Help With Schooling Bass Please!

[Santana_moretto_fishing]

When fishing one a point you a a school start hit shad what should you throw at a large group compared to a small group thanks!

[Sam]

Cast past the school and throw a crankbait or Rat-L-Trap the size or a little smaller than the bait fish, letting the crank fall when it gets into the school.

 

The bigger bass will be under the school and they will hit your "injured" crankbait as it falls.

 

Be sure to "match the hatch" as best you can.

[chris55552]

Chrome or grey rattle traps have always worked best for me, however the hooks on traps are sub-standard in my opinion and you wind up losing lots of fish.  I would recommend looking at spro versions of lipless crankbaits simply because they come with better gamakatsu hooks and they should minimize losing em.

[VAHunter]

I prefer to go after them with a topwater.  I like spooks, LC gunfish and poppers.  You may have to experiment and see what works best, but I always have a topwater tied on and handy for just such instances.  I throw right in the middle of the pack, or a try to lead them if they appear to be going in a certain direction. 

[Santana_moretto_fishing]

thanks everyone thats alot of different info that will help alot! do any of yal know where to look for what color shad is schooling at a certain times of the year so i can match them up?

thanks!

[VAHunter]

In my experience you don't usually need to match the hatch.  The fish are blasting bait, just get something in there.  Usually the only time the size/color of your bait is important is when they are chasing little shad.  In my area the fish will get on those shad starting in late May/early June and sometimes will not hit anything.  You can throw the box at them and they ignore everything. 

[gar-tracker]

I find it different on every school, a trap or top water worked fast is hard to beat.

 

I had a school come up today thats was unbelievable, fives and six s were jumping like Bonita, an area the size of half of a football field erupted and giant gizzard shad where running for their lives.

 

I couldnt reach them I started the boat up and ran in front of them and they just kept moving and eating, if you were in reach you'd have a 30lb stringer in no time at all.

[Surpriser]

Finding schools of largemouth that are busting shad on the surface has been the key for me the last few weeks. It can turn a 1 or 2 fish day into a 20+ fish day in minutes. 

 

One thing I noticed was that the fish get a bit weary of a lure after you catch 2 or 3 in a row. I've had to quickly rotate a handful of lures in order to keep a school fired up. I'll catch 3 fish on 3 casts with a popper, then they won't hit it. I'll switch to a lipless crankbait and catch 3 more on 3 casts, then switch to a buzzbait, etc etc.  I end up just having 3 or 4 rods each with something different tied on and rotating those few lures, and that'll allow me to keep a variety of baits in the fishes' faces without having them calm down or leave. 

 

I haven't noticed that one certain lure catches a bigger bass from an active school. But I have noticed that schools tend to be made up of similar sized fish. I've left schools that were on fire to fish for a school of larger fish in the same general area. 

[JGBassinAL]

I like to throw an LC Gunfish and an Ima Roumba. As someone stated earlier, they throw a rattle trap and let it drop in the middle of the school cause the bigger ones are under the smaller ones. I have to agree about the bigger fish being under the smaller ones, as I have been around huge schools busting before and caught smaller fish on the Gunfish and the larger fish on the Roumba that I can work down to about 1 ft. Never tried the rattle trap tho.

[Nitrofreak]

I really like a larger flutter spoon for those occasions , or a near weightless super fluke , both work extremely well IMO .

Good luck and be safe !!!

[BrownBear]

Surpriser, I noticed and had the same occurrences about the schooling fish "switching" bait preferences. I start with a Fluke for top water, after 2 casts of no hits; I go to a spoon, then a crank bait. Works pretty good 90% of the time for me. Then it’s time to move somewhere else.