New Forage in Lake Junaluska!

There is exciting news for anglers in and around Western North Carolina! As of the month of April this year, thousands of gizzard shad have been released into Lake Junaluska, making the lure options expand tremendously.

While fishing the lake one sunny afternoon in May, I noticed that there were MASSIVE dark clouds in the water. They were spread out as far as I could see and seemed to be...moving? "What are these things?" I said to myself. I have fished Lake Junaluska hundreds of times throughout my life and not once had I seen something like this. I knew that Lake J had a considerable bream, sunfish, and perch population but not once had I ever heard, let alone seen any evidence of shad living in the lake. My curiosity got the best of me as I picked up my ultralite rod I normally use to jig for crappie, I tossed a hair jig out into one of the massive dark clouds and jerked the jig hard twice. Sure enough, i hooked snagged a fish almost immediately, reeling in, you guessed it, a large gizzard shad.

This discovery is something of great importance for those who fish  Lake Junaluska for many different reasons. One being that with the huge population of shad now released into the lake, bass will not only start to grow in size, but also in number as their food source has broadened significantly. Recently Lake Junaluska has been struggling a bit with the bass population due to extreme pressure (being such a small lake) and multiple fish kills in the past. The introduction to a whole new forage for the bass to feed on will help restore the population.

The second awesome effect these shad will have is a the opportunity to use a plethora of new baits. BIG swimbaits, glidebaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and any lure that relatively resembles a shad will now be super effective in this lake. Below are some great lures to use that perfectly imitate a gizzard shad!


LIVETARGET Gizzard Shad Swimbait







Strike King Red Eye Shad





Strike King KVD 1.5 Squarebill


Luckycraft Sammy


These are just a few of hundreds of shad style baits to choose from. If all of the sudden you need to stock up on shad patterned baits, Dream Catcher's Fishing Supply has got you covered.

We're excited about this new amazing fishing oppurtunity that has come to WNC and hope many people use this strengthen their bass fishing skills and knowledge.

Tight Lines!







Come visit us at Dream Catcher's Fishing! At 21 Steeple Rd. Sylva, NC 28779!