12-30-2017, 06:05 PM
[quote Trent_S] What stimulates the shad to move from shore to "openness" in the spring and when does it happen at Willard? It seems they move from shore to openness about mid-June after getting to about 3/4" long (correct?). Is the zoo plankton happening more in the middle than the shores at that time (water temps?)? At what size do the shad start to school? Thx.[/quote]
[#0000FF]Like most species, shad movements are motivated by food and comfort. They go where the food is and where the temps are more to their liking. They do not have little GPS units or a map of Willard. They simply wander around in schools of their fellow hatchlings...of similar size...continuously on the lookout for better feeding areas. Sometimes they can be found in the "openness". At other times they will be closer to the shorelines or even back in the marinas. Every trip requires some cruising and scoping with sonar. Anglers cannot always predict where they will be. No easy indicators to follow. Shad may be anywhere...at any time...for any reason. Simple. Right?
Shad school from the moment they hatch...with thousands of others from the same spawn. As they get older and encounter other schools they may mingle with the others...or break off into smaller schools. And after reaching a few inches in size they may join up with other schools with shad of several different sizes.
Large adult shad...up to 18 inches...may become more solitary...cruising and feeding by themselves or in loose company with a few others of similar size. The largest schools are typically made up of smaller shad. And those schools shrink as predators work them over. Some small schools of small shad may be completely wiped out by wipers during a frantic boil session. Any escapees do not last long without the protective diversion of having a large school around them. Strength and survival in numbers.
One other note...from the original questions. Once shad grow beyond about 4-5 inches in Willard they do not get eaten as much by predators. I suspect it does not have as much to do with length as with the changing physical characteristics of older shad. They get the aforementioned "sawbelly" along their undersides. That makes them less appealing than
smaller shad...with no spines or rough bellies.
During the past 15 years I have been Willard Bay I have filleted a lot of cats, walleyes, wipers and crappies from that pond. I almost always check the stomach contents and I can attest that I have never caught a predator of any size with a shad larger than about 4 inches in its innards. Some have had larger bluegills, perch, crappies, small cats, carp and crawdads. But never a larger shad. The preferred size...when available seems to be between 2-3 inches.
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[#0000FF]Like most species, shad movements are motivated by food and comfort. They go where the food is and where the temps are more to their liking. They do not have little GPS units or a map of Willard. They simply wander around in schools of their fellow hatchlings...of similar size...continuously on the lookout for better feeding areas. Sometimes they can be found in the "openness". At other times they will be closer to the shorelines or even back in the marinas. Every trip requires some cruising and scoping with sonar. Anglers cannot always predict where they will be. No easy indicators to follow. Shad may be anywhere...at any time...for any reason. Simple. Right?
Shad school from the moment they hatch...with thousands of others from the same spawn. As they get older and encounter other schools they may mingle with the others...or break off into smaller schools. And after reaching a few inches in size they may join up with other schools with shad of several different sizes.
Large adult shad...up to 18 inches...may become more solitary...cruising and feeding by themselves or in loose company with a few others of similar size. The largest schools are typically made up of smaller shad. And those schools shrink as predators work them over. Some small schools of small shad may be completely wiped out by wipers during a frantic boil session. Any escapees do not last long without the protective diversion of having a large school around them. Strength and survival in numbers.
One other note...from the original questions. Once shad grow beyond about 4-5 inches in Willard they do not get eaten as much by predators. I suspect it does not have as much to do with length as with the changing physical characteristics of older shad. They get the aforementioned "sawbelly" along their undersides. That makes them less appealing than
smaller shad...with no spines or rough bellies.
During the past 15 years I have been Willard Bay I have filleted a lot of cats, walleyes, wipers and crappies from that pond. I almost always check the stomach contents and I can attest that I have never caught a predator of any size with a shad larger than about 4 inches in its innards. Some have had larger bluegills, perch, crappies, small cats, carp and crawdads. But never a larger shad. The preferred size...when available seems to be between 2-3 inches.
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