Phillip Gentry
Imagine for a minute that a restaurant in town opened up and gave away free food. A No waiting, all-you-can-eat restaurant, that was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People would eat there, a lot.
That scenario is essentially what you have occurring in most of the lakes and reservoirs across the Upstate that contain blueback herring and threadfin shad in their waters. Bass anglers affectionately refer to it as The Shad Spawn.
The name is actually as misnomer because when water temperatures reach the 67 – 70 degree mark, both species, shad and herring, spawn.
BASS pro Matt Arey explained that many bass anglers may be targeting spawning “shad” but are doing it at the wrong time of day and in the wrong places.
“First you need to decide which baitfish spawn you are fishing,” said Arey. “In the Carolinas, a lot of our lakes are herring lakes. When you see guys pulling up to long shallow points and making casts across the points, it’s the herring pattern. Herring roam those points and spawn in the clay and sand.
“On the other hand, shad, and I’m talking about threadfin shad here, may spawn in shallow water but they want deep water close by, or they may spawn on shallow structure over deep water. Shad also want some kind of structure to rub their eggs on,” he said. “You can tell you’ve been in the right place for spawning shad if there eggs stuck to the bottom of the boat when you load up. That stuff is like glue.”
When asked how he decides which pattern to fish when both bait species are spawning, Arey said it depends on where the bigger fish are holding on the lake. As a general rule on lakes that have an equal number of both prey, herring will stay in the lower 1/3 of the lakes where the terrain is more conducive.
Shad are more drawn to upper sections of the lake where structure and deeper water mix – creek arms, deep water docks, bridge pilings and deep water rip-rap.
“Threadfin shad will spawn all over the lake, but it’s usually near deep water – docks, bridge pilings, deep water rip rap. The Savannah chain lakes, on the other hand are full of herring. Those are your lakes for running long points looking for random schools of spawning herring. The shad will be up the lake in the rivers and creeks.”
Despite their differences, Arey, like most bass anglers, will use shad/herring imitating lures when fishing for them.
“If I’m searching for spawning shad, a three or four bladed spinnerbait is a good choice in colors of white, white/gray, white/blue sparkle with chrome or silver blades,” he said. “If you’re in the right spot, the shad will even hit the lure, thinking it’s a small pod of shad.”
Another of Arey’s favorite choices is a white jig that matches overall shape and size of a the shad or herring and the retrieve is either a steady reel or pumping the bait back to the boat, depending on how deep he believes the bass are holding.
Arey warned anglers not to depend on either pattern to last for very long into daytime fishing.
“All of them spawn at night and bass will feed on them all night long,” he said. “The best bite is going to come the first hour or two of daylight, then it’s going to break up and you need to go find another pattern.”
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Phillip Gentry is the host of “Upstate Outdoors,” broadcast from noon to 2 p.m. Saturdays on 106.3 WORD FM or online at 989word.com.
