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  1. #1
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    Homers versus roamers

    What percentage of bass do you think follow the shad schools around versus those that have a small home range and are oppurtunistic feeders? It seems to me in the last few years it is like every bass in the lake have become pelagic and act more like stripe. Has anyone else noticed this? BTW I fish the Tn River.

  2. Member Skeeterbait's Avatar
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    #2
    Spotted bass are for sure open water roamers in the fall up to about 4 pounds. Larger fish seem to be more oriented to some hard structure.


  3. Member Walkabout7781's Avatar
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    #3
    Ours don't follow the schools of shad. We don't have shad like y'alls. I get sick and tired of those guys on TeeVee saying to "follow the shad", naturally enough.
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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Walkabout7781 View Post
    Ours don't follow the schools of shad. We don't have shad like y'alls. I get sick and tired of those guys on TeeVee saying to "follow the shad", naturally enough.
    most of the lakes i fish don’t have Shad either. It’s gobies, perch, crayfish, gills, smelt, or shiners for the main forage. Sure oneida, Cayuga and other of the lakes outside the ADKs have Shad and it becomes a typical shad pattern lake. one of the most common especially on Oneida is chasing the gulls waiting for them to dive and start bombing lipless baits in that area. That pattern hasn’t been too common in recent years though. And honestly has never been productive for me ever.

    The lakes without Shad get pretty tough to pattern in the fall. Never can really find them on the drops or random boulders, it’s almost as a bass doesn’t exist in those lakes mid to late fall
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    #5
    It sure seems like in the last half dozen years the fish on our lake, especially in the fall, are relating and roaming more and more with shad. Falls have been different every year. The shallow bite, this year, has been basically non-existent. We had a cold 2-3 inch rain about a month ago that raised the lake 3 feet and dropped the water temp quickly. Drove the shad deep. Basically, for the last month fishing for suspended fish has been the deal. Shad population in the lake is huge. We have not had extremely cold temps the last few years that result in large shad kills.
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  6. Dogfish_Jones
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    I have better luck on places where they seem they can hide and then attack. I have followed the Shad but most of them are smaller bass or they are stripes.

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    #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Walkabout7781 View Post
    Ours don't follow the schools of shad. We don't have shad like y'alls. I get sick and tired of those guys on TeeVee saying to "follow the shad", naturally enough.
    ^ I’m with him.
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    #8
    We have a ton of shad in Clearlake right now and its fishing tough. I do better where there is no bait balls.

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    #9
    Quote Originally Posted by 618PRO View Post
    What percentage of bass do you think follow the shad schools around versus those that have a small home range and are oppurtunistic feeders? It seems to me in the last few years it is like every bass in the lake have become pelagic and act more like stripe. Has anyone else noticed this? BTW I fish the Tn River.
    Fishing pressure will do that to them. I assume you fish Chick, Nickajack or Pickwick mostly since you are in Chattanooga. I hate going down there because there is just so much pressure all the time. I mainly fish Watts Bar and while it is getting more pressure than ever it's still not like the lakes below it. I'm exploring areas of Watts Bar that I would have never fished 10 years ago but am finding fish there. While these are not "prime" areas at all they don't get hammered all year long like a lot of other places do.
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  10. Member Walkabout7781's Avatar
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    #10
    Quote Originally Posted by DaveBrabec View Post
    We have a ton of shad in Clearlake right now and its fishing tough. I do better where there is no bait balls.
    One small lake I used to fish had bazillions of tadpoles in Spring. Couldn't catch a bass for love nor money...presumably because the bass were stuffed full of tadpoles. You probably have the same problem. Solution may be to go to a different lake. I always seem to do better in small lakes near the big lakes that everybody bypasses on the way to fish the bigger ones. What about Indian Valley Reservoir?
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    #11
    Matt, that is correct I mostly fish Chick. The amount of fishing pressure on this lake is unbelievable. I stay away from the prime areas also and try to fish nothing looking banks and drops. Most of the time you will strike out doing this but every so often hit the mother load.

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    #12
    I know what you mean. I've had some crappy days for sure. I've got 5 or 6 spots I've never saw anyone else fish. I cycle through them while running new water. I usually hit them in one of the spots. I haven't saw any "mega schools" anywhere in years, so I usually check each spot and look for just a few fish in a catchable position.
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  13. Member Quillback's Avatar
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    #13
    Quote Originally Posted by TableRock55 View Post
    It sure seems like in the last half dozen years the fish on our lake, especially in the fall, are relating and roaming more and more with shad. Falls have been different every year. The shallow bite, this year, has been basically non-existent. We had a cold 2-3 inch rain about a month ago that raised the lake 3 feet and dropped the water temp quickly. Drove the shad deep. Basically, for the last month fishing for suspended fish has been the deal. Shad population in the lake is huge. We have not had extremely cold temps the last few years that result in large shad kills.
    What this guy says. I will add that they will sometimes hang around deep trees near shad. Smallmouth will still get in the rocks and root around for crawdads, but even many of the have become shad eaters.

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    #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Walkabout7781 View Post
    Ours don't follow the schools of shad. We don't have shad like y'alls. I get sick and tired of those guys on TeeVee saying to "follow the shad", naturally enough.
    Haha same. Most of the info out there is irrelevant for here in Washington when it comes to bass fishing due to not having shad in our lakes .

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    #15
    Funny,no Shad to chase In Washington and no Shad to chase in New Hampshire.
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  16. Member ou1dadgumit's Avatar
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    #16
    If you can remember when the Elites came to Ft. Gibson in Oklahoma, i don't remember if it was the time Biffle won or not, but all the pros were astonished at the shad population. I can't count the number of times I've fished around 50,000+ shad and didn't leave soon enough. What a waste of time most days. Hopefully in the future i will turn around sooner.
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    #17
    It seems to me like on highland reservoirs around here fish have learned to move offshore & they stay suspended in alewives to feed off shore once the water gets hot which happens to be around the first of august. They stay there until the water cools too.

  18. Member Walkabout7781's Avatar
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    #18
    We had a young fella (20's?) come up here from N. California. He said he struggled for years to catch bass here, but finally figured it out and was AOY in our club at least once. I just ask Ike how to ketch'em on Lake Washington.
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