this weekend we noticed while fishing that the shad were a lot smaller than they have been in the past years. We moved to fishing the outer tree rows near channel bends. We kept seeing small bass busting on the shad in the middle of the day. not having any luck on any of our other presentations we started to throw small soft plastic shad colored baits and small grub tails into the tops of the submerged tree tops. This started to net several small bass. we noticed a few of the fish we boated had regurgitaged these half digested shad back into their mouths when we went to take the hooks out so we knew these smaller guys were definatly actively feeding on the small shad. We were only able to boat 2 keeper size bass with this technique. My question is if the smaller guys were feeding on the small shad, what were the larger bass feeding on? Would we be able to get into some of the larger bass with this technique if say we were able to get these baits deeper in the water? Will the larger bass be feeding on the same thing the small guys are too? is it simply an issue of upsizing our baits to coax the larger bass or are they just keeying in on a different food source?

try the same baits but upsize them. the larger bass are most likely feeding on the same shad or the small bass. what size are the "small bass" that you were catching? try the same baits you were using to catch the small bass in a bigger size and in shad and baby bass. let us know how you do. also try a spinnerbait

The bigger bass will be below the school. Heavy (1/2- 1 oz ) spoons might be an option.

as we headed back in, we contemplated dropping some spoons down in there, they are just so easy to hang up in all those limbs. but i will give it a try. i might take the treble hook off and put a single hook on to limit the hang ups.

as far as the size we were pulling out, the small bass were all about 6-12 inches. we managed to get 2 near 15 inch.

try a jig or a t-rigged worm also...a ribon tail. just upsize.