What this chain reaction does is to put more of a useable forage base into the system for small sport fish like walleye, bass, and crappie. Contrary to the beliefs of some bass fishermen, stripers are actually helpful to the other sport fish. In many cases, trying to convince bass fishermen of this sometimes is very difficult. Finding these large desirable shad can sometimes pose a problem if you don't know where to look. Large gizzard shad like to feed and sun themselves on long mud flats.
Most lakes have areas that possess flats somewhere .
Usually, even in the hot summer, the best flats to try are in the back of the creeks. During spring and winter, with several fronts coming through, the shad often will move off the flats and onto the edge of the creek channels and hold in a little deeper water to escape the high barometric pressure. A good way to spot gizzard shad is to watch for them flipping on top of the water. If you don't see any shad flipping and are not having any success in catching shad, move out to where the flat breaks into the channel. The bait may be a little more spread out but they should be catchable.