I'm a misplaced saltwater angler by heart, but I still love freshwater fishin' too. So I was fishing for hybrids and sandies near the damn at Tawakoni on Sunday when I suddenly smelled that un-mistakable fishy, almost watermelon like smell in the air. I glanced over and saw two oval shaped, oily slicks floating on the surface of the water, about the size of a car. Now in my experience, seeing this in a saltwater bay would mean that there were speckled trout or some other fish feeding on bait and gorging themselves to the point where they throw up so much that it makes for an oily slick on the water. When I've seen this in the past you can cast to them and catch fish. Or bare minimum it's a good sign that there are feeding fish nearby. So I used my trolling motor to ease up to them and made several casts but I didn't catch any fish. I eventually trolled through the slicks with a hell-pet but didn't produce a strike. I did mark a small school of fish in about thirty feet of water but they wouldn't hit the big road runner I was dropping down to them.

My question is, do freshwater fish make this same phenomenon happen? More specifically do stripers, hybrids or whites do this? Has anyone experienced it and have you caught fish as a result? It would seem to me like this would happen in fresh water just as it does in Texas bays.

- Brocephus

yes they do make slicks in fresh water and it smells something like water melon, just like in the salt.

Good to know. I figured as much. I should have fished those slicks a little harder. I know there were some sand bass and/or hybrids feeding there, I just must not have thrown the right bait at them, or hit the right depth.

Yes, I believe in fish slicks in fresh water and they can be productive. I've even seen fish slicks in private lakes caused by largemouth bass. You have to play the wind and also know that by the time you see the slick they may be full and out of there.

I always stop and explore the fish smell. It is the oil released by shad. Works every time I find something.