Shad

I have a spot in a Mississippi backwater bay that I have to myself and pounded big perch before Christmas a few times. Now shad have moved in everywhere. They are so thick that my flasher sometimes shows bottom at about 12 feet in 18 fow. The camera is filled with the buggers all the time. There are not near as many game fish down there now and its almost impossible to get them to bite. Is the common? Should I just give up on the spot? Is the dissolved oxygen getting used up already?

Welcome!!

Typically when I’ve found myself in that scenario, I’m not far off. Those shad are probably what brings in those perch. Do a bit of exploration close by and you may find the group of ambushing perch. Try and circle around the shad.

Are these the large Gizzard Shad, or the smaller Threadfins?

In short – Yes, I’d stop fishing the area FOR NOW unless you enjoy jigging for the hell of it and catching one or two here and there. Here’s why. DeSoto Bay (pool 9) loads up with shad every fall (late Oct/early Nov). And every fall when they show up the fishing in the bay goes right down the tubes for obvious reasons. It isn’t until the shad die off in mid/late January does the hardwater action really pick up. Now – this isn’t to say you will not catch a fish on DeSoto Bay or any Bay loaded with bait fish until the die off occurs for that fact. The gamefish are there or very near with such a surplus of food supply available. The key for you is to figure out when the shad die off in your bay. I’m willing to bet that will trigger a pretty good mid winter bite. It does in DeSoto every year….so much so Ted Peck mentions the Bay quite often in articles he writes for Wisconsin Sportsman…

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In short – Yes, I’d stop fishing the area FOR NOW unless you enjoy jigging for the hell of it and catching one or two here and there. Here’s why. DeSoto Bay (pool 9) loads up with shad every fall (late Oct/early Nov). And every fall when they show up the fishing in the bay goes right down the tubes for obvious reasons. It isn’t until the shad die off in mid/late January does the hardwater action really pick up. Now – this isn’t to say you will not catch a fish on DeSoto Bay or any Bay loaded with bait fish until the die off occurs for that fact. The gamefish are there or very near with such a surplus of food supply available. The key for you is to figure out when the shad die off in your bay. I’m willing to bet that will trigger a pretty good mid winter bite. It does in DeSoto every year….so much so Ted Peck mentions the Bay quite often in articles he writes for Wisconsin Sportsman…

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Bosman- I am going to agree with you 100% on this about the shad. I went there last saturday and saw tons of marks on the vex. I put down the camera after about 1/2 hour and noticed that it was loaded with shad. I watched the camera and some of the shad were dying right there. I seen two bass and that was it. When typically do all the shad die for the most part in the bay? I love fishing DeSoto because of the multiple species in there to catch. Thanks

It various every year. The ideal situation is a 3 or 4 day January thaw followed by a 4 or 5 day shot of artic air. That historically has been the final straw to trigger a mass kill off. Without a pretty good temp fluctuation they’ll slowly die off as the days turn to weeks turn to months all the way up through ice out. 3 years ago the die off was so severe a guy couldn’t drill a hole without drilling thru dead frozen shad in mid January. And talk about stink! But the fish’n was excellent! Crappie, Perch, & LGM. Last year the Perch didn’t cooperate with me until the last week in Feb.

Thanks Bosman, I only managed to get a few perch there last year but didn’t really fish them hard. I mainly concentrated on crappies and you would get a few straggler perch in the mix. The largemouth are getting out of hand over at the river. They are becoming a nusience when ice fishing. Same way down by Harpers Ferry. I look forward every year to fishing the bay over there. Do you go down towards the channel and fish for walleyes??? Also have the white bass been in there. I used to catch them there in the past. They are a great fight through the ice.

Nope….the wintering hole for eyes is too far out towards the main channel/current to go after them through the ice. When the ice line is receeding in later half of March you’ll see boaters (and me) target the area. The only eyes I’ve seen pulled through the ice in recent years more up in the bay are real short – 6 inchers. And that’s been by Perch hunters.

White Bass usually school through late ice – at least that’s been my experience the last two seasons. And yes, they are LUG!

Thanks, by the way they are gizzard shad. Last time I was there I could see a few dying or laying on the bottom. Maybe it wont be too long. There’s a lot more water to fish out there.