shad kill
- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated Dec 13, 2013 at 10:12 am by
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Do any of you guys around NW Arkansas have predictions on the shad kill?
Looks like it should be cold enough? What are the lake levels like? What tailwater is best for that kind of fishing?
Randy –
I am no expert on this, but my understanding is the shad kill happens when air temps routinely stay below freezing and drop into the 20s at night or below. Bull Shoals is probably going to be your best bet, but you will obviously need a boat that can handle generation in that tailwater. It’s definitely a two man job.
Zach
I agree that Bull Shoals is your best bet. But it does happen on the ‘Fork.
There really isn’t a sure-fire way to predict when it will happen. Some people say that a fast cold snap can do it. I’ve been down there several times during cold weather. We had cold days and really frigid nights with no shad action.
It’s almost luck of the draw. It does seem to kick off in the mornings. Watch for the sea gulls diving the surface for indication that shad is coming through the gen sets.
Brian
Thanks guys, sounds pretty low odds even if I had a couple of weeks to show up and wait for it to happen.
Randy, one more thing about the shad kill.
Once a good shad kill happens, the fish will likely be keyed in one them for some time.
Just because they are not coming out of the dam at that time, they still may bite shad patterns.
Once they start coming through, the fish will likely gorge themselves on shad. After that, they will be keyed on them for days.During a big shad kill, it may be a little tough to catch them on shad patterns. Your fly has to be noticed (and chosen) over all the other real shad. And once the fish are gorged with shad, they might lay low for a while.
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