Good sign or Bad.

[Bassin101]

Saturday fished a white spinner with twin hammered colorado blades.  Baitfish followed it to the boat by the tons, every cast, but no hits by bass.  What would you do?

[Skeeter6598]

In that situation I like to try and throw something that resembles bait fish but don't match the color pattern. I try to throw something that'll stand out in that crowd of bait!

[GobbleDog]

I'm not good with spinnerbaits - at all, but I've always heard the blades should "match the hatch" in terms of size. (match the baitfish)

As for Colorado vs. Willowleaf - again, I'm no expert with spinners, but I think Colorado is designed for deap water or when letting the spinner bait fall after hitting cover, while Willowleaf is for shallow water or for non-stop reeling...

But there's probably a lot of people here who have more experience with those things than I do.  ???

[5bass]

If you can find a big pod of baitfish you should cast something heavy(senko,bucktail) in the middle of them and let it sink straight down.This is a method that I use in the fall especially.

In a nutshell.....if the shad are grouped up tight together,there are predator fish (bass,stripers) close by and feeding or getting ready to.(Usually real close by)If they arent balled up tight,the predator fish may not be in feeding mode or real close to the baitfish.Thats why they scatter out a little bit....

But throw something that will sink through them to the bottom.

And the spinnerbait thing goes like this,willow blades are for clear water because they dont move much water as to spook fish,but still have lots of flash to look like a mini school of bait.

Colorado blades are better when the water is stained and the fish need the big vibration to locate the bait.Also use Colorado blades at night for the same reason.

[Raul]

Saturday fished a white spinner with twin hammered colorado blades. Baitfish followed it to the boat by the tons, every cast, but no hits by bass. What would you do?

Those ain 't no baitfish, baitfish do not follow lures, those are baby bass !!! time to take out your baby bass patterned crankbaits and give them a bath.

[Nick_Barr]

I would usually use a fluke,also try different techniques with the spinnerbaits, like a yo-yo technique.

[D.Taylor]

Shad will chase Spinnerbaits.

This has occured to me on more then one ocassion in ultra clear water. It generally happens when the shad are spawning. They think your bait is a Target of great oppertunity.

With that being said on both ocassions when I got in an area where they were not chasing the bait I got bit either flipping or on the spinnerbait.

When it Happend this spring it was early in the morning never got bit till we got away from it. Later in the afternoon we watch boats smoke the bass along that bank

I know that wasnt to helpful

[Raul]

Well Taylor, we don 't have shad in Mexico that 's the reason why I said that baitfish don 't follow baits, if you see here tiny fish following your bait 99.99% certainty that those are baby bass, which is not uncommon, on the contrary, preciselly during March-May you can see huge schools of tiny bass ( about 1-1 1/2" ) following your offerings.

[bassin4life]

I would find the bass that are feeding on the baitfish....

[Big_Bass_Rich]

I also had that problem recently. Seems to me that the fish in those areas must just be full of baitfish already and not too hungry. Best idea is to switch to a reaction bait or entice them with a finesse bait. Suspending jerkbaits fished with a stop & go retrieve will entice strikes from these bass.

[Bassin101]

I just read an article on exactly this happening.  It said, as did many of you,  to throw something different because the bass are there.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Shad not only will follow a spinnerbait, THEY WILL EAT IT.  

PROOF:  http://bassresource.com/cgi-bin/bass_fish/YaBB.pl?board=Outing_ID;action=display;num=1114809737

I rigged a tube up and caught a couple of bass beneath where I caught the shad.