Gulls point the way to fast fishing

NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF 
Gizzard shad, shown here, and threadfin shad are a primary food source for all game fish at Beaver Lake. Anglers who watch for gulls feeding on shad at Beaver Lake can find good fishing, particularly for striped bass, by working a shad-imitating lure where gulls are feeding.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Gizzard shad, shown here, and threadfin shad are a primary food source for all game fish at Beaver Lake. Anglers who watch for gulls feeding on shad at Beaver Lake can find good fishing, particularly for striped bass, by working a shad-imitating lure where gulls are feeding.

Fishermen become bird watchers during winter at Beaver Lake.

Gulls dive-bombing the surface and feeding on threadfin shad tell anglers that schools of striped bass or black bass may lurk below, also slurping down a meal of threadfin shad.

That's especially true now that the surface temperature is in the low 40s at Beaver. Lots of shad are dying. Threadfin shad aren't tolerant of extremely cold water. Forty-two degrees is the magic temperature that triggers a kill.

Those dying shad are easy pickings for gulls tail-spinning down from the sky to the lake surface. It's all- you-can-eat for game fish prowling below the birds.

Fishing in the Rocky Branch area of Beaver last week, the boat's depth finder flashed a chilly 42.6-degree surface temperature. Gulls circled the calm water, so many that a lakeside neighbor called to say "Hey, the gulls are going crazy. We'd better get out there."

That icy 42.6 is plenty cold to trigger a shad kill, said Jon Stein, a fisheries biologist at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fisheries office in Rogers. That's downright tepid compared to three weeks ago.

During that early February cold snap, Stein and crew ventured out on the lake and found a surface temp of 38 degrees. The regions small lakes dipped even colder or iced over.

When anglers see flocks of gulls pick threadfin shad off the surface, the birds could be feeding on dead or dying shad, Stein explained. Or, it could be that a school of striped bass or black bass has pushed a bunch of shad to the surface.

Threadfin shad are the main food source for most game fish at Beaver Lake. Striped bass, black bass, white bass, catfish, crappie and walleye all eat shad. But a shad kill at the lake isn't anything to worry about, Stein said.

Forty-degree water will kill some, but not all of the threadfin shad.

There are areas in the lake with springs that keep the water warmer down deep than it is on the surface, Stein said.

"There were winters years ago where the whole lake almost frozen over. The only open water was out in the middle," Stein said. "There was some concern that all the shad in the lake might die, but they didn't."

Gulls proved to be nature's fish finder on a chilly winter day in 2014. We'd heard the stripers were biting in the Horseshoe Bend are so we set out to catch some.

Trolling crank baits in the main lake produced only one white bass. While unhooking that fish, we happened to take a glance to the east at the lake's Blackburn Creek arm.

We watched gulls by the dozens spinning and diving toward the surface, feeding on shad. Off we went, speeding over to Blackburn Creek. When we shut down the outboard, the boat's depth finder screen showed massive amounts of shad right under the boat.

Lowering a jigging spoon into the water, the lure didn't sink five feet before a big white bass nabbed it. Then, 10 yards from the boat, big stripers started breaking the surface, showing their brawny backs.

One cast with a Red Fin top-water lure was all it took to pick a heavyweight fight with a big striper. Nothing beats an arm-tiring fight with a big striper waged with a light-weight rod meant for much smaller fish. With the striper safely in the net, we figured it to be 20 pounds. Two casts later, an even larger striper grabbed the Red Fin. This fish dove deep and evidently snagged the Red Fin on a tree branch. We lost a trophy fish and one of our favorite lures.

That day was cold and drizzly, but who cares when the fishing's that good. Those pretty white gulls pointed us in the right direction.

Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected]

Sports on 02/19/2019

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