Hope we didn’t loose to many last time we had to use gold fish to catch skinny fish

I am afraid the shad will bee decimated from the frozen lakes we fish . PK and Bporte are frozen solid in spots in the northern ends .Of course those are the areas of success as of late , prior to the arctic stranglehold .

I looked at the lake water temps at Stillhouse Hollow lake. It was reported 49 degrees. I’m not sure, but I think that’s right on the borderline for Shad kill.
I’ve been in Texas since 1992. This is the coldest I have seen it. Just got back into fishing about 6 years ago, and I really look forward to the White Bass spawning run. I usually start looking for them the last week of Feb. and target them until the first week in May.
Im hoping that this arctic vortex will only delay the run and not decimate it.
I’ve been extremely lucky these last 6 years and just slay them during the spawn run. I have people that I promised to take them out in March and April. Sure hope I can show them a good time.m

My lake I fish for big cats on, has been surface temps of 49 since well before the blast. Shad were very active and in gigantic schools. After this drop though, I'm sure that is no longer the case. Not even a single bite today, and the birds were just plopping down and gobbling them up. They didn't even have to work for it. Wonder how long before the free buffet is done, and the fish will be foraging again?

My thoughts are the fish will be hungry and hitting artificials big time. Last time I saw a big shad kill there was no top water action in the spring/summer.

from my understanding shad start really taking a hit when water hits low 40's. The threadfins are the most delicate and will suffer and colder than that will start affecting the gizzard shad. My lakes always get 44-46 degrees in the middle of winter for as long as I've fished them (5 years) and they have tons and tons of shad in them telling me mid 40's doesn't touch them. Curious to check it out and see if I still see as many shad after this blizzard.

The good thing is shad are prolific reproducers. I remember after the big freeze in 1983 they were talking about stocking threadfins in Texoma.