I know in saltwater when you see baitfish jumping its a good sign, but what about bass fishing???

i keep seing little minows flying out of the water,

is this a hotspot? or is it just crappie or bluegill feeding???

This means that someone is having lunch. It could be a bass or any other fish. Toss in a fluke and see if there are any takers.

Everything eats minnows!

Sometimes you can tell what is chasing the baitfish, other times you don't know, but it never hurts to fish these schools.

They were jumping last evening on my local reservoir, but nothing would hit what I had with me,

spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and some tubes.

If the minnows are small, it might be crappies underneath.

Roger

this happened last night...shad were gettin busted on top....my buddy threw a DT4 and caught a bunch of them...i stuck to my jig and caught more and bigger fish

Cliff

this happened last night...shad were gettin busted on top....my buddy threw a DT4 and caught a bunch of them...i stuck to my jig and caught more and bigger fish

Cliff

This is a good technique.  What happens is that the smaller more aggressive fish do all the work attacking the school (this is why you see them jump)  the bigger bass sit underneath the shad school and wait for body parts to come down.  Its an easier more efficient meal.  It doesnt always work but its called fishing for a reason.

Another good way to catch is a shad pattern confused minnow topwater.  Its one of my favorite baits.

See above post by Clayton

This is especially true with stripers.  A jig head on your superfluke is a method to get down to these bigger fish, that are like Clayton said, waiting for the easy pickings to come on down.  They don't get big by working their tails off!

I was watching a fishing show (forget which one) where the host was out with a guide fishing for stripers in R.I.  He was from the south and had little experience with the fish and was having a blast catching all the schoolies on top.  The whole time the guide is trying to get him to fish his fluke with a jig head rather than weight less.  Seriously, ever other shot is her using a weighted fluke.  He of course ignores her completely and goes on to show off his "Special" fluke rig which is a fluke with a trailer hook with another fluke with a trailer hook and so on.  He was ripping up three baits to catch one 3 lb schoolie!!!!  

Maybe that's why he's a fishing show host and not a guide?!?!?

Definately running from a preditor.

Definately not having sex.

Throw past school and reel back and look for the reaction strike.

No telling what is underneath the baitfish.

If you have ever seen stripers rounding up a bunch of shad and then feasting you will have seen a memorable sight.  Lots of water splashing and the shad flying out of the water.  It is spectacular.

Sometimes the bigger fish will hit a crankbait or a topwater or even a spinnerbait as you pull the bait through or near the school.

Look for the bream swirls from small bream schools on top of the water and throw to them, too.  Sometimes the bass will travel with the bream or the bass are getting ready for lunch and are eyeing the bream.

It's always worth a shot.  I found a huge school of shad last week and it turned out to be LMB and Stripers tearing them up.  I threw a rat-l-trap and inline spinner and was killin them.

Something fun to do when chasing those sandbass (might be called something else where you are) is to take a small torpedo topwater and attach a small pinch weight to the line just in front of the topwater.  This will allow you to throw it a lot farther and since mouths on the sandbass are smaller than LMB the torpedo is perfect.  Just throw and retrieve.  Kills em everytime!

Are you seeing schools of minnows flying out of the water?Or,are you seeing individual minnows just flippin' a little?

I see baitfish and shore minnows just individually flippin' along the surface all the time.Sure,they're more than one but it's not a school busting the surface sounding like someone just threw a big handful of rocks in the water.

These fish are usually not being chased.I have thought maybe they are feeding themselves?

Regardless,where there is bait,there are bass.If it is schooling bass,there are many good subgestions above.Active schoolers will sometimes hit anything,sometimes they won't hit much of nothing.I have had success with spookbaits,spinnerbaits,and traps.

See above post by Clayton

This is especially true with stripers.  A jig head on your superfluke is a method to get down to these bigger fish, that are like Clayton said, waiting for the easy pickings to come on down.  They don't get big by working their tails off!

I was watching a fishing show (forget which one) where the host was out with a guide fishing for stripers in R.I.  He was from the south and had little experience with the fish and was having a blast catching all the schoolies on top.  The whole time the guide is trying to get him to fish his fluke with a jig head rather than weight less.  Seriously, ever other shot is her using a weighted fluke.  He of course ignores her completely and goes on to show off his "Special" fluke rig which is a fluke with a trailer hook with another fluke with a trailer hook and so on.  He was ripping up three baits to catch one 3 lb schoolie!!!!  

Maybe that's why he's a fishing show host and not a guide?!?!?

This is a well known situation here in RI.  Many guides know that when the striper bite is on top and hot, they often WILL NOT hit a topwater  plug, baffling many anglers.  It's twice as hard to figure because the stripers travel with the blues who make the same topwater commotion but will do the opposite and bite ANYTHING>

The well known trick for triggering stripers that have a school of bait up top is to go just sub surface with a streamer fly.  If no fly rod on board, a fluke is the next best thing.  Still no bite?  Weight the fluke.  Still no bite?  Put fluke or shad body on a bucktail jig and get it below the entire commotion.  You will find the fish in one of these zones and that zone will give a steady bite as long as the keep the bait schooled.

The double, or multiple fluke rig is also deadly.  Yes, he may have caught a 3 lbr but the chance for a much larger fish was there, trust me.

"The double, or multiple fluke rig is also deadly.  Yes, he may have caught a 3 lbr but the chance for a much larger fish was there, trust me."

The rig looked good, the big ones must have been some where else.  Maybe the guide knew.

usualy they are geting eaten or flipped out of the water