# ohio river shad????



## gobie (Jul 17, 2009)

any one got any idea where the shad are this winter. cant seem to find any in the willow island pool
thanks
gobie


----------



## G3guy (Feb 21, 2013)

I don't know for sure but I think the shad got washed out this past spring with all the high water the river had? I have noticed the same thing in the muskingum river as well as a couple pools of the Ohio river.


----------



## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

in the meldahl pool the creeks are loaded with shad...... tanners creek and hogans in Indiana I can take the boat up the creeks with my side imaging on and there are zillions of them. They are like that in every creek ive been in around here but haven't seen many around meldahl dam where I fish in the main river.......


----------



## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Catcrazed I have also been marking tons of baitfish in the creeks BUT I have yet to catch any throwing my net . What about you are you catching any of the shad in the creeks? I wonder if they are the thumbnail size I have been fishing over. Lots of big fish feeding on the pods of baitfish in the creeks BUT I can't catch any of them either. I wonder what they are .


----------



## SeanStone (Sep 8, 2010)

C J Hughes said:


> Catcrazed I have also been marking tons of baitfish in the creeks BUT I have yet to catch any throwing my net . What about you are you catching any of the shad in the creeks? I wonder if they are the thumbnail size I have been fishing over. Lots of big fish feeding on the pods of baitfish in the creeks BUT I can't catch any of them either. I wonder what they are .


If it's in the meldahl pool you probably marking big drum and hybrid stripers......catfish over 5lbs in that pool are pretty rare, they are there but not in numbers. 


Sent from my SCH-I545 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

Remember, Meldahl Pool is between Meldahl and Greenup dam, not toward Indiana. Name of the pool is the water above the dam.


----------



## Kendall0627 (Jan 25, 2012)

is anyone catching any shad in the creek in the meldahl pool are they deep in the creeks or up shallow


----------



## kycreek (May 31, 2006)

All that I have seen were deep on my sonar. For some reason I never saw any on the surface this Fall as in year's past. I've read where others have noticed the same thing?


----------



## Kendall0627 (Jan 25, 2012)

I figured they might be at surface up in some of these little feeder creeks


----------



## kycreek (May 31, 2006)

I've been out in the creeks at least weekly for the last month & have saw very few shad on the surface. Big bait balls showing up on sonar in the creek mouths though.


----------



## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

SeanStone said:


> If it's in the meldahl pool you probably marking big drum and hybrid stripers......catfish over 5lbs in that pool are pretty rare, they are there but not in numbers.
> 
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I545 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


No pun intended bud but meldahl pool is the stretch of river is between greenup dam and meldahl dam. We catch catfish over 40lbs consistently out of this pool although those numbers are declining due to commercial fishing.............

Also, there is absolutely no question that what is on my side imaging graph is shad. They show up as clouds of fish not individual which is what catfish etc show up as........


----------



## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

Here is what the difference is. The one picture there is a HUGE school of larger fish on the right side of the boat (you can count each individual fish)......... The other is a pic of what a shad ball looks like. As you can see I drove directly over top of them because half the ball shows on right side of boat and other half on left............................... The creeks are plumb full of these "bait balls" and some of them arent even balls of fish but more like a constant cloud that may go for several hundred feet. They are there boys but I agree Ive seen hardly any of them flipping on top............. Without side imaging it would be hard to scan a creek the way I do as I can set the graph to look out each side of the boat as far as 75ft left and 75 right..... These are old pics but the next time im at the river Ill take some more snap shots like these and you guys will crap yourselves. trust me there are tons of them....


----------



## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

I have trolled cranks white hair jigs twister tails trolled with minnows and nothing . BUT every morning on my way out to the mouth my screen on my depth finder looks just like yours. Nothing on top.


----------



## catcrazed (Jan 15, 2008)

C J Hughes said:


> I have trolled cranks white hair jigs twister tails trolled with minnows and nothing . BUT every morning on my way out to the mouth my screen on my depth finder looks just like yours. Nothing on top.


Ive noticed over the years of throwing a throw net when my graph looks like that is most times when you can see each individual fish on the graph its prolly not shad (although Ive found schools of 12" shad that you could see each individually but that doesn't happen very often), AND if they are directly on the bottom or within a few feet its normally not shad. the pics I posted above, the first ones are def not shad. There to big, and there right on the bottom. look at the second pic, those shad are not on the bottom............... That's what Ive observed over the years. Im not saying I know it all but Ive got a LOT of time on the water with my graph and feel super comfortable calling shots on what I see.

Here in the next few days im going to post some pics of screen shots that will BLOW all of your minds. Ill prolly title it under the river section....... It will be a neat thread for discussion. If there is one thing I can say is that over the years understanding my electronins has HELPED ME TREMENDOUSLY putting fish in the boat. I would say that more than anything, side imaging helps more with finding shad than anything else....


----------



## Kendall0627 (Jan 25, 2012)

cant wait to see some pics


----------



## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Catcrazed I too have spent a lot of time looking at my graph some would say WAY to much time LOL. Some of the schools I see in the morning I think are crappie or whitebass feeding on the shad. That is from seeing the graph look the same at the lake I fish. Troll thru them and I would catch crappie .BUT if it is they should bite and that has not been the case .
I really like watching the graph and seeing a big blue come into my bait and take it. When you tell people you take fishing watch the poles one should go down and it does is pretty neat Then you show them on the graph the fish taking the bait is just as neat.I have caught 3 blues over 40 this winter and tons of 1 to 4 lb football blues that are in real good shape for the winter FAT. 20 years ago I would only catch flatheads in the winter now very seldom do I ever catch a flathead in the river mainly blues.


----------



## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

ohio outdoor news had a short bit about poor fishing at indian lake and the dnr shocking Indian and some other lakes. The lakes all had the same problem lack of shad the main forage base for most fish .So from this I would say we can rule out high water the past summer as the cause of our shad problem.


----------



## G3guy (Feb 21, 2013)

The article in outdoor news was a letter to the editor so take that for what it's worth. The rivers were high and so were the lakes. With the lakes releasing all excess water. But the success of a fish hatch in the spring has so many variables. And a big variable this year was high water in the rivers and lakes.


----------

