# Greenup Pool Shad!



## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

tuesday morning i hit some local bank spots here in huntington at 3 rain water gates on the river. prior to about 4 years ago, this was a very common site to see a mixture of grown and fingerling shad at each gate. as we al know the shad in the river have just not been there for a few years. but what a surprise, they were stacked at each gate and on any other concrete structure i came to. its such a relief to see.


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## HANeal (Nov 8, 2009)

I'm also glad to see so many baitfish. The Gallipolis pool has good numbers this year and the Kanawha is just loaded with the new little shad.


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Real nice to see the shad, river shiners and small 4to 5 inch skip jacks back in good numbers.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

to be honest, after what a harsh winter we had, i really didn't expect it to get any better than recent years. i was in awe at how many shad i was seeing. i really hope the pools north and west are experiencing the the same abundance of bait fish.


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## Fishman43078 (Apr 16, 2013)

I put in in point pleasant today and the 2-3 inch shad were everywhere.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

the threadfin are in good shape. one cast of the the throw net has laded enough bait for every night out.


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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

I too have been wondering.
A few years back I did a float trip down the Guyandotte R. from Barboursville to the Ohio R.
Millions of shad would be an understatement. It was darn near one school all the way down, and literally we counted 20 mins for one school to swim past us as we took a break on the bank. 

Now,, I do not see but a few here and there,, no schools of hybrids busting them up and down the bank as was. 

I have noticed a seeming explosion of Gar numbers and wondered if that had anything to do with it.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

i wouldn't attribute a decline in shad populations to high gar populations. gar have and always will be in high numbers. there have been a number of bad spawns going back to around 2011 that really devastated the shad in the river.


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## fishknife (Apr 13, 2004)

I was out on the river yesterday, around Maysville. I didn't see any shad, however, I saw literally millions of emerald shiners.


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## diehardbucfan2013 (Apr 19, 2013)

I will say I've seen more schools of them this year than the past two. Its primarily been the smaller shad though.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

btw plybon, it sounds like we're in the same neck of the woods, if you wanna meet up on trip out some time gimme a holler.


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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

pppatrick said:


> i wouldn't attribute a decline in shad populations to high gar populations. gar have and always will be in high numbers. there have been a number of bad spawns going back to around 2011 that really devastated the shad in the river.



I don't know as much about shad as I should. But I can say that gar numbers are up from what I have seen. Perhaps from having shad to eat? 

I saw the big winter kill out at Beech Fork Lake years back and salvaged a bunch for the next year. Did the Ohio have a winter kill as well?


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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

fishknife said:


> I was out on the river yesterday, around Maysville. I didn't see any shad, however, I saw literally millions of emerald shiners.


On the bank from 11:30 am to 11:30 pm exploring a new-to-me spot a few miles south of the Byrd Dam. Saw the same, Minnows of all sizes/generations,, no shad. Did see a large hatch (at dusk) of what I would call yellow sallies if I had been on a trout stream. 

The minnows were having a good time with them but very, very, few fish were busting the minnows and I did not see (or catch) what they were. I am guessing stray Sauger maybe. 

-We caught few small "eater" channels, a nice carp, a nice drum, not sure if the spot was just slow or if the blue bird weather made it that way.


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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

pppatrick said:


> btw plybon, it sounds like we're in the same neck of the woods, if you wanna meet up on trip out some time gimme a holler.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire


Might take you up on that one day.


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## Ringleader (Aug 7, 2014)

plybon72 said:


> I don't know as much about shad as I should. But I can say that gar numbers are up from what I have seen. Perhaps from having shad to eat?
> 
> I saw the big winter kill out at Beech Fork Lake years back and salvaged a bunch for the next year. Did the Ohio have a winter kill as well?


I've seen a lot more gar than usual this year on the Muskingum below Devol's Dam. Seen a few in the Ohio near Marietta, but nothing out of the ordinary.


