Over the years I have never had success catching bass that were chasing baitfish pods at the surface.  I have thrown everything at them with no success.  The other day there were pods all around my boat.  The water had decent visibility and I could see flashes under them that I interpreted as fish feeding on them.  I tried some hardbaits and softbaits that were the approximate size and color of the baitfish and never got a hit.

 

Anybody have any tips?  One thing I thought of afterwards that I didn't try were spoons.  Might that work?

I was thinking spoon the entire time even before I read the last sentence

Definitely spoons. Last year there was this massive school of fish in the same spot every day for a month chasing shad every day. They were a different kind of difficult to catch.  One day I bought a clear tiny torpedo and gave it a shot. It worked fantastic. So there's a thought. 

   Yes, spoons.  I use 1/3 oz. Cop-E-Cat and 1/4 oz. Devl-Dog from Eppinger if the baitfish aren't big, and whichever size Flutterchuck from Eppinger that matches the size if you need a bigger profile. Personally, I've never needed a bigger profile. YMMV. The Thomas Buoyant in 1/4 oz. is another good one. You might also try whichever weight Reef Runner Cicada you wish, casting and jigging it. Be aware that the Cicada fouls on the line VERY easily, though. All retrieves should be slow and erratic.  Good luck.    jj

I run into this fairly often in a shallow flat near a cove on my usual lake. Particularly in the evenings the shad really pile up in big pods back there. When the bass are smashing it's been tough to get them to bite a lure. What has worked best for me is tossing a weightless stick work in and around the bait pods and just letting it fall straight down through them. I'll lift and drop a couple times and cast to another spot or another pod. It seems agonizingly slow when the bass are really active in the area but it's worked well for me on a few different occasions. 

when bank fishing rip rap on the dam ... the shad will from time to time come close enough to reach with a super spook jr walking the dog ... silver bullet ... no ... but has worked ...

 

good fishing ...

Buzzbait all the way. I've had my best results with a Strike King Banshee Sexy Shad buzzbait whenever I see the baitfish boiling up on the surface. Tons of strikes for me.

You have whales and dolphin pods in your lake!

You are seeing bait fish schools! If the bait is in a tight balls they are being attacked by some type of predator....bass, maybe?

Structure spoons and tail spinners both work and catch a verity of predator fish.

Tom

Interesting thread, I've had very limited success with a chrome lipless crank..but spoon sounds like the correct answer. I've been up in the river in recent weeks where I've caught more White Bass and Saugeye than Bass. I see a lot of Whites out in the middle in the jumps but casting to them is almost pointless it seems, but that same crankbait parallel with rocky banks is a machine. Maybe I'll try some smaller spoons for the jumps.