Befuddled and frustrated. Suggestions?

[Blue Raider Bob]

Experienced a phenomenon I've never seen before.

Nickajack, one of the chain of lakes on the Tennessee River. Overcast skies.

Pulled up to a bend in the river where the depth goes from 30' to 6' quickly. The 6' area is a vast flat covered with grass growing to the surface. Bass and Shad were everywhere. Blowups were constant with a frequency I've never seen before. Shad surrounded the boat and Bass and Shad were leaving the water. This was not occasionally, this was constant for three hours with dozens of bass exploding topwater. It was a feeding frenzy. With that said, I did not catch a fish. Grass prevented treble hooked baits as every cast was covered in grass before it could move a foot. Walking baits and poppers dropped in holes elicited no strikes. Weedless worms, Flukes, and frogs were not touched. I was dropping flukes right on top of explosions time and time again with no strikes. Buzz baits pulled on top of grass went unscathed. It was the most frustrated I have ever been while fishing. The Bass were so keyed on the Shad that I never even got a strike. Crank baits and Chatterbaits fished on the river channel edge were not touched.

Not sure what my next move should be. Quit altogether and learn to bake cookies, or try again.

Suggestions?

[softwateronly]

That's a brutal day on the water.  I've got nothing but 2 questions; were you able to determine the size of the shad? and were you able to fish anything crazy fast?  When I run into a version of this, these are my correction points.  Happens to me most often in the late summer.

 

scott

 

And I forgot this one; even if theyre busting the surface, a lot of times I need to fish deeper because they only come up when they've singled something out.

[Pat Brown]

When they're doing that I gotta go FAST.  Like I'm talking you gotta make it look like you're burning the bait back in to make another cast ~90% of the time to even get a sniff.

[Functional]

If treble hooks are out of the question I'd go to the outer limits of the shad balls and fish the edges of those almost like they are structure themselves. I've been able to pick off a few straggling fish looking for an easy meal like that. 

 

I'll only spend like 5 maybe 10 minutes max rotating baits and if I dont get anything I just leave to hopefully find another spot that hasnt quite activated yet. 

[Team9nine]

 

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Not sure what my next move should be. Quit altogether and learn to bake cookies, or try again.

SNICKERDOODLES!!

 

 

[Blue Raider Bob]

52 minutes ago, softwateronly said:

That's a brutal day on the water.  I've got nothing but 2 questions; were you able to determine the size of the shad? and were you able to fish anything crazy fast?  When I run into a version of this, these are my correction points.  Happens to me most often in the late summer.

 

scott

 

And I forgot this one; even if theyre busting the surface, a lot of times I need to fish deeper because they only come up when they've singled something out.

thanks

the size of the Shad were easy to determine as they surrounded me. I couldn't fish deeper because the grass grew to the surface. I tried a buzzbait at various speeds all over but no takers.

8 minutes ago, Functional said:

If treble hooks are out of the question I'd go to the outer limits of the shad balls and fish the edges of those almost like they are structure themselves. I've been able to pick off a few straggling fish looking for an easy meal like that. 

 

I'll only spend like 5 maybe 10 minutes max rotating baits and if I dont get anything I just leave to hopefully find another spot that hasnt quite activated yet. 

The outer limits of the shad balls were still over the grass and constantly moving quickly because of the attacks. The action really prevented bait ball from forming as they were constantly on the run. I left and fished in the bay and once again, shad were everywhere. Only now they were not pursued. Went home skunked.

4 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 

SNICKERDOODLES!!

 

 

That's my other option.

[Pat Brown]

Buzzbait is not even able to go fast enough for this situation. 

 

Try burning a fluke or even like a spook or popper over the top of them.

[TnRiver46]

Extremely common occurrence on the TN river in fall, don’t feel bad. Usually a jig or Texas rig is what I go for , show them something different because you can’t beat the real thing

 

another option is throwing a spoon deep under the blitz, although it gets walloped by big catfish often 

[pdxfisher]

Was the grass matted to the surface or was there a few inches of water over top? If there is even a few inches I would try burning a baby 1 minus (if they still make those). If the grass is to the surface I would try a johnson silver minnow. I like silver with a light colored pork frog trailer. You can real it over top of the grass and let it flutter down in any pockets. 

 

These are old lures but I am an old guy

[WRB]

SK Menace twin Tail grub pearl white weightless 3/0 hook makes a good Shad imitator retrieved this fast on or just above weed when bass are targeting Shad.

Tom

[Catt]

We call those "schooling" bass for the lack of a better term.

 

Quite often there is so much live bait available the bass simply won't touch any artificial.

[Swamp Girl]

I was skunked in a similar situation in 2023. However, in 2024, fishing heavy cover, I caught some by doing exactly what @Pat Brown suggested, I.e. burning your bait back to your boat. Don't give them a good look at it. Force them to assume that it's a shad. I used an underspin with a paddletail, which is as weedless as a lure gets and I had the hook flush to the body of the paddletail. 5/0. 

[Fishlegs]

Happens on my end of the river too. Especially in the creeks and coves.

 

I have caught them using a lure that falls through like @TnRiver46 said, and using fast lures like @Pat Brown said. You just have to try everything until something works. Some days every lure you throw will be like a McDonald's burger in an all you can eat seafood buffet...not going to get touched.

[Bankbeater]

I've had a lot of days when the bass are locked in on one bait and they ignore everything else.  When this happens on a large lake I crank up the motor and move somewhere else.  If I'm fishing a small pond then I leave and look for a different pond.

