[SpecialEd]

Shabbona had a huge shad die off a few years ago. Right after ice out the place was infested with Pelicans. Yes, pelicans...

The entire bottom of the lake from shallow to deep was thick with rotten corpses of shad.

 

[RiverRat]

On a river the shad population is a good thing as it is one of the primary forgage sources on the water. As said before they are cyclical and this year being hot with little water flow caused a population explosion as there was plenty of food and the warmer weather allowed for multiple spawn pulses. While these huge schools may be bad for fishing in the short term because the game fish are gorging on the shad, in the long term its good for the waterway and should lead to some strong classes of games fish that had plenty of food to eat to get nice and fat.

 

[lefty_stratton]

On a river the shad population is a good thing as it is one of the primary forgage sources on the water. As said before they are cyclical and this year being hot with little water flow caused a population explosion as there was plenty of food and the warmer weather allowed for multiple spawn pulses. While these huge schools may be bad for fishing in the short term because the game fish are gorging on the shad, in the long term its good for the waterway and should lead to some strong classes of games fish that had plenty of food to eat to get nice and fat.

Great point :thumbup:

 

[heysambennett]

While these huge schools may be bad for fishing in the short term because the game fish are gorging on the shad, in the long term its good for the waterway and should lead to some strong classes of games fish that had plenty of food to eat to get nice and fat.

Or, from what I'm reading, we'll have weaker year classes long term because the shad compete with bass fry for forage.

I don't know what will happen, but I'll be here to find out.

 

[lefty_stratton]

Musky and pike will be growing fast.

Man, do I hope so.

 

[WaterGuy]

Some good points being made. It makes sense that our warmer winters in recent years would lead to bigger numbers of shad. It would also be a good explanation for them being very cyclical over the years. I would think with all the wwd's on the river a certain amount will survive even the coldest winters though. We've already been seeing some die offs in the couple really cold stretches of days we've had recently. At one time we were sucking lots of dead shad into our intake at work...probably over a hundred a day for several days.

 

[Rich Frye]

A little local info;
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3248 ... s-die.html

 

[Stashu]

A little local info;
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3248 ... s-die.html

When does this artacle written?

 

[Rich Frye]

Not sure. Reading it it sounds as if it was early 2011.
C-Goose and mallard eating them got my attention. Mass die-offs also.

 

[BrookfieldAngler]

I think this was last year or the year before - I remember that these huge fish kills were happening all over the place.

 

[Rich Frye]

I think this was last year or the year before - I remember that these huge fish kills were happening all over the place.

Year before (winter of 2010-2011) makes sense. Much colder winter than last year's non-winter.
That, and the fact they mention 2010 crop and 3-5 inchers.

 

[Stashu]

Thank you. I know this is not this yere becuse ice is not thick.