What do you know?

Hey Guys,
I was just cruising (lurking?) on a few other fishing forum sites and got involved in a discussion about thread fin shad, the primary freshwater bait fish in the State. And I was surprised at how little the average fisherman knew about the single most important baitfish that swims in the State's waters!

So,... I got to thinkin' and thought to ask you all, .... and let's use the Spotted Bay Bass cuz it seems to be you 'alls favorite quarry.....

What do they eat?
and what do you know about what they eat?


bodfish

Spotties - they eat my swimbait and Spinnerbaits

no all joking aside, they eat bloodworms, baitfish, ghost shimp, shell fish etc. I know there are correct terms used for what I have listed but Im not sure what it is.

I dont know too much about each type of foods they eat, I just try and match the hatch.

I do know what the spotties have been eating the most upon lipping. The last few months all the spotties I have landed have had razor sharp teeth and that tells me what there eating

Im not much of a fresh water guy when it comes to bass but I do know stripers love thread fin shad, Im sure LMB do and so do cat fish.

They go nuts for clams too,..

They also eat small crabs/shell fish, I think basically anything that moves.. Found this write up on spotties.

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Crabby Patties, Barnacle Rings, and Kelp Shakes.

Hammer 4 wrote:They also eat small crabs/shell fish, I think basically anything that moves.. Found this write up on spotties.

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cool link hammer. I have seen that befor and it has good info.

I'm not for sure what their main forage is but I do know they will eat my small swim baits and gulp shrimp my go to bait. They are opportunist feeders and will eat almost anything they can get in their mouth. Including freshwater baits.

Only 5% of a spotties diet is made up of baitfish!

These findings were from 1995 but the jacknife clam was the most common food item found in the spotties captured for the study.

Being opportunistic, it doesnt matter what the spotty "likes" to eat....what matters is what is around.

Miller makes a good point with the teeth. Lately all the MB spotties ive caught have had razor sharp teeth and have been caughing up baby smelt. When the teeth are smaller and dull, they are eating the hard stuff.

Good info!
Looks like I need to pick up some different color swim baits

Very good info.!

flyfishingfool wrote:Crabby Patties, Barnacle Rings, and Kelp Shakes.

thats only for the fat starfish haha

Peeler crabs.....shhhhhhhh....

I catch them on Big Hammer Swimbaits and WARBAIT jigs!

hey guys,
Obviously we know WHAT they eat,... now what do you KNOW about what they eat?
Basic biology, where do they live, what do they eat? when do they spawn, what are their habits?

the answers might help you target your quarry better.

Mass fisher mentioned that the SBBs he was catching were coughing up juvenile smelt, Hmmm, if we could target the juvenile smelt?,.... or even if we knew when the juveniles become available each year? and what areas do they favor? and why?

My point is that some of the most important info that good fisherman possess (especially commercial fisherman) is about the biology and habits of the bait as well as the quarry. Hmmmm,..

bodfish

PS Here's a little story. Every year in the late spring/early summer there was a great Barracuda bite on the Ventura Flats. And for years I thought it was because the Barracuda sought out the Flats for their spawn, until one year I got schooled by a veteran skipper. The Flats are a veritable desert. Flat, hard pack sand and shale with virtually no features. This year like every one in the past we started making exploratory trips to the flats in hopes of being the first on the LOG females. The water was green, greasy, and chill. And although we put in the effort, no results, and Don would say the same thing every afternoon. "They are not ready yet" I assumed he meant the Barracuda. Finally one morning we rolled up on the flats and I saw Don come out of the wheelhouse look over the side and say " Aha! there they are!!". I looked over and saw literally millions of 1" anchovies in tight organized schools. They were all over the flat. Fishing was wide open that day. We sacked up full limits of Barries and Sandies (plus a few doormats and a butt load of mackerel) and cruised home happy.
Everyone knew that the Ventura flats were a favored anchovy spawning ground and nursery, so I was not surprised to see the anchovies. What I couldn't understand was where were they the weeks before? Don explained. "They were in the larval stage. They were incapable of schooling behavior cuz they were too small, and underdeveloped to swim. So they just wiggle around willy nilly. Like bugs, too small to chase individually. As soon as they get big enough and can swim fast enough, they school up for protection and the Barries target the schools!"

a perfect example of knowing about the bait as well as your quarry.

good info bodfish.

I think 90% of the spotties i've caught have been on artificial's, if any were caught on bait live or dead they were small one's,..