Strange American Shad habits....
Was going to post this into a opened thread but didn't want to thread jack anyone!
About the balling up of shad yes indicates that they are on their way back out. But what I have seen personally, and don't know if many on this forum have is when they feed they also ball up and swirl around the bait. I got to spend a afternoon on a boat with a group of 50-100 fish, and the small details you don't get to see about these fish where a first for me. So when they would spot the fly they would group around in 10-20 fish. Then out of no where one would take the hit and once stuck with the hook it would go nuts! The rest would either dispurse or the ones left around would follow it. At times they would come up right to the fly and do nothing but look at it about 1/4 of any inch some right next to the fly then after their investigation jet away from it. What I saw put the bite off was when the males would start chasing female tail. It was literally over. They would not even look at a fly. Evey once in a while a straggler would come but but not many.
The shad habits are a odd one for sure. Some times it mattered how the fly was presented. If the swing was not to their liking it was a no go. So I would cast the fly way up river and let the line come first then the fly filling and bam!! What this method did was make the swing at a different pace. So when I would cast down at a 45* or so, and the fly was going down first it was a no go. Other times it was a go by casting down at a 45* to get the fly going down first. The most active color were pink and red. But did find by accident that gold works well to. So colors made a difference to. Like I tell everyone that wants the best info for catching shad think out of the box for sure!!!!! This will keep you hooked up with shad. There was quite a few more things I have seen with the school that was under the boat, and that has opened my eyes to how they some what operateTo some point they did seem to like the shade the boat was casting and kept under it for the most part. That was until they went to the deep.
They are very noise oriented though! Human voice was not enough though. Music and epesially with bass, or sudden and loud splashes (if anyone remembers my post from last year how the bobber guys scare the shad away with the heavy bobbers), boat motors, even trolling motors that could dial up speeds up to level 10 (Minn Kota motors) would bug them. Sudden movements (shadows or objects) would also bug them. So all in all I hope some of this really helps you guys or gals get into more fish!
Personally it was a humbling experience to see these fish right under the boat and being able to see them in action like this! I hope everyone reading enjoyed this
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