Threadfin shad are among the most abundant - and sought after targets - of feeding bass. They’re common in southern waters and their range extends into the Midwest, though they are sensitive to cold water and die when the water temperature drops below 41°. The plankton–eating shad spawn near the surface at first light when water temperatures are higher than 62°, usually in places having weeds, timber or other cover. Shad spawn extensively until the surface water temperature reaches 83 degrees.

Find the shad and you’re sure to have bass lurking nearby. Spawning begins in May and continues into September, at dawn. Following a spawning session, threadfins often head for deep water, moving through the lake in large schools until evening, when they migrate back toward the shore to feed on plankton, and it’s this shoreward shift that draws bass to the shallows.

Windblown points and banks often are rich with plankton, which attracts Shad, and that in turn brings bass. Turbid waters with plankton in main-lake covers also hold abundant summer shad, and bass. As water cools in the fall, shad seek warmer, deeper water, often in the lower reaches of reservoirs near dams or in southern lakes up shallow streams that stay relatively warm throughout winter.

Use a Texas Hunter pond fish feeder or lake fish feeder to attract bluegill and other forage fish to an area. This technique will also attract Bass to this feeding zone where you can regularly find them waiting for their next meal.