Schooling bass baits

[DitchPanda]

So I'm sure this has been asked  on here a million times but I'm asking anyway. When you get bass...namely largemouth...bunched up and straight sharking shad pods what do you reach for? Maybe like a top 3 go to baits? I've had a tough time lately when they are corraling shad.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Lipless/SB

Chatterbait/Swim jig

Jerbait/Soft JB 

[GreenPig]

Spook or R2S Rover

Super Fluke 

CC Spoon in 3/8 & 1/2oz

[scaleface]

If it just happens , whatever I have in my hand .  

 If it is an ongoing thing a top water like a spook  , lipless crankbait  or heavy Strike King Rocket Shad are excellent choices . Something that can be cast long distances .

[Sphynx]

Spinnerbaits, lipless, and the last one kind of depends, can't go wrong with a paddletail, popper can be deadly, walking bait, swim jig, under spin, squarebill, tons of options, but you for sure wouldn't catch me without a spinnerbait or a lipless during a shad massacre

[Bluebasser86]

WTD topwater, don't really care which one.

 

Jigging spoon or flutter spoon, doesn't matter because I'm going to be fishing it fast either way.

 

Grub or paddle tail swimbait on a jighead.

[FryDog62]

Fluke #1 by far

 

#2 Shallow crankbait

#3 Occasionally the SpyBait

[Kenny Yi]

spinnerbait with double Willow blades, go heavy (at least 1/2 ounce) so you can burn on the top without the lure rolling over

 

spook, I like to do big sweeping walks

 

jerkbait, big pops

 

don't be afraid to stray away from the standard whites and bones, imagine a bass is stalking a shad ball, then suddenly the bait ball "parts the Red Sea" and here comes this dumb purple and chartreuse spinnerbait that is so easy of a target

[Jig Man]

A 1/2 oz jigging spoon is tied on a setup all of the time.  It will work anywhere in the water column.

[Catt]

Rinky Dink

Tiny Torpedo 

Beetle Spin

 

Quit chasing schoolies years ago!

[NoShoes]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Rinky Dink

Tiny Torpedo 

Beetle Spin

 

Quit chasing schoolies years ago!

Why is that?

[Catt]

16 minutes ago, NoShoes said:

Why is that?

 

Down here it's an exercise in futility!

 

Most schoolies are tighteyes & are constantly moving with the baitfish. Yeah I can catch a dozen or so but they'll all be 10-12". 

[jimmyjoe]

10 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Down here it's an exercise in futility!

 

Most schoolies are tighteyes & are constantly moving with the baitfish. Yeah I can catch a dozen or so but they'll all be 10-12". 

 

   I have tried (notice I said "tried") a big (1 oz.) spoon about another 12-15 feet out (away from shore) from the trap area. Sometimes it doesn't get me anything, but sometimes it gets me bigger bass. I can't be sure (I asked them but they wouldn't tell me  ? ) but it looks like they're bigger cruisers waiting for an easy meal of larger leftovers.

   I'm used to that kind of behavior from whites and wipers, but was surprised to find it from LMB. It's amazing what you can notice about fish behavior if you keep an open mind, wait awhile to see what's going on, and don't let your assumptions blur your vision.

   That being said, I usually try a spinnerbait first.                     jj

[BayouSlide]

I always have a Suicide Shad on an underspin tied on. Works for singles or when you're lucky enough to run into a school busting shad.

 

I'm with Catt that you can't count on finding 'em, but if you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, I'm happy catching the small schoolers until the event subsides.

 

Last one I found was over in less than 10 minutes but it was my only 11 bass day this year.

[Skunkmaster-k]

A blade bait works pretty good. 

[scaleface]

Theres been a couple of times in my life where the schoolies kept showing up in the same area . So I found  the school with my depth finder  holding on the featureless bottom   . I call it "Dark Structure".  I got a crankbait down to them and caught them cast after cast .

[TnRiver46]

All the largemouth schooling I’ve ever witnessed has been 13.999” bass. I’ve heard tale of people seeing big ones schooling a lot on watts bar but they always say they never got a bite. Then there are smallies………..

 

these jokers don’t really seem to “school” in groups, but they will blast shad on the surface, often over and over and over. And many times it’s a monster fish that’s doing it. I’ve seen a 20”+ smallie busting threadfin shad hundreds of times if not thousands. I honestly never recall seeing a largemouth do it. 
 

one of my favorite fish catches was when a buddy of mine rented a house on @BassNJakes home pond to party all weekend. I figured why not bring my boat?? Well this was before I realized just how many pleasure boats use that lake (should have known). I didn’t get up early enough (or so I thought) for good topwater. The sun had already been up for 45 minutes or so, I just decided to cruise around and look at points, drag a tube down deep. Caught some dinks, and by 9 or 10 am the jetski and pontoons were everywhere. I was thinking time to head to the dock when I saw what I thought was a striper blasting shad. It wasn’t happening super often but it was always in darn near the same spot. Every time I got within casting distance the jumping would cease and I would go back to dragging bottom and of course that’s when it would jump again. So I just grabbed a jointed storm thunder stick and sat right where it kept jumping and waited. Finally the stars aligned and it jumped when I was ready. I waked that plug along and the fish grabbed it and went straight down (deep clear water). This thing is fighting hard like none other, turned out to be a smallmouth just under 18” but wildly strong. Since then I have been able to repeat the lone jumper pattern many times on that lake and several rivers.
 

This was a fun day we camped on an island and same thing: lone jumpers started well after sunrise 

 

[Fishlegs]

We had schools busting shad all over our end of the river last fall. Not just little ones. We saw a lot of big ones. We threw everything in the tackle box at them, but got nothing. We might as well have been putting 99¢ cheeseburgers in the middle of an all you can eat seafood buffet. All we got from it was a sore shoulder from all the casting.

[WRB]

Structure in Shad size and color with white feathered treble and Tail spins.

I like to fish under the Shad schools.

Tom

[scbassin]

Lipless  crankbaits, you can get good distance with them. That way you do not spook the school by coming up on them. It helps when you release them also  Make sure to use a high speed reel  & get that bait running.

[Dens228]

I like throwing underspins with a paddletail.  
Like WRB said above, I usually catch larger bass if I let it sink a bit under the bass busting the shad on the surface.  

[txchaser]

Not right in the middle of the school, but decent results recently throwing an a-rig around the area, running a little deeper than the shad. My guess is the bass in the general area are likely to be keyed on that food, so it is consistent with what they are looking for.

[papajoe222]

I like to target any bigger fish that may be holding beneath the activity awaiting an easy meal. Two baits I use specifically for that are a tail spinner and a blade bait.  A Little George is my favorite for doing this.

[Wprich]

Fish Head Spin with Rage Swimmer as the trailer, Lipless Crank(redeye shad), and lastly a Spoon for me

[Lead Head]

Super fluke

Heddon Spittin Image (can be walked FAST)

Grub on a jighead