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## streamstalker (Jul 8, 2005)

I was on a Muskingum trib yesterday and saw shad in phenomenal numbers, many of them were easily over eight inches. One school after another was blasting past us under our kayaks. Perhaps this is happening all over Ohio this year. We also saw half a dozen eagles and osprey. They certainly won't have to work too hard for food in the coming weeks.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

i've probably caught more gar this year than the past 3 years combined. mostly while cat fishing with cut bait but i even caught one on a wacky rigged stick worm, spinnerbaits and crankbaits whilst bass fishing too. it blows my mind due to how hard they are to hook. its gotten to the point where the guys i fish with have started to give me a little schtick about it. haha.

theres a couple good spots a few miles down from the dam on the wv side at couple creek mouths. but i've not fished them in a number of years. usually just go to the dam, and going up the wv side, it would be hard to go past greenbottom without trying for some largemouth. 

i've not been out cat fishing since i posted that pic of the shad i netted for that trip. the bass bite started to heat up with those shad moving to the banks and creeks and have been chasin those green fish. 

i didn't know about that shad kill at beech fork. wish i had, sounds like it was a good opportunity for some back up bait in the freezer. but to be honest, i don't fish there very often anymore. out of the hundred plus times i've fished it the 14 years i've lived around here, i've maybe had 5 good trips, all of which were catching saugeye/walleye. 


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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

I used to live 8 mins from BF so I hit it a lot for several years, hard to go anywhere else when you are that close. Took a while to relearn river fishing LOL One good thing about the lake,, if they just looked at your bait from 50 yards off your pole would show it. 

Bass at GB? In the ponds? Been meaning to drag my Jon up there and explore a bit.

It will be a while before I do the bank at Byrd on the Ohio side again,, never seen such disregard for others' space as the last time I was up there. That is nothing but fight or shooting waiting to happen. Perhaps when the weather goes south the yahoos will retreat back under their rocks.


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## kycreek (May 31, 2006)

Yes, we are seeing lots of them here also. Nowhere to be found last year.


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## pppatrick (Apr 21, 2012)

yep, thats far to close not to. theres a couple low head dams on 12 pole creek out there that i've done well at too. 

i seldom fish rcb for pretty similar reasons. its much nicer fishing there on a cold drizzly november day. the cold pushes them back to what ever they lay their heads on. haha. 

GB isn't packed by any means, but theres a few. some with pretty big shoulders. theres a tad bit inaccessible water from the bank. i'm sure it doesn't get much action. i keep saying i'm gonna take my belly boat out there and never do. 




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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

Yes, I have walked around a bit out there at GB and bank fishing is pretty limited. 
Looks like a great place for my 10 ft jon though. I have a bicycle wheel "cart" I attach that makes the foot haul not much of a problem. 

That is a nifty do-dad a fellow at Beech Fork turned me on to, nothing more than the back half of two 20 in bicycles attached together, and you ratchet strap the boat to it. All your gear goes in the boat and you pull the whole kit and kaboodle like a two wheeled cart. Beats the dinkins out of trying to carry it. Not to mention hand carrying all your gear at the same time. 

BTW, If anyone is interested, I have an old beat up but water tight 11.9 jon I need rid of, $150, PM me.


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## Bigwormy (May 28, 2014)

plybon72 said:


> I too have been wondering.
> A few years back I did a float trip down the Guyandotte R. from Barboursville to the Ohio R.
> Millions of shad would be an understatement. It was darn near one school all the way down, and literally we counted 20 mins for one school to swim past us as we took a break on the bank.
> 
> ...


I'm very curious, did you catch any bass on your float trip from barbousville to the Ohio? I fish the gee up pool often, but never fish the guyandotte river.


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## plybon72 (Mar 9, 2014)

Bigwormy said:


> I'm very curious, did you catch any bass on your float trip from barbousville to the Ohio? I fish the gee up pool often, but never fish the guyandotte river.


We did catch a couple fair Smallmouth on jigs, but were not really fishing for them.
The big catches that day where Hybrids and Channel Cats. 

Truth is, it was more of a beer drinking trip with fishing on the side, so after the first case (it went fast) we were mostly drifting Nightcrawlers on the bottom and under bobbers. 

*If you are boating in from the Ohio R, be aware that you lose depth upstream of the Russell Creek bridge.*


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