[Tennessee Boy]

It very common around here in the fall.  For those that have never seen it,  the bass school up and surrounded a bunch of shad and then attack from all directions.  The shad have no escape so they start erupting out of the water.  It last from two to five seconds most of the time and at most tens seconds.  Your bait needs to hit the water as the shad are jumping out of the water.   That means you have a few seconds to get the bait where it needs to be.  When I see this happening I tie a spoon on a spinning rod.  The heavy spoon allows me to cast far.  The spinning gear allows me to cast fast.  I put the rod over my shoulder and wait.  When I see or hear the bait busting up on the water I fling the spoon hard and fast into the carnage.  If you did this with a casting reel you would have the mother of all backlashes.   When the spoon hits the water I reel in the slack and set the hook.  There is usually a fish on it.   The hard part is getting the lure there before the attack ends.   95% of the time I fail to get the spoon where it needs to be before the carnage ends.   It goes something like this.  You see a eruption a good distance out in from of you.  You try to make the cast but it it doesn’t quite get there.  As you’re reeling back in an eruption happens right by the boat but by the time you’re ready to cast it’s way to late.  All this time there are eruptions happening all around that are clearly out of range.  There seems to be a lot of them over there so you move.  Then they seem to be happening more where you were before.  You make a perfect cast but while the lure is in flight the carnage ends.   It’s exciting but mostly frustrating.

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 10/30/2024 at 7:14 AM, Tennessee Boy said:

It very common around here in the fall.  For those that have never seen it,  the bass school up and surrounded a bunch of shad and then attack from all directions.  The shad have no escape so they start erupting out of the water.  It last from two to five seconds most of the time and at most tens seconds.  Your bait needs to hit the water as the shad are jumping out of the water.   That means you have a few seconds to get the bait where it needs to be.  When I see this happening I tie a spoon on a spinning rod.  The heavy spoon allows me to cast far.  The spinning gear allows me to cast fast.  I put the rod over my shoulder and wait.  When I see or hear the bait busting up on the water I fling the spoon hard and fast into the carnage.  If you did this with a casting reel you would have the mother of all backlashes.   When the spoon hits the water I reel in the slack and set the hook.  There is usually a fish on it.   The hard part is getting the lure there before the attack ends.   95% of the time I fail to get the spoon where it needs to be before the carnage ends.   It goes something like this.  You see a eruption a good distance out in from of you.  You try to make the cast but it it doesn’t quite get there.  As you’re reeling back in an eruption happens right by the boat but by the time you’re ready to cast it’s way to late.  All this time there are eruptions happening all around that are clearly out of range.  There seems to be a lot of them over there so you move.  Then they seem to be happening more where you were before.  You make a perfect cast but while the lure is in flight the carnage ends.   It’s exciting but mostly frustrating.

Yes, I have experienced that. This was different as it is a vast weedy area and the Bass were not herding the bait. The were striking individually all over the place. I was dropping flukes and other lures right on top of them only to see them crash shad nearby. I'm going to try it again Sunday Lord willing!

[Fishlegs]

On 10/30/2024 at 7:14 AM, Tennessee Boy said:

It goes something like this.  You see a eruption a good distance out in from of you.  You try to make the cast but it it doesn’t quite get there.  As you’re reeling back in an eruption happens right by the boat but by the time you’re ready to cast it’s way to late.  All this time there are eruptions happening all around that are clearly out of range.  There seems to be a lot of them over there so you move.  Then they seem to be happening more where you were before.  You make a perfect cast but while the lure is in flight the carnage ends.   It’s exciting but mostly frustrating.

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

My only success under those circumstances was using a SK lipless titanium blue & silver ripping it as soon as hit the water. Then ripping it again after a short retrieve. Definitely a fast reaction bite that really worked that day. 

[F14A-B]

It’s already been said but speed kills. 
 

If an open water scenario you’d had more action I suspect. Otherwise those days are oftentimes tough. 
 

Learn how to bake Pumpkin pie. You can eat your sorrows away. 🎃

[Fishingmickey]

If it is smaller shad an underspin has worked for me. I have also had luck burning a spinner bait through the school. But you have to get the bait there when they are boiling. Once they go down the party is over.  The caveat is, I haven't had that happen over weeds this is in open water like 30-60' deep. So cookie baking it is, Tollhouse please. I'll bring the milk.

FM

 

[Aaron_H]

 

You gotta burn, baby, burn!

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 10/31/2024 at 11:37 AM, Fishingmickey said:

If it is smaller shad an underspin has worked for me. I have also had luck burning a spinner bait through the school. But you have to get the bait there when they are boiling. Once they go down the party is over.  The caveat is, I haven't had that happen over weeds this is in open water like 30-60' deep. So cookie baking it is, Tollhouse please. I'll bring the milk.

FM

 

The baking idea didn't last. I was back at it yesterday and had moderate success. I fished an area that was not so densely packed in grass but the floating Eelgrass was still a problem. Fouled up nearly every cast, but I caught six with six more strikes. Had to work for them. Used a modified A-rig with only three arms, and burned it across the top of the water column. I do not like A-rigs in general because they are so heavy, and bulky. Just doesn't match the way I fish. This three arm lightens the lure and still gives the Bass an impression of a small school of bait. Big fish was 16". Shad were everywhere but the wind nearly blew me to Alabama.