Questions About Shad Kills

[soggyfeet]

I have been reading a few post and threads about shad kills. I sounds to me like there is getting ready to be one. From reading and remebering some post last year before I joined I thought that a shad kill was like a once in ten year thing. Is that so and are we just lucky that it has happened two years in a row. Or maybe Im just going nuts and there wasnt one last year.

[Phil Lilley]

Use to happen every year- before GWarming. Seriously, it hasn't been cold enough in past years, for long enough. But this year may be the exception.

[Trav]

I have lived on Taney for 3 decades and have never scene anything that resembled a shad kill. So I am clueless to a ten year cycle. On the lower lake anyway.

As much as I fish, I think I would have noticed. But the shad population is so tiny that maybe I never thought twice of a few dead ones. You can bet I start looking a little closer now that you mentioned it.

I dont think shad like Taney too much. If any get in they usually run like bandits and jump Powersite within days. If you ever fish below Powersite you can see them. Some of them can be found dead there sometimes.

I see them up in bull and other larger inlets, very much alive, but I think those are some that got turned around on thier way downstream. I rarely see them surfacing in the main lake. Is it possible those small populations are running upstream in some ill attempt to spawn only to die? Maybe, I dont know. That still wouldnt explain the 10 year cycle you mention.

I am not a shad expert though. Just years of observation and educated guessing. Let me know if you find any answers, I would be interested in knowing.

On another note..........

Back in '05 I went down to Norfolk and saw some serious kill off there. Not just shad but dozens of 10 to 20 pound Stripers. Those were a little hard not to see. Still to this day I havnt gotten a straight answer of the reason why. Heard rumor it was due to o2 levels but never had it confirmed.

[Phil Lilley]

Trav- talking about shad dying and/or getting sucked thru the turbines alive into Taney. But I have seen shad so thick they've made it way past Rockaway- at least once. It was about 12-15 years ago. I took pics but not sure if I can find them.

[Trav]

Phil,

Since the acceleration of the Brown introduction the shad population has decreased dramatically, Might not all be GWarming....wink

I used to catch them with a throw net as a teenager, not ever gonna happen now.

[Danoinark]

Its always a hot topic this time of year on the White at the BS dam.

There are people from all over the country that just can't wait for Feb. 1

when the area below the dam opens up for fishing. It coincides with typically a yearly shad kill.

Dano

[loo10]

As Phil was mentioning, we're talking about shad from

Table Rock getting sucked into Taney.

They're either stunned or killed and the trout chow down.

I remember one of them where the fishing was magnificant!

Chrome Domes in all sizes were the ticket.

1/100 to 1/8th.

"And we'll have fun, fun, fun till ...."

loo10