Shellbed question

[bluewingjb]

Ok so I see a lot of posts about catching fish off shellbeds.. Can I get an assist as to what shellbeds are besides beds of shell!! Kind of like the term blowdowns... I didnt know what they were until I asked and found out they are just trees in the water at the bank.. trees that have been blown down hence the term blowdowns.. I just figured they were shoreline structure.. So what exactly are shell beds and where are the most common.. flats or close to ledges (drop offs) Just still trying to learn the terminology for everything..

Thanks

 

[jb366]

Shell beds are pretty much just what you said, beds of freshwater mussels. They have to have hard bottom and current. Most of the ones I fish are on the flats next to a drop but I fish 3 or 4 that are off the sides of drops anywhere from 10-20'. Some are fairly big, some are the size of a vw bug.

 

[Springmillvol]

I will jump in here and ask how do you find them. Do they show a certain way on the graphs or can you feel them thru your lure when you hit one?

 

[jb366]

They stick out pretty good if you have your graphs set up right.. They show up as a hotter return like rocks but they'll be in little patches that look almost like gravel. Also you can find them by just fishing.
I usually mark them on the graph then dredge a crank across them to make sure I'm on shells and not gravel. The crank will pick up shells pretty quick

 

[porthos33]

It just takes fishing a lot. When you start finding hard bottoms and shells are attached, then you found one! I had one in the big bass splash that was 2 ft deep and I caught a $400 fish off of it on a trap. It was right on the bank too. They are everywhere, shallow and deep.

 

[bluewingjb]

Are the beds marked on any maps?

 

[porthos33]

Nope I spent 80-100 hours a week all winter finding them!!

 

[porthos33]

Only true way to know you found them is to see those huge clumps of shells on those treble hooks!

 

[bluewingjb]

are they pretty scattered around the lake or tend to be more in the lower or middle or upper part of the lake?

 

[Nauticman]

porthos33 - 5/17/2018 12:50 PM

Nope I spent 80-100 hours a week all winter finding them!!

Come on, Eric, you should have put “LOL” after this comment.

There are 168 hours in a week. If you spent 100 hours per week hunting shell beds and you slept 8 hours a night, you would only have 12 hours per week to do something else. You do the math. Now I can say LOL !

 

[billyc]

They also move from year to year. That's what you look for ledge fishing and spend the rest of your time trying to hide it from everyone else.

 

[jb366]

billyc - 5/17/2018 7:13 PM

They also move from year to year. That's what you look for ledge fishing and spend the rest of your time trying to hide it from everyone else.

Good luck hiding anything on Chickamauga. All it takes is one boat to see you fish it and they'll go fish it right after you leave . Then someone sees them and repeat repeat repeat until it's a "community hole" and you have to take a number to fish then you get accused of hole jumping.
I spent alot of time finding little stuff that held fish where I rarely if ever saw boats last year to fish during tournaments and there was a boat on every one last sat in the cba. Not saying some didn't do the same thing I did to find them but the majority of people use the Duckett method of fishing

 

[porthos33]

Nauticman - 5/17/2018 4:35 PM

porthos33 - 5/17/2018 12:50 PM Nope I spent 80-100 hours a week all winter finding them!!

Come on, Eric, you should have put “LOL” after this comment. There are 168 hours in a week. If you spent 100 hours per week hunting shell beds and you slept 8 hours a night, you would only have 12 hours per week to do something else. You do the math. Now I can say LOL !

There were some days I didn't sleep!! And you can't forget two a days!! It's not just for weight lifting! Bahahaha

 

[FishingwithRusty]

hmmmmmm, theyre everywhere! literally and not hard to find on electronics. on side imaging they sometimes look like waves on the bottom. in florida they are often round patches and show up great on the red/green color pallette.