Current Fishing Report Shell Knob Table Rock Lake 12-27-13

[Alex Heitman]

Maybe the bass school split up and some bass pushed up the shad while the others ones waited

[Fishin Hodge]

I think I have the graph deal pretty well deciphered..... My thoughts on the graph are, Why in God's name am I sitting at work?

[Bill Babler]

Lots of nice guesses, and some pretty close. Here is the deal. Bass if possible like to corner the bait as any predator would. Most times you will see them pushing bait to the surface. In this instance, it all started as that huge shad school at 60' of depth came over the top of a small obstruction on the bottom. You can see this on the first screen on the right bottom edge. 3 bass went into the bait from the bottom. At the same time this triggered bass that were and have been suspended above the bait at 20' to 30' to start diving downward thru the bait, trying to pin the shad against the bottom.

Here is where it is very strange. For most of this deep fishing season, and I don't know about Bo, but I have been finding the bass most of the time above the bait rather than below it. 8 out of 10 times the bass are below. This Winter they have 9 out of 10 times been above the bait.

In the second screen, the attack was on from all directions, completely dispersing the bait ball into just a screen full of streaking fish and black clutter, which was the shad.

In the third screen, the attack continued from mostly now below and mid pack. The shad were trying to regather as this is their only defense to become a huge ball of one instead of individual targets.

In the 4th. screen the shad had reformed into tighter schools, but divided from one massive school of I'm guessing 10,000 into two schools at 2 separate levels in the water column. It was quite a site.

From that point on for a couple of hours there were loose shad and small schools at all depth out 90' and the bass were in them from top to bottom, with the heaver concentration of bass remaining for the most part in the 20' to 40' depth range over what ever the shad were at, but still for the most part hovering over the shad and diving thru them from top to bottom

Good Luck

[*T*]

Thank you. Waited with great anticipation for your description of events captured on your screen and read your latest post carefully. Hope to be able to decipher views from my equipment half as well someday.

[Champ188]

What I can't figure is why the shad are so darned deep. They've been that way for weeks. Sure is making for some strange fishing. If they don't come up soon, we are not going to have any decent jerk bait fishing.

Donna and I are going Wednesday. We're each gonna have one rod with a spoon and another with a grub. That's all. At least for starters. My first goal is to find and catch those deep rascals. My second one is to last until noon before pulling out a jerk bait.

So if anyone sees us sitting out in the middle of the lake, we are not broke down. I just hope my head doesn't explode trying to catch fish out of 60-80 feet of water.

[Bill Babler]

Hey, when will guys be done. Becky and I may meet ya at the Steak Inn for Supper. If you last till noon with the deep stuff regardless if your catching them or not, I'll buy your dinner.

I don't think I'm in any danger.

Good Luck

[merc1997 Bo]

bill

you are experiencing the very thing i have been doing for a lot of years now. bass do like to keep their prey trapped, and they will most definitely stay underneath and above the shad, or sometimes all above the shad. i think this definitely goes along with my observation of bass becoming more open water feeders, as we get more fishing pressure and less cover. what i have discovered about the bigger bass is that they love to either wait on the bottom, or suspend in a tree if available, and wait for the smaller fish to push shad by them. i have marked bass in a tree on many occasions, and not be able to get them to bite, but when the shad come by, they get very catchable. one other thing that i have found is that white bass are better shad herders and black bass. most of the time, not all, but usually, when you get into a good school of whites, there are good blacks in the area. why?? because they are lazy and let the whites do all the work. that was some really good graph pictures for everyone to learn from, that probably have seen the same thing, but never really realized just what they were looking at.

everyone is going to have to become more proficient with open water feeders. i just struggle when they are too shallow in the water column to see them on the electronics. guess this might be where side imaging would help. thanks for sharing the graph pics. folks, what bill just shared, and with not anyone getting the exact answer to what was going on, is a good example that all of us can get more out of our electronics than what we do. it was not so much seeing the bass slashing through the shad, but understanding just exactly what they were doing and why. very good educational thread bill.

bo

[merc1997 Bo]

What I can't figure is why the shad are so darned deep. They've been that way for weeks. Sure is making for some strange fishing. If they don't come up soon, we are not going to have any decent jerk bait fishing.

Donna and I are going Wednesday. We're each gonna have one rod with a spoon and another with a grub. That's all. At least for starters. My first goal is to find and catch those deep rascals. My second one is to last until noon before pulling out a jerk bait.

So if anyone sees us sitting out in the middle of the lake, we are not broke down. I just hope my head doesn't explode trying to catch fish out of 60-80 feet of water.

champ

just from my experience winter bassing, i have observed the shad staying quite deep until the water temps hit around 45 and they they seem to break up and come up. shell knob and up maybe not so much, but cambell point down it has been deep water fishing. after turn over, the shad and bass can be pretty much any where in the water column. this year, we have had quite a bit of very cold percipatation, that will push down the warmer water as it settles. any way, a bass is just as comfortable at 60 ft. as it is in 6 inches. i am always just glad to get a bite regardless of depth. hope you catch them.

bo

[Champ188]

champ

just from my experience winter bassing, i have observed the shad staying quite deep until the water temps hit around 45 and they they seem to break up and come up. shell knob and up maybe not so much, but cambell point down it has been deep water fishing. after turn over, the shad and bass can be pretty much any where in the water column. this year, we have had quite a bit of very cold percipatation, that will push down the warmer water as it settles. any way, a bass is just as comfortable at 60 ft. as it is in 6 inches. i am always just glad to get a bite regardless of depth. hope you catch them.

bo

That's a well-said explanation, Bo, and one that even an old skinny-water guy like me can understand. Sure makes sense and I've been thinking it should finally get cold enough one day for the shad to break up and come shallower, like you said. I don't mind catching them deep but don't want winter to go by without getting to catch them on the jerk bait.

Thanks for the wise words.

[Champ188]

Hey, when will guys be done. Becky and I may meet ya at the Steak Inn for Supper. If you last till noon with the deep stuff regardless if your catching them or not, I'll buy your dinner.

I don't think I'm in any danger.

Good Luck

You might be surprised what I'd do for a steak dinner.