Daily Progress, Jacksonville, TX

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April 5, 2009

Lake Jacksonville needs to be restocked with shad

Over the last two to three years I’ve noticed a steady decline of big bass being caught on Lake Jacksonville. Many of the larger bass 4 pounds and larger that are weighed in during local tournaments have been described as skinny or poor looking.

Many tournament fishermen have noticed a decline in the shad population. When they travel from one end of the lake to another, they monitor their graphs looking for signs of baitfish, and they are shocked at the lack of shad they are seeing.

When I fish other lakes in our area like Lake Palestine, Athens and Striker, most of the large bass I catch are fat and very healthy looking. I don’t find this to be true on Lake Jacksonville.

It seems to me that ever since the hydrilla was eliminated the shad population has dwindled down and the larger bass have gotten much thinner.

I’m also not seeing many large bass in the shallows like in the past. The other day I fished Jacksonville for about six hours and caught eight bass on a 1⁄4-ounce Nichols stand-up type jig with a Nichols Sweet Thing as a trailer. The Sweet Thing color was watermelon, pumpkin/red, chartreuse, laminated.

All the bass I caught were relating to shallow logs or brush. The bass bit the little jig very aggressively. I would simply cast to a log, let it settle to the bottom, and then shake it in place. At times they picked up the jig as soon as it settled to the bottom. The stand-up jig causes the Sweet Thing to rise up over the jig and flare out, just like a crawfish.

I went from one log or brush pile to another. The bass needed very little prompting to strike. I was using a 10-pound fluorocarbon line to give the jig more of a subtle action. All the bass ranged from 1 1⁄2 to 2 pounds. Normally I catch larger bass on the jig, but I couldn’t find any large bass up shallow.

Many fishermen who I have talked to would like to see Lake Jacksonville restocked with shad. I honestly believe that restocking shad would be an excellent idea. I don’t think there is an ample forage base for the larger bass. The smaller bass do look healthy, but almost all of the bass 18 inches and longer look poor.

Many out-of-town fishermen have stopped coming to our lake because our fishery has declined. There is a movement under way to have Lake Jacksonville restocked with shad. I will inform the readers what steps are being taken to try to revitalize our fishery.



Jerry Miller can be contacted at: gonefishing@suddenlink.net

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