Hey guys, a buddy and I are going to try and check Shoal bass off our bass slam list today. I'm not much of a bass fisherman, and I've never targeted shoal bass, so anyone got any advice? Not looking to catch a monster, I'd rather catch several small fish on an ultralight than one big fish on a medium rod. We're going to either the Palisades unit on the Chattahoochee, or somewhere along Sweetwater Creek. Maybe somewhere different if y'all have a suggestion. Thanks in advance!
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Shoal bass
- Thread starter jbpriest
- Start date
Ferrulewax
Member
if all you want to do is catch a few, ned rig is hard to beat. target shoals and rocks (makes sense huh?) small jerkbaits also work well. Not sure about that area, but if they are there they will eat a ned.
killabig1
Senior Member
Flint River the best place for shoal bass.
Typical bass lures; spinners, worms.
Typical bass lures; spinners, worms.
MattKelley
Senior Member
They were hitting buzzbait the other afternoon. Launched at paces mill.
ShoalBandit
Senior Member
PM sent
waderjon
Senior Member
The ocmulgee river below Jackson lake is good in the fall.
Throw a buzz bait and fluke.
Throw a buzz bait and fluke.
Turpentine
Senior Member
I second the Flint. worms work pretty good.
ShoalBandit
Senior Member
There really isn't a catchable population below Lanier until you get past Morgan Falls Dam. There are a lot of hybrid black bass between Morgan Falls and West Point due to the introduction of nonnative Spotted Bass, Alabama Bass, and more recently Smallmouth so that could have something to with it.
Browniez
Senior Member
I’ve found some way up some feeder creeks in the “trout” stretch years ago. I wonder if they are still there with renewed development and siltation.
I’d check this PM
ShoalBandit
Senior Member
Thanks but that info has expired...the Upper Chattahoochee Shoal Bass Project was doing a tagging float the day after he made that post.
Bananaslug22
Senior Member
I just love reading any Shoal Bass thread. Gets the 'ol heart a pumpin with excitement.
I caught my first ever spotted bass down here on the Flint last year. I was hoping they wouldn`t get established this far down. Makes me sick that they will ruin a good fishery.
Philhutch80
Banned
All because of selfish tournament anglers too. I wonder if anyone has tried to quantify how many fisheries they have ruined.
ShoalBandit
Senior Member
Just to be clear the main reason you no longer have a catchable population of Shoal Bass between Buford Dam and Morgan Falls in the mainstem Chattahoochee is because it's an artificial coldwater fishery.
ShoalBandit
Senior Member
Tournament anglers may or may not be responsible for stocking nonnative Alabama Bass. Lots of people that own bass boats for example fish a tournament at some point in their life but does that make them tournament anglers? I'm not sure it matters but people with boats that have livewells are definitely responsible for most illegal introductions. I also know some kayak anglers have used coolers with aerators to illegally move bass outside their native range. There are obviously many problems with all of this but in many cases the fish that are being moved are in fact hybrids and they're being introduced on top of other native species creating the same problem somewhere else.
FWIW I have no science to back this up these are just my own personal observations but I have lived and fished in this state for over 40 years.
Nonnative Spotted Bass (Micropterus punctulatus) have been documented in the Chattahoochee River below Morgan Falls Dam, West Point Lake, Bartlett's Ferry, Goat Rock, Oliver, Eufaula, Seminole, the Apalachicola River, Flint River and Lake Blackshear.
Nonnative Alabama Bass (Micropterus henshalli) have been illegally introduced and/or spread to Lake Lanier, Lake Jackson, Lake Sinclair, Lake Oconee, Lake Blue Ridge, Lake Nottely, Lake Chatuge, Parksville Lake (TN), Fontana Lake (NC), Lakes Burton, Seed, Rabun, Yonah and Tugalo, Lake Keowee (SC), Lake Jocassee (SC), Lake Hartwell, Lake Russell, Clarks Hill, Lake Wylie (SC), and Lake Norman (NC). Alabama Bass have also been illegally introduced to Claytor Lake in Virginia which is a manmade impoundment on the New River.
Alabama Bass have also been illegally introduced to the South River, Yellow River, Alcovy River, Middle Oconee River, North Oconee River and have spread to the mainstem Oconee below Sinclair Dam in Milledgeville. Most of these north GA populations have mill dams between them and manmade impoundments downstream so we know they were introduced by residents that live along these rivers and/or creeks that flow into them.
People that fish the big lakes buy property on a creek or river and make a few casts. They don't catch anything or catch small fish so they think the river hasn't been 'stocked'. Next thing you know they're bringing a livewell load of bass home from the local impoundment. This has/is happening in multiple areas because Alabama Bass are getting above barriers like dams. These people in most cases just have no clue they fish the big lakes and maybe some farm ponds and have no idea what kind of damage they're doing. It's permanent too. Long after these individuals move or die the nonnative fish will still be causing problems. At some point in the future we're not going to have different species just different combinations of hybrids. It's already that way in a lot streams anglers just don't know it yet.
across the river
Senior Member
I get it, and I would in no way condone introducing fish to a body of water. With that being said, I always find these arguments sort of tongue in check, because most of the "introduced" fish that survive and thrive in a body of water do so, because the river was dammed up. Trout wouldn't survive in Atlanta without Buford Dam and the cold water coming from the bottom of the lake above it. Many of the "rivers" people ride a boat up and fish, would be nothing more than a muddy stream during part of the year that many of the "introduced" fish wouldn't survive in anyway. Like I said, I get it, but assume everything was left "natural as it was hundreds of years ago. How many people would actually be fishing these bodies of water? I can sure you it would be that many and the economic impact both positive( recreation, fishing etc...) and negative (flooding, drought, etc..) would be much different than. The bottom line is the on constant is everything is always changes. Some my be to our liking and some may not, but I don't think the hybridization of the Shoal or Bartram bass is the big impact to our rivers over the last couple of hundred years.
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