The "Crossing Point" Ambush Pattern

By Al Eason

In-Fisherman, Feb/Mar 1978

During the mid 1970s when In-Fisherman was just getting started, Al Lindner was still fishing national bass tournaments across the country, as well as spending winters down in east Texas fishing and guiding. Probably not a big surprise then to see Al Eason, Texas fishing guide, with an article in this issue. Al had just  released a book in 1976, “How Pro Guides Find and Catch Fish,” which might be a new one for your library. Al (Eason) appeared in several magazine articles after his book came out, sharing his thoughts and observations about shad and bass behavior, much of which FFS seems to be confirming some 50 years later.

Excerpts:

> I felt that large concentrations of shad usually take cover at night in shoreline moss beds or in dense brush. Then, very early in the morning, they appear to leave the shore and begin following a daily migration pattern of some sort out in the open water. 

> This route might be a more or less elliptical course through areas where the shad could feed on plankton…the shad traveled circuits which could range up to as much as four or five miles…it appears that when the shad schools reach the first leg of their "rounds" — usually about mid-day, they begin to back track toward a nighttime resting place.

> From my studies, I felt convinced that certain large concentrations of bass often continually follow large shad schools like wolf packs follow caribou herds on the tundra.

> I also felt that, at night, bass lay and wait for the shad to come from shore in the morning and begin to shadow them again. It appears that bass feed on the shad whenever they are very tightly schooled as they pass over some sort of underwater barrier. It's as if the bass trail the shad until the baitfish get into a vulnerable position, usually against some kind of "cross-over" barrier, and that it is at such a site that the bass attack.

> "It's my belief that at least certain bass groups appear to follow the shad all day long, perhaps feeding on them from time to time such as at midday in open water, but more usually tearing into them when they encounter this barrier. What's more, it also appears that the shadowing bass hole up along some nearby underwater structure at night and wait for the morning arrival of the shad on their way to open water.”