How would you have fished this?

[Smirak]

About 2 yesterday afternoon, I was at the mouth of a creek off the TN river. Saw the biggest bait ball I’ve ever seen, literally there were millions of shad. There were a couple of small (8-12” maybe) bass lurking around and corralling them. I threw everything at the bait ball… lipless, chatter/spinner, umbrella rig, top water, jerkbait (soft as well), wacky and drop shot. I know there were fish under the ball, as I was marking them. No takers. The only thing that I can think of now looking back is that I maybe should have downsized as the shad were fairly small?

[looking45]

Probably nothing you could have done. With that much bait, the chances were slim they would even see your lure

[thediscochef]

Sometimes there is such a thing as too much bait in a given space. Not for the fish obviously. You get enough forage in one spot and sometimes you just can't throw anything that looks like an easy enough meal 

[GreenPig]

I would've tried a Spybait, 3" Bass Assassin Baby Shad Pearl on a 2/0 EWG Gamakatsu, or a 3/8 oz Cotton Cordell spoon reeled and pumped below the baitfish. These baits have worked many times for me on schoolers. 

[Catt]

8 hours ago, Smirak said:

There were a couple of small (8-12” maybe) bass lurking around and corralling them. 

 

Ain't enough bass to garner my attention. 

[bigbassin']

 

 

12 hours ago, thediscochef said:

Sometimes there is such a thing as too much bait in a given space. Not for the fish obviously. You get enough forage in one spot and sometimes you just can't throw anything that looks like an easy enough meal 

 

5 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Ain't enough bass to garner my attention. 

I’d agree it sounds like you had to much food and not enough hungry mouths. I’d try a lipless you let get below the bait ball, then a popper. If neither get hit, move on.

[Smirak]

I did eventually move on. Fished around the banks of the river a bit, got a couple smaller ones on a lipless, and then a decent 3lber on a plopper.  That said, if you haven’t tried the BPS plopper, it’s worth a shot. I got the largest size and it throws well, retrieves well, and catches fish. 

[Swamp Girl]

I have never used sonar, so I'm speaking from near ignorance, however I have seen bass chasing shad and I have failed to catch those bass...until this summer when a FAST retrieve worked. Burning the bait, I'm guessing, didn't let them realize that it was phony and because they were feeding, they were ready to hit everything that was fleeing. 

[Brian11719]

Back and forth between an underspin and a fluke until I figured out which one they wanted...or maybe an A-rig if I had one on the kayak at the time...so it sounds like I would have had similar luck. I've noticed underspins have been doing better than average for me lately so might be worth trying one of those out as well if you find yourself in a similar situation in the future. Size wise I like a 5/0 flashy swimmer with a skinny dipper or a 1/0 flashy swimmer with a 4" easy shiner and both seem to work. One other option that I don't hear mentioned all that often these days is a willowvibe (also with a 4" easy shiner or shad impact) and those have also been doing well for me lately when I'm on water with shad in it (if they seem to be hitting the smaller lures).

 

 

[Functional]

I'm usually lucky with bait balls and walk a spook, jerkbait or spinner/chatterbait work for me. I thought one of the go too baits here was a flutter spoon though?  I always have a few in case my standards don't work. 

 

Let it fall  to what you believe is just below the bait ball and then rip and continue. Or so I've read. 

[Bankbeater]

I never have any luck casting at bait balls.  I would have cast out past the shad and reeled the bait back in off to the the side from the school a bit.  Maybe there were some bigger bass waiting to feed on the smaller bass.

[HawkeyeSmallie]

If there were 1,000,000 baitfish swimming around, your lure made 1,000,001 choices.

 

The only thing I can think of is change to a wild color so that ONE choice pops out and gets seen.

 

Otherwise you just look like the rest of them.

 

IDK, no expert.

[scaleface]

Sometimes there will be bass on the bottom under the shad waiting for injured fish to sink. I have caught a lot of bass by letting a lipless, plastic worm or whatever I have rigged up sink through the school to the bottom . Might have a  big old catfish hammer the lure , which is always a fun time.

