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Fished off the west dike at Willard Monday evening. Didn't get a bite and all I saw hitting the surface were carp. However, I did note numerous shad in the shallow water along the west dike at sunset. They were even balling up in mats right at the waters edge. I'm not sure if it was spawning behavior or they were just feeding in mass on the prolific plankton along the waters edge. Where they would ball up, the water looked like it was simmering, like a low rolling boil. The Egrets were feasting on them.
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Usually when shad or other prolific forage spieces of fish ball up close together, there doing that for added protection when predators are near and feeding upon them.
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I did notice that when the Egrets encountered a nice sized ball of Shad they acted stupid, like they didn't no what to go after, or they thought the ball of Shad was a larger fish they couldn't or didn't want to handle. The lone Shad in the shallows didn't stand a chance against the Egrets however. Maybe it was more of a deffensive behavior.
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Hey RNL, did you see anyone else out there fishing? Were you in a floot tube or casting from shore? WH2
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There were 3 guys scattered out on the north dike just east of the light pole and another guy and his family right at the light pole. There were a couple other folks fishing off the west dike just south of the light pole late afternoon, but by 6pm I was the only one off the west dike. Nobody else was wading in like I was and there were no tubers and no boats.
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I've been thinking about doing some wading this weekend at Willard, how deep was the water you were standing in? Does it have a good hard bottom?
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I only went in to my belly, but in 5 to 10 more steps I'd have been in over my head. The bottom is solid. I waded in with my Tevas and didn't even get mud between my toes.
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