what they were,was river shiner fry.They appeared to be a narrow body,in place of a taller body like shad.Shiners lay&hatch in much cooler water.

Fishing pool 5 on Saturday we saw the same thing, just little pin minnows.

If that is the same minnow we see in Pool 3, that would be a River Shiner. We have had bad hatches up here resulting in poor crappie fishing in North Lake this winter. (In my opinion.) The walleye did not stage up in the backwaters either as in years past. I hope they had a good spawn up here too!

JJ

When you threw your spinner bait did you get a look at the horny males chasing it? Saturday i watched flashes behind my bait all day from what looked to be a bunch of bait fish wanting a piece of strange they were brownish green on the back.

I ran into this same situation at Mark Twain a few years ago it was spawning shad of some sort and the water temp seems pretty close to the same

Those are the male river shiners your seeing…..The big ones that you see alot are the females…