[Mike L]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:52 AM, Catt said:

 

Ain't enough bass to garner my attention. 

Agree

If you can see what you’re trying to catch gotta make it worth your while. 
Better off leaving and finding what you’re looking for 

Now, say there were bigger ones corralling the ball, there most likely be a few below it waiting for an easy meal. 
Thats who I would try to pick off by throwing a bright colored joint hard bait, a white fluke with chartreuse tail etc.

Something that looks a little different, stunned or injured and let if fall farther away by itself but still close enough to gain attention. 
 

I wouldn’t spend much time but it’s worth a shot. 

But that’s me. 
 

 

Mike

 

46 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Sometimes there will be bass on the bottom under the shad waiting for injured fish to sink. I have caught a lot of bass by letting a lipless, plastic worm or whatever I have rigged up sink through the school to the bottom . Might have a  big old catfish hammer the lure , which is always a fun time.

👍👍👍👍

[Catt]

28 minutes ago, Mike L said:

If you can see what you’re trying to catch gotta make it worth your while. 
Better off leaving and finding what you’re looking for

 

I ain't spending my time chasing a couple of fish that are maybe 8-12". 

[fishballer06]

Imagine if you lived inside your favorite steakhouse. You're still only going to eat whenever you're hungry. 

[Big Hands]

Sometimes I just wanna see if I can make whatever is there bite something. Topwater, jerkbaits, crankbaits, several different types of spoons and slabs, flukes, bubble/feather. Various retrieves from burning to soaking, and everything in between. 

 

I start every fishing day with somewhat of a plan, but my plan can change at any time. Sometimes it goes just as planned, sometimes it goes nothing like I thought it would. There are times I would definitely sit on that bait ball and see if I can get them going. . . Or not.

 

I have often found that when there is a ton of bait in the water and all a fish would need to do is to swim around with their mouth open, that downsizing to really small baits, or supersizing can draw strikes. 

[Pat Brown]

On 9/30/2024 at 8:37 AM, Catt said:

 

I ain't spending my time chasing a couple of fish that are maybe 8-12". 

 

 

True.

 

But my son LOVES to panfish.

 

He fishes often 10 feet from the bank in 1 ft or less of crystal clear water.  No bass in sight.

 

He'll catch panfish off an area for a while and he and I will be watching the area with polarized glasses for any sign of bass moving in etc and enjoy ourselves as he keeps reeling in gill after gill.

 

Every year THIS happens at least once:  he'll chuck his pop n fly in there and hook a frisky one that pulls his drag and takes him away from the beds AND the bank and BOOM - the whole deal will get smoked by a rogue 6-8 lber out of completely nowhere and he'll have them both on the line for a second or two before she spits the sunfish.

 

I don't disagree with you at all from an efficiency standpoint but sometimes catching the big one requires us to be cunning rather than efficient.

[Catt]

@Pat Brown totally agree if we're talking bream spawn but the original question deals with bait balls found offshore with electronics.

[Junk Fisherman]

Throw a wacky rig with a shad-colored 4" Senko and let it sink through.  Try that a couple times and if nothing, move on.  

[WRB]

School bass harassing a Threadfin Shad school causing them to ball up in lieu of a large cloud I use a structure spoon that flutters on the fall. Couple of casts with no strikes move on. If the bait ball is moving toward shallower structure that compresses the bait I move ahead of the bait and wait using that is where the larger bass are waiting to feed on the Shad.

Spoon in the fall has been my most productive lure for bass feeding in Shad schools. Tail spinner is 2nd, underspin 3rd.

Tom

[Choporoz]

Spook across the top.

Spoons dropped straight through...let it go all the way to the bottom.

Unless bass are busting the surface, I won't spend much time, though. 

[Catt]

Y'all gonna spend all the time & energy on 2 tighteyes!

 

We ain't the same 😉