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Kevin
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« on: January 31, 2010, 05:00:28 PM » |
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FISHING THE SHAD KILL
BY JOHN BERRY
The highlight of the winter fishing season is the shad kill. This is a natural phenomenon that generally occurs every winter. As the surface temperatures on the lakes in the White River System drop, threadfin shad move down through the various lake layers or thermo clines in an effort to find more comfortable water temperatures. When the water surface temperatures reach forty two degrees or lower, the shad end up near the bottom of the lakes. Once they are there, they are vulnerable to being drawn through the turbines, when there is generation. The heavier the generation the greater the flow of water on the bottom of the lake and the greater likely hood of shad being drawn through the turbines. There needs to be a nexus of prolonged low temperatures and high levels of generation. This is not to say that the shad kill cannot happen at other times. I have seen a shad kill occur in August. Our most frequent and most prolific shad kills occur in deep winter.
What makes the shad kill such a spectacular fishing event? Well it is mid winter and bitterly cold. In addition there is a lot of generation. These conditions tend to turn off a lot of anglers. What makes this a big deal is that it takes place below Bull Shoals Dam where the big browns have been spawning. Brown trout do not eat during the spawn. So you have large hungry fish that are ready to feed aggressively. Couple that with the fact that most of these fish are located in the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam which has been closed for three months. These fish haven’t seen a fly during that time. Then we get cold temperatures and high levels of generation which creates the shad kill and all of a sudden huge amounts of food are blown through the generators creating a feeding frenzy.
The shad kill is at best difficult, if not impossible, to predict. To identify it, we have to constantly observe the outflow from the dams. The trick is to look for gull activity. If they are not present the shad are not coming through. If they are sitting around the outflows from the power house, it means that the shad have come through recently but are not coming through at that time. However if you observe the gulls actively feeding in the outflow area, then the shad are coming through.
The only way you can fish this is from a boat, because the action is going to be centered in the main channel and you just cannot wade out there. The technique is to motor up to the dam and fish as you drift downstream. The shad kill draws quite a bit of interest and this section of the river can get a little congested. It is therefore imperative that boating etiquette be practiced. The proper way to set up a drift is to motor your way up stream and start drifting up stream of any boats already drifting. Pulling your boating below a drifting boat is referred to as low boating and is considered to be extreme bad etiquette. Remember that the boat below you has the right of way and of course any boat that is actively fighting a good fish has the right of way. As you are moving back upstream, after a drift, be careful as you pass other boats and do not push a wake over them.
In the past, I have observed some anglers who were eager to join in on the action and showed up in their bass boats. The problem here is that these boaters tended to put the hammer down when they motored back upstream. I mean, why have a two hundred and fifty horsepower motor, if you are not going to run it less than sixty miles an hour. The resulting wake definitely angered more than one angler fishing from a White River jon boat. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission enforcement officers are usually there to hand out citations for any unsafe boating situations or for straying into the restricted area near the dam.
Fly selection is fairly easy, anything big and white. You will get the most action dead drifting flies on the bottom. I have had the most luck with white marabou jigs tied on 1/32 ounce jig heads. I now tie white woolly buggers with pearlescent flash on the same jig heads. I generally add a bit of red flash to simulate an injury. You will also need some sort floating fly because some of the shad will be on the top. You do not want to pass up a chance of taking a big brown on a floating fly. I tie a simple unweighted white woolly bugger with a strip of white foam on the back. It is easy to tie and quite effective.
Sometimes the shad flow through in large numbers for a fairly long period of time and sometimes they trickle through a few at a time. The trickling through a few at a time is more desirable. When large numbers of shad come through, the trout gorge on them until they are completely full and cannot consume any more. When this happens, you just move down stream and target fish that are not yet gorged. I have seen the shad kill extend all the way down to Rim Shoals (twenty four miles downstream from the dam).
While the action is usually the best below Bull Shoals Dam, we can also get good action on the Norfork. The best way to catch this phenomenon is to fish regularly and be aware of your surroundings. Do not be afraid to try a shad pattern. You might be surprised.
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