Snakemover

Hi. I'm new to this board, but I've been reading it for a few weeks. A friend took me fishing last year and I got hooked. I'm still learning about bass. Reading the posts and articles here has helped a lot, but I had a strange experience the other day. I saw shad feeding at the surface and they would occasionally splash and change direction. I'm guessing there was a bass under them. I tried using a top popper with no luck. I tried a 1/2 oz rat-L-trap and a Rappala DT-10 shad with no luck either. I even threw a plastic worm and got nothing. I'm fishing in Mt. Ilse Lake in NC. It an 80 year old reservoir with clear water and no grass. I was in a cove with the water ranging down to 25 feet. I would throw the lure past the bait school and reel it back through them. I tried different speeds and depths and had no luck. Can anyone tell me what I was doing wrong? Or better yet, how to do it right? I don't have the depth finder mounted yet, so I'm using a topo map and looking for structure and other things you folks talk about here. Thanks for the help. Dennis