Chasing shad in the James

[pstone]

Went out yesterday morning and put in at Cape Fair.    Found tons of shad, mostly near the surface and bass were under them and feeding.     I followed the shad balls on my livescope and threw a 2.8 swimbait and caught 8 or 9.   2 or 3 keepers, 1 largemouth and the rest kentuckies.      I was outside a cove near Wooley Creek in 50-60 feet of water for the most part.     Water temp was 66 degrees.     The wind came up pretty stout and I tried spinnerbait and rock crawler on the banks  but had no luck.   I also caught 1 on a pee wee football jig in about 15 feet.     Should start getting good here soon as the water temps go down some more.     I did try topwater (walking bait) a little bit but no bites.      Good luck everyone!

[snagged in outlet 3]

51 minutes ago, pstone said:

Went out yesterday morning and put in at Cape Fair.    Found tons of shad, mostly near the surface and bass were under them and feeding.     I followed the shad balls on my livescope and threw a 2.8 swimbait and caught 8 or 9.   2 or 3 keepers, 1 largemouth and the rest kentuckies.      I was outside a cove near Wooley Creek in 50-60 feet of water for the most part.     Water temp was 66 degrees.     The wind came up pretty stout and I tried spinnerbait and rock crawler on the banks  but had no luck.   I also caught 1 on a pee wee football jig in about 15 feet.     Should start getting good here soon as the water temps go down some more.     I did try topwater (walking bait) a little bit but no bites.      Good luck everyone!

Water temp?  Thx for the report!

[cheesemaster]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Water temp?  Thx for the report!

66

[snagged in outlet 3]

22 hours ago, cheesemaster said:

66

Thx!  I'll be down again this weekend for a couple weeks.

[Champ188]

On 10/23/2024 at 1:17 PM, cheesemaster said:

66

They oughta be getting on that buzzer for ya soon.

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

They oughta be getting on that buzzer for ya soon.

They were on it about a month ago then nothing.   I’ll be buzzin em this weekend though 😁.  The lake is so low the lay downs I like to hit are high and dry.  

[cheesemaster]

13 hours ago, Champ188 said:

They oughta be getting on that buzzer for ya soon.

I was having good luck with it about 4 weeks ago - then the last few weeks have been tuff.
You are right - should be soon !!  looking forward to it for sure!!

[Champ188]

On 10/25/2024 at 7:03 AM, snagged in outlet 3 said:

They were on it about a month ago then nothing.   I’ll be buzzin em this weekend though 😁.  The lake is so low the lay downs I like to hit are high and dry.  

That's the challenge with low water in the fall ... it eliminates a lot of good cover but it also concentrates the fish. It's all worth the bother, though, when you find that school of crank bait fish in a creek channel bend or on a corresponding flat and just wreck the heck out of em.