Shell Beds on the River (please don’t hijack)

What are your thoughts? Good, bad, or ugly?

Where do you even begin to look for shell beds? Backwaters? Sand banks with current?

I would suspect current and sand.

There good when holding fish and bad when stealing baits.

Guess that’s as deep as I’ve gotten on this one.

There used to be one in the back Channel up by redwing I think. It mostly held those wet-sock fish though.

I fished one on Pool 5 once and did ok. Not sure how I found it, but now I can easily tell the difference between shells and just sand on my graph.

I think I fished one on Winnebago too. Had a few bites, but it was nasty on my line and I kept busting off when Id set the hook with a c-rig.

So, to summarize, yes I’ve fished them, yes they hold fish and no I dont know the best way to find them. I suppose I would look for areas that look like they are just sand and throw a crankbait around so you can feel what you are bouncing off of. If that fails, bust out your snorkel gear.

Before the zebra mussels took hold, the old shell beds were not too bad to fish and few problems were noted. Now with the zebras in the system I notice that they love to take up residence on the shell beds made up of the larger native clam and mussel shells and the smaller one cut lines pretty easy. Brais can help….or I should say that braids have shown me some cut resistance.

I think shellbeds hold fish at times, but I seldom re-work thewm if I don’t get fish after the first couple of passes.

Clam beds hold fish???

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Clam beds hold fish???

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No. I told them all before and they accused me of lying. According to one of my bass books, bass don’t like the smell of clams.

Have had really good luck on them in the fall, main river channel…Carolina’s. So my vote is Good! Plus if you’re lucky you’ll snag a shell every once in awhile and fight it for about 2 seconds before realizing what it is. That flutter they have falling thru the water feels a bit like a head shake.

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Where do you even begin to look for shell beds? Backwaters? Sand banks with current?

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A dead give away is old shells on the shore when the water is low…

I dont understand why these beds are a draw for bass. What do bass find so special about shell beds is there bait fish that draw to these areas or what?

http://www.michigansportsmanmag.com/fishing/bass-fishing/MI_0706_01/index1.html

got it now thanks

The last Bassmasters has a excellent article in it about this from tim horton.