Yesterday I landed a bass on a shaky head 7 inch worm and it upchucked a small shad as I unhooked him.  I notice that the shad schools are starting to be frequently seen in the coves.  I've never had any luck fishing the shad schools, even when I see bass (I think) chasing on top.  What lure choice should I try and how should I fish it to catch big bass during this time of the year near the schools of shad?  With millions of shad available for the taking just by opening their big mouths it's hard for me to imagine how I can compete for the bass's attention,.

I like a buzz bait,the vibrations can grab their attention from a distance.

First find out how big the shad are that the bass are feeding on. Are they tiny little guys or decent size? The reason you ask this is because you want to match your lure up to about the same size as these shad. This will help you imitate them easily. Next, the bait. For schooling bass I like the Rapala Original Floater in silver. You would pick the size based on the size of your shad. Most of the time the size 7 (2 3/4 in) works in all situations. The action is built right into the lure itself so it doesn't require any special techniques but varying up your retrieve speeds (like start, stop and quick sudden reels). I just wait till I see the bass schooling and throw it just passed them and reel over them, giving them time to strike. I hope this helps!

I've had success with spinnerbaits and crankbaits cast past and then dragged 12 to 36 inches under the bait balls.

Jerkbaits, flukes, topwaters, crankbaits are all good shad imitators.

When there is bait everywhere, you can either throw something that stands out by either size, how it swims, or how much noise/commotion it make;, or something that is easier pickins for the fish. I prefer to focus on the latter. The bass are just trying to eat. Even though there are shad everywhere, they are still work to catch. If bass see one that looks wounded that they can eat with less effort, they are more likely to eat that one than another random shad swimming with the school. Maybe throw a stick bait or something that will flutter down below the school. A suspending jerkbait in a bleeding shad pattern is another option.

On the other hand, sometimes it's just a trial and error thing until you find the right bait. Guys will just throw one crankbait after another until, for whatever reason, one hits the sweet-spot.

Silver Buddy-type blade baits have worked well for me.

 

Tom

Silver Buddy-type blade baits have worked well for me.

 

Tom

Interesting....I put those away from April til October.....hadn't considered taking one out now, but just might do that

x2 on Rapala floating minnow

You're gonna laugh, but last year I knocked the hell out of them on these....

 

http://www.renosky.com/p/508/natural

Spooks, spook jrs, and zara puppies.

I throw rattle baits, and crank-baits... Shad schools can and usually are moving. That's my choice.

Rico popper or megabass flap slap around shad works well

Yum's Yumbrella Flash Mob Jr with the 5 arms...if you can't fish 5 hooks, dummy hook as many as you need to be legal with 3-4" swimbaits and 1/8oz lead heads.  Work it just like a spinnerbait along the outside of the weedlines just under the surface or dropped down below the school.  

buzz baits , something i found success in was actually drop shooting a roboworm 6 inch hologram shad . 

I've had one day when the shad were boiling on top and the bass were hitting them so hard, both the shad and bass were jumping out of the water.  I threw a half ounce SK Redeye Shad in Sexy Shad color right in the middle of the mess.  Let it sink and do it's sexy shad shimmy and a bass would grab it right away.  When the bass weren't blowing the shad out of the water, I threw a chrome/blue back lipless crankbait and yo-yo'd it.  That worked good, too.

Rattle traps and spinnerbaits.

had some good luck with berkley power bait shad, the smaller ones, in white. and swim jigs, with shad colored trailer.

I have done well using a whopper plopper.

Yamamoto DShad.  Killer.

Spinnerbait, Crankbaits, PopR would be my top 3

If the bass have the shad corralled and are in a feeding frenzy lots of lures already mentioned will work . If the shad are in the cove by the millions and bass are occasionally seen hitting the surface , those are hard to catch . In that case I ignore the shad and fish like they are not there .  

Natural color squarebill - throw it along the fringes of the shad school and fish it like a lost/injured shad that broke away from the school.

I would probably grab one of three baits. The fluke, a spinnerbait, or a buzzbait.