Bird talk
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egrets would rather eat than flee, and knowing that can tell you a lot about the forage activity.
Not all bird activity is
evidence of fish activity, but clearly, it can’t be overlooked. i’ve had many a fruitless chase following egrets hop-scotch down a bank as fast as i can go on the trolling motor. Yet, common grebes (the plain gray variety) en masse often work with predator bass in herding the bait close to the bank. “Bird schools” as they are sometimes referred, keep the bass up and interested and that makes an angler’s job a lot easier.
diving gulls and terns, as mentioned, are a great signaler of likely bass (or striper) behavior. The best thing about them is, they can’t dive but inches below the surface, so you know the activity is right on top. and secondly, because they are up in the air (and not hidden along some shoreline) you can see where the activity is at great distances.
BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT FEATHER
Sometimes it’s not a specific species, but a combination of them that gives you information. in a deep reservoir in open water, seeing several or even dozens of majestic Western grebes shouldn’t get you overly excited. Those birds can dive 40 feet or more, and their presence may only mean bait is somewhere present in the the area, or worse, that boat traffic has just chased them over to a quiet zone. But when the Westerns are working with gulls or other species of grebes, then you need to pay attention.
another grebe, the pied-bill, with a black eye and
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heavier beak, is usually more solitary, but it’s a good one to pay attention to. Pied-billed grebes don’t just eat shad, they will take on sunfish, various fry and they will root out crawdads. They can stay down for a time, and when the water cools down, these birds can definitely show you where the crustaceans might be found. Call it a jig fishing alert.
Surprisingly, the innocuous, almost toy-like ruddy duck is a good pointer for bass. it was news to me until a few seasons back, when our best shallow water catches in december and January came from coves where a dozen or more of these fluffy floaters were working. it turns out they won’t come to the boat for popcorn, but they eat small fish and they dive down six to eight feet to root up crustaceans as well.
Finally, lake Perris regulars, such as dave Nollar, have told a unique story about the role of american coots. Though a pure vegetarian, here’s a bird that signals a bass bonanza some years. late in the season, with the grass beginning to die, the coots collect around the surface tearing up and breaking the strands of various pond weeds. But as they do, the birds apparently dislodge freshwater snails which sink and sometimes trigger a feeding frenzy of sunfish and bass. The smart anglers let the coots tell them where to cast.
So it is successful bass fishermen who utilize a number of tools and techniques to gather information and stay with the fish throughout the year. and wouldn’t you know it? a lot of that information is available by way of the various species of birds that share the same water--if you’re paying attention.