In the cove by our house, there have recently been small clouds of baitfish running around the surface. At times, there have been at least a dozen. Would it be too much to assume that bass are hanging out beneath these rumblings? What should I throw at them? I figure a topwater right through the middle of them would break them up. Ideas?

Well, if you see them scatter and being busted on the surface, there is a good chance they are being fed on by something. It is not always black bass though. Depending on where you are, it could be white bass, crappie or even channel cat!

Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and cranks can be effective lures in this situation, although alot of the time for the bass, trying to find your lure is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!!

Try to upsize your bait or change the color a bit to make it stand out.

Thanks for the info. I'm in central georgia in a lake with a good population of just about everything. But there hasn't been much "feeding" activity, just the clouds appearing on the surface all over the place. YOu would think this would attract something.

Try cranks along side of them. If the baitfish do scatter, this may actually trigger a strike. The predator will see your lure wobbling away, and might think its injured. Use a shallow, wide wobbling bait like manns 1- or strom subwart. Both have really great actions, rattle, and can run practically on the surface!

what I've learned, tried, and had occasionally work is throw a tube in the middle.  let it drop, and wait for a bite while it hits bottom.   if nothing.  jerk it a few times like its injured, and if still nothing.  reel it in for another cast.

tube, lipless rattletrap, people say senko's work, flukes of course.

I haven't tried topwater, so I don't know.

Throw whatever is handy in the middle!  

If your surface temp is still high, you probably have something chasing them up.  You know what the rule is: match the hatch, a fluke or grub might work.

There is a good chance that bass are close when there are baitfish around.   Topwaters may work good.  I would pick a popper or a stickbait like a zara spook or LC sammy.  Personaly as a soft jerbait fan I would choose a Zoom Fluke in a color pattern similar to the baitfish.  Preditor fish such as bass key in on baitfish that are moving erratically or are injured. This is why I like soft stickbaits.  You can move that bait in very erratic ways.  Also you can move faster and try to throw a crank or spinnbait.  Also senko type baits are great too.  Drop them right through the middle of the school.

Ditto on the tubes. I live on a 100 acre lk. that had way to many grass carp stocked to control the weeds. As a result there is no place for the bait fish to hide and the bass simply follow them around in big schools. When they start feeding I throw a white tube in the middle of it all, twitch it a time or two and let it fall. It seems the smaller fish will be near the surface, but if your tube makes it through them I seem to get bigger fish the closer it gets to the bottom. Other baits work at times but on this lake this is the most productive