07-17-2019, 07:01 PM
[#0000FF]Too early to tell on the shad. But based upon what I have observed and reports from others there are lots of clouds of the young shadlets. Because of the prolonged spawn...with the crazy up and down spring weather pattern...there will be several sizes of shad throughout the remainder of the year. But, yes it does look like a lot of groceries for the bigguns.
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[#0000FF]Some of the early hatchlings are getting past the 1.5 inch mark and are being targeted by predators. Those will be 4-5 inches long by late fall...with others as small as two inches. Those "late bloomers" usually succumb to late fall die off as their plankton food supply thins out in colder water and their mouth parts have not morphed into being able to eat other foods. But there will likely be plenty of the preferred 3-4 inch size range going into winter.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Glad you like the reports from up north. I probably won't be getting serious about UL until sometime in September. Once the water starts cooling a bit both the cats and the walleyes become more active. I ain't proud. I'll accept either one. And I still gotta add a couple of 30 plus cats to my contest stats.
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[#0000FF]Some of the early hatchlings are getting past the 1.5 inch mark and are being targeted by predators. Those will be 4-5 inches long by late fall...with others as small as two inches. Those "late bloomers" usually succumb to late fall die off as their plankton food supply thins out in colder water and their mouth parts have not morphed into being able to eat other foods. But there will likely be plenty of the preferred 3-4 inch size range going into winter.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Glad you like the reports from up north. I probably won't be getting serious about UL until sometime in September. Once the water starts cooling a bit both the cats and the walleyes become more active. I ain't proud. I'll accept either one. And I still gotta add a couple of 30 plus cats to my contest stats.
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