Headed to parents RV on hickory creek on Lewisville tomorrow to fish with dad. Anybody finding shad up shallow near the bank/boat ramps yet?

I picked up about 10 in two throws of the casting net in a Lake Lewisville feeder creek on Sunday, so I would say they are starting to be in the shallow waters.

I didn’t see much up shallow on Twok this past weekend but I would think they should be showing up some. If there is a boat ramp close try on it either early or late in the day

Saw a lot of flipping going on when I launch early Sunday. All around the boat ramp and the cove the ramp is in. Depth from bank to about 10'deep. I already had my bait so I didn't bother casting the net.

Everything was scattered last weekend on Lewisville. I looked shallow but it was 42 that morning and I think the bait was pushed out. It had also rained a bit which scattered em pretty good. I found the most bait was out in 22 ft but it was scattered. Never saw anything grouped up tight. By the end of the day there was a ton of bait headed north. It’s the spring transition so things change considerably between the fronts and the warm sunny days. One day they are in 2 ft and the next they are in 20. There should be plenty up shallow this weekend with the warm weather. Here is what I threw on and also fished. Good luck and let me know how you do up in there.

Hey Chris are those cats on the right side? I use the blue color chart so things look different on the amber like yours. Those look like buffalo or carp to me me but maybe its the color.

This was the very beginning of the summer cornucopia biomass of all species Matt. Everything was mixed together but I marked everything in this group. I caught big gizzards, big threads, 10” drum, several 8” sandbass, 1 10 lb Buffalo, 3 bluecats from 1-3 lbs in 5 throws of the net. I saw small groups of hybrids on this run and larger cats with them. There were Gar and also saw larger sized szndbsss throughout the run. I drifted it 2 runs and caught 25 fish from 2-26 lbs and missed 2 more over 20. When I find these massive groupings of fish I see all species within the biomass. This group will continue to mass up and stay together all summer unless some type of major event happens. This was spread out over 20-30 acres and sometimes they tighten up into a 5-10 acre group. As the water warms and the sandbass and Shad get done spawning the more fish will join the biomass and soon it will be chuck full of fish. Find the biomass and you’ll catch fish. Even if your not sure what everything is. When you see that sized group it is usually a mix of everything.

If you’ll circle what your wanting me to id Matt I can try and tell ya.

They were shallow ISH for me last Saturday. They were stacked between 12 and 18 foot, in a 25 foot deep section. Surface temp of 58 to 59 degrees. But they were definitely stacked. One throw of the net, and I had more than I needed for my whole trip, turned a bunch back.


And have to agree on the biomass theory. All kinds of fish were under those shad, and I caught a lot of blues, and hybrids, in a very short time.

couldnt find any from the bank on monday. tried shallow, boatramp, and from the dock. im looking forward to summer when i can just find any not busy boat ramp and throw my net like 3 times and go fishing.

None schooling on the two lakes I went to this weekend, all scattered. I might have seen 3 or 4 very small pods on one today, but they were tiny, and I would have had to be perfectly on target to get them. I tried deep, shallow, flats, coves, ramps, marinas, the works. I had about 10 nice ones from another boat ramp, I took with me on ice, or I wouldn't have had any at all. Big difference a week made.

That’s the spring transition Z. Here today and gone tomorrow. Always on the move and never in the same place for long. This time of year was always the hardest time for me get figured out. I used to struggle to find bait and then struggle to put fish in the boat. I would usually catch a handful and then I would blame the poor fishing on the weather or the spring transition. Everywhere I would look everything would be scattered. Then I would go home and see what other experienced bluecatrs did and I they were filling the boat on days I did terrible which drove me nuts. I will tell ya that drifting in March is usually a low success technique. The fish and bait are usually scattered all over the lake and when you find them they are usually in smaller groups. You can still get lucky drifting mid depths but March drifting usually has a much lower success rate even into April until the bait groups back up good mid depth. I know there are going to be be some guys that say they hammer em drifting right now but that’s not the norm.

I finally was able to fill that shallow water void in my Bluecat game by hiring guides to teach me what I was missing and to make friends with guys that were consistently out fishing me.

If your having trouble getting bait then head to the main lake points or ledges with some wind blowing on them and scan those from deep to shallow. Bait and fish are starting to relate to that structure again and they are easy to find on sonar. They aren’t on every point but if you keep moving you will find them.

I found bait in the Marina this past weekend. Only found 1 or 2 per throw but only took me a half hour to get a bucket with enough to fish. most week 7 or 8 inch a couple bigger...

Were in 4-6 foot of water out at Augies on Eagle Mountain last night. Caught about a dozen 5 to 6 inch Gizzards, and a few smaller threadfins off the dock. Talking to the guy that runs the bait house, he said that was the first bunch of shad he'd seen netted off the dock. They're definitely moving up into the warm weather spots. Unfortunately, no catfish chasing them, at least last night. Water temps were 63-64 degrees, Thursday when I went out, couldn't net any shad I saw on sonar, but had some frozen, and caught about a dozen of various sizes from 2 to 8 lbs that day.

They have been shallow for the past month but you gotta go to areas of the lake where the water is warmer. The main lake coves are just now getting warmed up but the northern skinny water has been full of bait for the last month. This next weeks warm weather should warm the rest of the shallows up and make getting bait much easier for y’all.