When you find bass schooling and busting shad on the surface what lures do you like to throw? While topwaters are an obvious choice I have had better luck throwing a Fluke, I've seen others catch fish on spinnerbaits in open water but thats never produced for me.

So what do you like when the bass are busting bait?

Sammy 65 or 85, scrounger w/ Zman 3.75" streakZ, 4" smoke grub, #6 X-Rap.

Spinning Bait, or swim jig in natural shad/single tail grub trailer.

I've had most success with a 4 or 5" weightless Senko-style bait dropped in the disturbance, ASAP.

Yellow Magic popper

Spoon

Money Minnow

2X on the Smoke grub, black and white grubs work too. Flukes like everyone else said. I also like a vibe worm on the top or just below the surface. Redshad or a houdini color.

Flukes, swim baits and an A-rig.

Swim Jig always works great for me.

I didn't even know it was a question. I thought the fishing Bible said you had to throw a Zara Spook?

 

Seriously, I'll bomb a Zara Spook or Super Spook Jr all day on schooling fish. Doesn't get better than that in my book.

 

$0.02

Sammies, buzz baits, flukes, floating jerkbaits....whatever i have tired on really.

Sammies, buzz baits, flukes, floating jerkbaits....whatever i have tired on really.

I throw any moving lure I have tied on as well. Never had a problem not catching in that situation.

I have a res specific rod that always has one tied on. Usually have a fish on before the 2nd crank of the reel.

I like lures you can cover water with quickly. Get it in there repeatedly at a fast pace!

While I can get bites on topwater you pretty much have to hit them in the head to get a strike in the area I've been fishing. Once they go down they rarely hit the topwater, subsurface baits still get bit though.

A swim jig sounds like something worth trying. Oddly shore line fishing with topwaters draws good strikes unlike the open water school fish.

Schooling bass equal's Rat L Trap. 

Schooling bass equal's Rat L Trap. 

Ooooohhhh, I like.

I really like to throw a wake bait when this happens. I liked the Lucky Craft jointed wake baits they discontinued. only about $5 at bass pro now on clearance.

Super Spook Jr, hands down. A 3 or 4 inch swimbait on a scrounger or darter head is a good option too. When they're working I'll throw whatever I have availiable at the moment though and it often doesn't matter. I had one come up chasing a shad a couple weeks ago and got him on the finesse jig I was just getting ready to cast again even though it was a craw color. When they're feeding they'll hit almost anything sometimes. 

90 percent of the time a spook doesn't matter what size, just the one that is close. When that doesn't work I throw a lipless crank and then a jerkbait, usually an xrap or something that is flashy and I can throw far.

I let the fish decide that for me. We had that situation the other day with bass busting all around us. I was in the back of the boat, and we were having limited success. I was tying on everything that made sense, but finally stumbled on to the pattern with a wobble spoon (SK Sexy Spoon). Then it was on! Ended up with 43 for me on the day.

I let the fish decide that for me. We had that situation the other day with bass busting all around us. I was in the back of the boat, and we were having limited success. I was tying on everything that made sense, but finally stumbled on to the pattern with a wobble spoon (SK Sexy Spoon). Then it was on! Ended up with 43 for me on the day.

Actually had a similar thing happen with schooling white bass this winter. They were chasing shad but for some reason the normal suspects just didn't seem to be catching the numbers we felt we should be. I put on the smaller size Sexy Spoon and started hammering them. We caught over 100 in a little over 4 hours. 

sammy 85

Lipless crank or a "Silver Buddy" type blade bait.

 

Kastmaster spoons are good also.

 

Tom

Funny how fish will pass on a more accurate baitfish imatation and hammer a more basic old school lure like a spoon.

I will throw a weightless fluke and let it sink about 3-4 foot and give it a twitch. The big ones are always hungry for easy target leftovers.