Hey there Jerry. I saw this post and thought I'd say hello. I was watchin' you and Russ Bailey on my Midwest Crappie DVD's Friday night and made the connection. Enjoyed the shows.

Jerry is more than likely correct with the temperature change. The most common Kill off of Shad this time of year is a sudden temperature change. If you've ever fished with Shad caught from a casting net, they are very hard to keep alive in the bait bucket and on the hook. They are very sesitive to conditions and do not like quick changes in temp. With the shad not floating on the surface, it sound like the water temperature quickly cooled, mixed and shocked the shad enough to kill them. More than likely with the Drastic Temperature changes lately, this is the cause of the Kill off.

Another cause is when our local govt. waste water treatment facilities get flooded by too much rain, they release some affluent into the system that kill the sensitive species like the shad.

Other causes of Shad kill of is when plants deteriorate and consume dissolved oxygen to the point the fish suffocate. Rivers aren't as suseptable to this type of kill off. Typically other fish species are affected as well if this is the case. Lake Texoma has had some issue with this in the past few years.

Disease is another cause, but the fish will usually show outward signs of this.

Hope this kill off doesn't affect your fishery much.

GLGF

G.