castaic shad dying by the hundreds

[Fishthewhaler]

i fished castaic today and saw shad dying by the dozens. at the buoy line i noticed shad popping all over. At closer look these were half dying along with bass fry. The cove was all silver from the hundreds that were starting to float. I began to net the fat ones that were still kicking. I noticed the bubble hole was pumping. Anyone know whatz goi g on? fishing was slower today. caught half dozen stripers and 3 LMB. One nice blowup on the KPN produced. Weekend fisherman should take this shad thing into consideration. Not Cool! never seen shad dying like this. I did manage a nice bass on one of the pieces!

[fishfinder]

probably attacked by a school of stripers

[stg68]

I have seen this before, it is stripers killing them

[Hometown]

May be the lake rolled over?

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

hard ta say what you experienced that particular day...so many elements change day by day but I'd guess it's nothing to be alarmed about, the shad population is thriving and in some of the greatest #'s I've seen in years, I am there quite often as of late and I've not encountered this so I think you experienced an isolated situation, most likely fish stunned from being smashed by LMB or stripes..

I wouldnt b concerned....if the bite wasnt solid where you fished I'd suggest a location change....chase down the active fish clusters if your not getting a solid active bite pattern

[BingJr]

I was there today too and I saw the same thing. I think it was shad that are being injured by the turbulance of all the water being pumped in or are being killed coming through the pipe from the duct. Either way there is Balls of live shad every where, never seen anything like it. And the fishing is still phenominal and tons of live healthy bait and fish. Still 50 fish days without working too hard.

[Fishthewhaler]

Yea, It was very strange to see, that lake seems to be putting on one heck of a show right now, I saw a very violent flurry of surface activity as well,These stripers were absolutely crushing the bait balls...

[cutbait]

What Bing Jr said. Seen it before at other locations

[Nessie Hunter]

Ill take a wild guess here;

Could it be falling ash from the fires????

[tmartin]

May be the lake rolled over?

Not in the middle of summer?

[ZplugJunkie]

cold water being pumped in put the bait fish in the area in shock. 100fish half day ain't so bad.:LOL:

[Fishthewhaler]

cold water being pumped in put the bait fish in the area in shock. 100fish half day ain't so bad.:LOL:

thats just what we scooped...other side of the buoy line was a silver surface. BL opposite the pump. Shad was thick as I ever seen it, there was almost too much bait. I took the shad to opposite side of lake and caught some back in hawks nest.
FTW