Hello all,

 

So last night from right before dark until I left because I couldn't see the bass were hammering the surface and stirring up huge schools of Threadfin. I know this becasue I found a dead one floating. The cove I was in was probably about 100 yards long with 65 of those yards covered in the minnow schools frantically surfacing and dashing. With the amount of surface strikes I could see and hear from bass, I figured I would kill it.

 

However, I threw multiple Sammy's, Poppers, Spinnerbaits, and an off color crankbait (Didn't have a Sexy Shad crank in the Kayak). I had a bump on the spinnerbait and thats it.

 

Its pretty demoralizing to be surrounded by that many feeding bass and not kill it. Can anyone provide some insight or technique on what they do in this circumstance? Or is it possible that the bass have so many real minnows around that artificial baits just won't attract them.

 

I appreciate the assistance yall.

 

 

Don't feel so bad.... With thousands of Baitfish around, it's not so unheard of.... Try dropping a soft plastic into the pod... And just let it float/ shimmy thru the baitfish and maybe you will pick up some fish or.. A bigger fish.... A drop shot tube rig has great action too... As well as other baits

( soft plastic )

Try a white chatter bait with silver blade or one that's close to the color of the bait fish throw it be hind the school n twitch it make it look like an injured stragler

When bass are focused on Threadfin they can be difficult to catch on anything that isn't a live shad.

Your best are spoons the size/shape of the shad like a 1/2 oz Kastmaster in gold/chrome.

Basstrix makes a soft plastic called a baitfry that can be fly lined on spinning tackle that often works.

Tom

Ill let you in on a secret. When you see that happening, espicially if you know its a school of smaller fish, toss a Carolina rig into the middle of it.

The bigger fish are under the energetic little guys, waiting for a stunned shad to drift down to them.

I like fishing jerkbaits on schooling fish, but sometimes they are just too keyed in on the baitfish to worry about eating something else

Ill let you in on a secret. When you see that happening, espicially if you know its a school of smaller fish, toss a Carolina rig into the middle of it.

The bigger fish are under the energetic little guys, waiting for a stunned shad to drift down to them.

 

I've often found this to be the case also. my favorite lure in these situations is a Silver Buddy type blade bait. Cast it into or past the schools of baitfish, let it sink and yo-yo it back. More often than not, a bass will nail it on the fall.

 

Tom

Sometimes you feel stupid cause they wont bite anything. Try a douple fluke rig. Wacky senko too and suspending jerk.

 

Sometimes NOT matching the bait makes yours stand out.

Thanks for the advice everyone, got a few new approaches. I put down my carolina rig that was producing a little when they started coming up. I tend to outthink myself sometimes.

Thanks for the advice everyone, got a few new approaches. I put down my carolina rig that was producing a little when they started coming up. I tend to outthink myself sometimes.

Nah, everyone does that! Lol. The first thing I want to do when they start schooling is throw a topwater over there and have fun! Just seems that I have experienced that when its hard to get those active fish to bite, there's always some bigger fish under the school that are more than willing to snap up the scraps!

Try one of the smaller umbrella rigs with some smaller swimbait's on it, Yumbrella flashmob jr, or the Picasso Schoolie Rig Jr.  Fish it like a spinnerbait  or slow roll it.  The small school rigs (5 wire) can resemble a small group that has broken off the main school which can be easy pickings.

Try one of the smaller umbrella rigs with some smaller swimbait's on it, Yumbrella flashmob jr, or the Picasso Schoolie Rig Jr.  Fish it like a spinnerbait  or slow roll it.  The small school rigs (5 wire) can resemble a small group that has broken off the main school which can be easy pickings.

 

In the Mid South The Rig doesn't seem to be very productive during the summer months, but come fall,

NOTHING else even comes close!

 

 

 

The reason I suggested a spoon, structure spoon, is you don't know what is pushing up the shad, every predator eats them and will strike a spoon fluttering down through the school.

Lots of spoons that will work, Kastmaster is a good start. Adding a white/ chartreuse chicken feathered #4 0wner treble hook on the 1/2 oz or #2 on a 3/4 oz is a good upgrade.

I use a wide variety of structure spoons for shad schools, depending on the shad sizes. Spoons presentation are a topic by it's self and as fall approaches and lake start to turn over the shad schools will start to become a major factor.

Tom

The reason I suggested a spoon, structure spoon, is you don't know what is pushing up the shad, every predator eats them and will strike a spoon fluttering down through the school.

Lots of spoons that will work, Kastmaster is a good start. Adding a white/ chartreuse chicken feathered #4 0wner treble hook on the 1/2 oz or #2 on a 3/4 oz is a good upgrade.

I use a wide variety of structure spoons for shad schools, depending on the shad sizes. Spoons presentation are a topic by it's self and as fall approaches and lake start to turn over the shad schools will start to become a major factor.

Tom

Bought a couple of the fluttering spoons to use this fall and winter when the fish are suspended.  They seem to hit the yo yo'd rattle traps, figure I'd show them something else as well.  I would say this would also be a great technique on those fish chasing shad and match the spoon to the baitfish.

There are several lures that work on shad school bass; Little George, Revenge, BladeRunner tail spinners, Sworming Hornet and horse head type under spins, blade baits, buzz bombs and structure spoons. Ripping a lipless crank bait, jigs with a tail spins, dart head jig/worm, swimbaits and A-rigs all work at times,

Tom