1) Both
2) I pass and keep looking, although I may come back at a later date
3) A) Fishing a bait ball with no visable bass is not something I will normally do, but since they are in a ball that means they are still fairly shallow, threadfin will in most cases, not all, dispurse as they reach more open water, I will however make note of the location I have found them in and take notes of the structure and cover of the surrounding area, I will stay with the group to see where they lead, Threadfin shad, if that is what they are, will leave shallow cover very early in the day to head for open water and will more often than not form a group as they leave their safety of cover in search of food.
B ) If there are bass located with the bait, the bass will most likely be located under the bait, most always I have found some of the larger bass to be located behind the fish located under these bait fish, so yes I will fish this pattern, but my efforts are not just concentrated under the bait.
4) If I see a fish on the bottom, most of the time if they are bass they will be grouped in a bunch, so I am looking for more than one, sonars have a tendency to give false information depending on the model, a single fish or a tree branch tip either one can show up as an arch, a small turtle is the same, I am looking for multiple arches, take notes as you look around and find out why they are there, there could be a key point in the structure, like two creek beds that join at that spot, could mean you may have found a honey hole, so a single fish, no, multiple fish, yes I will stop and fish the area.
5) I don't spend much time with suspended fish out in more open waters, I will usually look for a point close by that they may be associated with, again I am looking for a group when I look at the structure associated with looking for bass.
Some of us do not have the luxury of owning sonars that do this sort of thing, but I will say there is a great advantage to getting one of these, for years it seems, the best on the market was a 2D sonar and only a handfull that I had seen could detect thermoclines, looking back now I wish I would have started with one of them.
When you first start looking for structure and start to understand the best places to look, the very first place I start to look is at a good quality topo map, I want to find the largest flat I can find, then I start looking for creek channels that lead to those flats, these flats could be great spawning areas.
Creek channels that acually still feed a lake are my primary channels I start with, current is the key as to why I look for these channels.
If you are looking for bait fish, Shad in particular, Threadfin or Gizzard Shad, Threadfin are what I like to key on, threadfin like current, they are a prodominately shallow fish 10 to 20 feet, most areas May through June is their spawning time, you can find them in these feeder creeks or in areas that have a lot of grass, they broadcast their eggs and they stick to the areas with vegetation, the more vegetation you can find the better during this time of year.
During the summer, they are in more open waters feeding on phytoplankton and zooplankton, structure becomes more productive, knowing productive structure during this time of year is important,(Hint) make sure you are looking for structure that provides current flow, either wind blown or power generation, thats where you will find the threadfin and the bass that follow them.
Back to Autumn, they revert back to the backs of creek channels that have this warmer inflowing water, these fish can not survive cold water temps and will start to die when the waters dip below 45*
