the weather was not as forecasted. Cold 45 degree weather with clouds, water temp was around 40. I was fishin with a lipless crank bait and caught 4 american shad that were huge, via foul hooking. Trust me, I am in no way bragging. I have been fishin this lake for 6 years and have never seen shad that big. These shad were a min. of 9 inches long with the longest about 13 1/2" with a height (minus the dorsal fin) from belly to top of 6 1/2". I estimate the largest at 3 1/2 pounds. I had no idea these were in there. Does this mean that there may be monster bass in this lake? I know there are 6 and 7 pounders in there but do you think that there are larger bass in there?

Thats not too uncommon for American Shad or American gizzard shad if they live in a protected area where something else keeps the bass and predatory fish away (like large turtles, gators, etc...

Wikipedia entry for gizzard shad states that "They can reach a length of 22.5 inches (57 cm), and weigh up to 4.37 lbs (1980 grams)."

I fish lakes with alot of shad here in indiana and man there are some toads I would say keep it slow and big baits for a few outings. try to hook one of those monster bass

the weather was not as forecasted. Cold 45 degree weather with clouds, water temp was around 40. I was fishin with a lipless crank bait and caught 4 american shad that were huge, via foul hooking. Trust me, I am in no way bragging. I have been fishin this lake for 6 years and have never seen shad that big. These shad were a min. of 9 inches long with the longest about 13 1/2" with a height (minus the dorsal fin) from belly to top of 6 1/2". I estimate the largest at 3 1/2 pounds. I had no idea these were in there. Does this mean that there may be monster bass in this lake? I know there are 6 and 7 pounders in there but do you think that there are larger bass in there?

"Only the shadow knows."