Don Harris

I was at Pickwick Monday late in the afternoon and everywhere we went there were large shad (gizzard shad I'm guessing) exploding on top of the water. At first I thought it was bass feeding on top, but it seemed to be hundreds of shad jumping out of the water. They would do it right against the side of the boat. If you threw a lure, they would swirl around it but never actually grab it. I have never in 40+ years of fishing seen this happen at the scale it was happening. Literally, at the back of a large creek, the entire width of the water was exploding with shad. Any ideas what this is all about? Just curious what the cause might be. Thanks in advance.