The big birds can also alert you about fishing
pressure. Because the blue herons are the most
skittish, if you come around a corner and some of
them are stationed on the water’s edge, it’s a good
bet no one has fished
Guy Williams chased down
that zone recently.
Gulls and
this Diamond
terns, of course,
valley bass from a bird school.
are usually associated
with surface
feeding
activity,
but they can
even signal
action before it
happens. This
can be
Issue 4 October 2011
especially helpful when pre-fishing. even when the gulls are gathered up on the shore doing very little, some members of the flock are always out patrolling. if you ever hear the quiet suddenly broken by shrieking or squabbling, it may signal that some of the birds on patrol are reporting back.
i have observed this many, many times and if you are watchful, you’ll actually see those scouts head out across the lake to a specific area of activity. and if you’re lucky enough to be there when the whole flock lifts off—you might want to follow. There’s a good chance predators have pushed shad to the surface in a big way.
terns, however, will also settle for just an occasional mouthful at the surface, and from their overhead vantage point, they know when fish are pushing bait below. When the terns dip, or “look over their shoulder,” they see something is going on, however, it may require a jerkbait, rather than a straight topwater.
FEEDING IS BELIEVING
Shad are the primary forage base in western
reservoirs and due to the behavior of those
members of the herring family, many bird
species work the banks early. in this case,
or throughout the day, the more birds
present, the better the food supply must
be. While cormorants are problematic
all around the world, they are a
good news/bad news creature.
The bad news is, they eat
everything. The good news,
they only show up where there
is something to eat.
But the “cormies” are
especially hard on sunfish—
especially bluegill. For that reason,
if you find them in an area where
shad are not apparent, it’s likely one
where sunfish and crappie also
reside and that might affect your
lure choices for bass. Pelicans
are another problem bird,
especially during the spring
when the bass spawners are
shallow. if you see pelicans
in a cove, they are not
dieting.
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