Where I have been fishing lately i have seen allot of birds surface with shad in their mouth, but the bites around that area have been few and far between. I am throwing shad imitation baits around the area as well. Earlier this fall i would smoke them in the areas that birds were chasing shad and since winter has rolled along i cannot catch a break around the schools of shad and the birds. Keep in mind that the birds are relativity shallow which may be the problem with winter rolling around.

 

God Bless 

Colder waters mean bass are less active (more lethargic), they don't chase unless they feel it's worth it. Your just going to have to get it closer to them or present a lure they feel is worth chasing. No one but the bass can tell you what is worth chasing to them. Good luck.

This is in northern Missouri .

  In the winter when  gulls are diving for shad its because of the shad die off . In the summer/fall it is because of fish chasing shad but not necessarily largemouth bass . In the small lakes I fish   it will definitely be largemouths , in the big lake its probably white bass .

On the Tennessee River birds often = striper.

 

Down here when I see birds diving I'm heading that way. May not catch anything but at least it's a sign of bait. I'll follow them around until they take off..

 

 

Mike

 

Like road warrior. Around here birds normally mean hybrid striped bass. And a big 5 or 6in flutter spoon is the ticket.

Grebes are the diving birds you usually see feeding on Threadfin Shad schools and very important in locating baitfish. Gulls can't dive deep and only feed on surface bait of any size. Cormorants are the bigger black water bird and can dive deep like grebes and eat all types of fish.

I will assume the OP is talking about grebes feeding on Threadfin Shad, not Gizzard shad.

Bass feed heavily on Shad during the fall and winter months, so yes find the birds and the bass should be close by. 

Lures of choice are structure spoons, flutter spoons, tail and under spins that match the size and coloration of the Shad.

Tom

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

On the Tennessee River birds often = striper.

 

 

its the same on Smith Mountain Lake in the winter. flock of seagulls = baitfish and feeding striper

 

 

In Florida gulls, terns, egrets, herons are usually good signs. Snowbirds - not so much.

Birds are a good sign of life for sure. It doesn't always equal fish though. I had birds diving hard last time I was out. I was catching fish fast but they were smaller than I'd like so I checked out the area the birds were in. There was nothing but huge balls of 2" shad and the adage "Don't leave fish to find fish", jumped to the front of my brain.

What kind of birds are they? Do you see them dive into the water to catch the bait Or do you just see them surface with the bait? Is a flock of birds or just a few swimming around in the area?

Depends on the body of water/area. Around here birds don't mean much..........we have lots of seagulls, but they are rarely feeding on the lake  as we don't have a shad based food chain, they usually use the lake as a resting area between foraging in plowed fields and other off water activities. I do know this.................when a large flock of them returns to sit on the lake from parts unknown, especially late in the year....you can expect the fishing to be slow.

 

Wildlife is wildlife, I pay close attention to other species activity levels when fishing. More times than not, if I see birds just sitting around doing nothing, no woodchucks or other critters moving around the bank, and things seem "quiet" fishing is generally slow.

1 hour ago, ww2farmer said:

 

 

Wildlife is wildlife, I pay close attention to other species activity levels when fishing 

When the owls are hooting during the day the fish are biting .

Around here, gulls can equal stripers in the area. But they can also have a herd mentality where they all flock because one bird moved or one shad flicked the surface. You can run out a tank of gas chasing birds. As for other birds, I don't know.