What could I have done differently?

[starkeer]

I was recently kayak fishing a California reservoir and I came across a ton of active fish. It was a shoal running from the mainland to an island only about 50 yards across and about 4th of water. There was a ton of bait in the water all very small .5in-1in minnows and fish were busting on them all over the place. I fished the area hard with almost every bait I could think of and only managed two missed topwater strikes. I felt like they should have been all over a yo-yoed lipless, hard jerkbait, fluke or other dying shad imitating baits. If I cruised over the shoal I could see multiple fish in the area and some very nice fish as well. 

 

Were these fish just so keyed in on the baitfish that my presentations didn't matter or could I have done something different? Thanks in advance for any advice. 

[Shimano_1]

Curious as I had a similar situation happen to me last weekend.  Tons of bait, graphing fish under them with the occasional bass blowing up on one and we couldn't buy a bite and we threw the tackle box at em. Every shad imitation, topwater, jerkbait, a rig...nothing. left us bummed and wondering if we could've done things differently or a way to know that those fish aren't catchable 

[A-Jay]

A-Rig.

A-Jay

[starkeer]

16 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

A-Rig.

A-Jay

Threw it till my arms got tired. Had a couple follows but nothing serious. 

1 hour ago, Shimano_1 said:

Curious as I had a similar situation happen to me last weekend.  Tons of bait, graphing fish under them with the occasional bass blowing up on one and we couldn't buy a bite and we threw the tackle box at em. Every shad imitation, topwater, jerkbait, a rig...nothing. left us bummed and wondering if we could've done things differently or a way to know that those fish aren't catchable 

Nice to know I am not alone haha

[Smokinal]

I've been in this situation myself. I think it comes down to too much natural food; it's hard to imitate natural. Just so much food for them your bait gets lost in the cloud.

 

Maybe a spinnerbait, a fluke on an underspin or a small swimbait on a ball head.

 

[Shimano_1]

Yeah we concluded that with thousands of shad around they just weren't hungry lol. We threw everything u guys are mentioning extensively and we aren't pros by any means but we do pretty decent on the local scene.  Never seen anything like it or quite so frustrating 

[Bird]

Sometimes these Bass simply leave us perplexed. 

I keep throwing what's been time proving......sometimes it's just wasted time. Lol

 

When I can't figure out what they want I always end up finesse fishing " usually works "but prefer a more aggressive approach. 

[Joe_w1234]

Try to match the general size of the bait they are eating. Also, if they are schooling on a school of baitfish, make your bait stand out from the others. Make it loud, flashy, etc. If your bait is super natural, then it is just one of the hundreds of baitfish. If it stands out they will notice it and target it. 

Hope this helps

Tight Lines

[Oregon Native]

When I fished Shasta a lot ...one of my favorite baits in the fall was a small one inch trap on a spinning rod....six lb line and long casts.  Just murdered the spots and big trout.  Tried a lot of lures....Cotton Cordel used to have a gray one with a black back......money on Shasa..

One Inch

[Hammer 4]

Kiethec paddletail with an underspin. 2" Easy shinner.

[Bluebasser86]

A tiny paddletail/grub in natural/translucent colors or a very small jerkbait fished very fast.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

A tiny paddletail/grub in natural/translucent colors or a very small jerkbait fished very fast.

Shad were amassed  in the back of coves a couple of weeks back with bass busting them  and managed to catch a few on a small swimbait . 

[TnRiver46]

The exact scenario the OP described unfortunately happens to me all the time . If fact I can usually find something like that everyday in 2-3 hours after work. The other day I think I saw giant stripers doing it. Sometimes it’s best to just leave the jumping fish alone , Other times it’s the best decision of the year to chase after them. Don’t forget about jigging a spoon underneath all the commotion 

[billmac]

I wonder if introducing some competition might be effective.  A big swim bait or something.

[Troy85]

Did you try throwing a small silver spoon?  Buddy of mine will break out little silver spoons that you use for stream trout.

[Dirtyeggroll]

Cast bet

seine

big treble hook

 

kidding of course.

 

I think a big predator fish imitating glide bait may have done the trick.

 

No way to know.

[GreenPig]

Spoons worked fast across the surface works for me.

[Swamp Yankee]

My go- to rig when they’re busting small bait in clear water is a Zoom Super Fluke Jr. texpose rigged weightless on a 1/0 hook. You need a light spinning rig to cast it far enough to keep from spooking the bass with your boat, but it’s been deadly for me. Savage, sometimes drag pulling strikes as soon as it hits the water are common. If they don’t take it right off, a slow, twitchy retrieve with lots of pauses. My favorite color is Arkansas shiner.

 

Another rig I’ll use in that situation is an original balsa floating Rapala minnow F07 or F09 in silver or gold... same need for a light rig as they’re a bear to cast. Often, again, the bass hit it as soon as it lands, but if not, slow twitchy retrieve with lots of pauses. 

 

Both of these rigs are light and small enough that they can be thrown right into the heart of the action without spooking the fish, yet they also stand out enough for the fish to choose them instead of the real bait.

[Hillbilly Bennett]

Man that is a frustrating situation and I’ve been right where you are a lot but I found a couple of things that can help in this situation. What I’m about to say goes against what most people think, as we are all told to “match the hatch,” over and over again but when I encounter a situation where there are active fish keying on small bait I throw a lure that is close to the color of the forage but it has some differences to make it stand out. Like a 4.0 squarebill in natural Shad or a Shad color lure that has some chartreuse in it like a chartreuse sexy Shad pattern. (I’m hungry so bare with me. ?)Think about it, if you have 1000s of tiny plain, but delicious, hamburgers all around you at dinner time and suddenly you see a giant burger in the middle of them you are going to go for what looks like a big, easy meal instead of having to eat 200 of the little burgers to get full. Bass want to get full while expending the least amount of energy possible, especially when the water starts to cool off. If that approach doesn’t work, that’s when I’ll throw the lure with extra color in it to make it stand out. In this analogy it would be like having a tiny cheeseburger with all the fixin’s in the middle of the plain hamburgers. Of course you are going to at least try the one that looks different, right? For me, this approach works well, especially in the fall when you have to complete with a billion baitfish to get the bass’s attention. Give it a try the next time you hit this scenario and you may catch a few more. Hope this helps. 

[jimmyjoe]

   Dynamite!

   Oops ..... that's illegal. Never mind.  ?   jj

[Jaderose]

That's when I'd go weird.  I completely agree with almost everything above so after none of it worked, I would wacky rig a dark senko and drop it right down in the middle of all that and let it fall through it.  Would it work?  I dunno but it would be different from everything else going on around it.