The shad are spawning in the delta, and yesterday my only three keepers came when reeling in a three inch smoke senko. I never got bit on the fall or on larger sizes, except for dinks. What should I try to target the bass that are keying in on the shad? Spinnerbaits? Crankbaits? Visibility is from 3' in the river to maybe 7' in pockets.

Unfortunately the bass can get real zoned on the bait when this happens at times and can be tough to catch even when you clearly see them busting the crap out of the bait.

My top picks for these situtaions are in no particular order:

-Lunker city 4-5 inch finesse shad http://lunkercity.com/ rigged weightless or with a tiny belly weight.Looks more like a shad than a zoom fluke,but flukes still work,especially white or smoke.Work on top or subsurface or the slow painful sinking death.

-Surface poppers,especially the Rico

-Small swimbait like the Tru tungsten 4 inch.

-White or smoke 4 inch grub worked top,bottom and everything in between.

-1/8-1/4 spinnerbait,silver willows,usually burned

-1/4 oz rattle trap type yo-yo'd and dropped through the pack of bait or burned under the surface.

-Zara spook puppy,chrome,white,or clear.

-A spoon seems like a good choice as well but I have very little experience with those in my neck of the woods.

Sometimes you got to sit in one spot and wait. Never fails if you chase them down they will 100% sure start busting behind you and vice versa.Go for extra long casts and avoid casting and landing directly into the bait schools.Spook the bait,spook the bass.

Luckycraft sammy 85 in MS American Shad. I had a 50+ fish day 3 years ago casting this lure to pods of threadfin shad. This is a lure than can be really LAUNCHED and retrieved quickly, which I think is important when the shad spawn.

Thanks, love getting lots of suggestions for things to try.   

YUM Money Minnows work well when they are busting shad.  Also Rapala Shad Rap.  Shad patterned willow leaf spinner bait.

Matt Lures Matt Shad

YUM Money Minnows work well when they are busting shad. Also Rapala Shad Rap. Shad patterned willow leaf spinner bait.

The shad rap no 7 has been a magic lure for me since I started this post, but I can only use it in a few spots where the grass is not too shallow.

If you can throw into the boils then a small, shad imitating spook type lure should get picked right up. i throw the barely legal Vixen in flitter shad, which is not made any longer. but a baby spook in flittershad should work. the sammys work great too. ghost minnow, amer shad. ive got a Megass Dog-X in, I think it's called NC shad that works awesome.i've had good luck throwing small megabait lures too. they are very heavy for their size so you can cast them a mile. i just rip them really fast until somewhere in the boil and stop. they get hammered as they fall. and sometimes by the larger fish waiting below the boil for the injured baitfish. so most any spoon that is the right size, and flashes like a bait fish should be enough to fool em when they are in a frenzy! it's an awesome way to fish when you can find it.

^^ Your talking about dropping spoons through the bait schools? I have been curious about that. Haven't tried it yet.Like I said though it can be all or nothing in a situation like that.Sometimes they get real funny about what your throwing in there and especially the size. Spoon may give me another option. 8-)