Large Bass In Open Water Bustin 7 In Shad

[Indiana Bass1]

Here is the situation. This is a small 30 acre lake with a very healthy bass population. In the past few years you can catch several big bass up around the docks during the spawn. When I say big bass I am taLking from 4 lbs to 7 lbs. After they spawn the big girls move out away from the bank and follow balls of shad around the lake. I want to target these big bass because I know there are 8+ lb bass in this lake. What can I throw to catch these bass? I have thought about a 7 inch swim bait, or a big jerk bait. I was looking at a piture of a 7 in huddelston swim bait and it looked like these shad to a tee. If anybody has any experience with this I would appreciate your help. I would like to add that the top half of this lake is silted in fairy bad and a lot of this is going on in 4 foot of water out in the center. The deep water is down at the dam where it is 10 feet.

[Midnight Splash2]

Id try a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad in the 5 1/2" or 8".

http://www.***.com/Lake_Fork_Live_Magic_Shad/descpage-LFLMS.html#multiview

[Indiana Bass1]

  On 7/13/2011 at 3:24 PM, Midnight Splash2 said:

Id try a Lake Fork Live Magic Shad in the 5 1/2" or 8".

http://www.***.com/Lake_Fork_Live_Magic_Shad/descpage-LFLMS.html#multiview

Thanks for the advice,I went to TW and looked at the magic shad. Thats a great looking bait.

[purebass-ing]

Do you know what size those baitfish the bass are chasing after? I think choosing a lure that would cover 0-4 feet and matches that particular forage they are after is a good idea if you see them boiling!

These days, I have been having a lot of luck catching those bass that boils around the surface in the open or right above some weed-bed with a 3 inch small minnow soft bait. However, the bass I am catching is nothing close to the size you described....LOL I am guessing it works since it matches the size of those particular forage in my local lake.

Hope this will help! Good luck on catching those big mama!

By the way, the lake fork magic shad is a really great bait! One of my favorite it is! Can't go wrong with them most of the time!

[Indiana Bass1]

  On 7/13/2011 at 3:57 PM, purebass-ing said:

Do you know what size those baitfish the bass are chasing after? I think choosing a lure that would cover 0-4 feet and matches that particular forage they are after is a good idea if you see them boiling!

These days, I have been having a lot of luck catching those bass that boils around the surface in the open or right above some weed-bed with a 3 inch small minnow soft bait. However, the bass I am catching is nothing close to the size you described....LOL I am guessing it works since it matches the size of those particular forage in my local lake.

Hope this will help! Good luck on catching those big mama!

By the way, the lake fork magic shad is a really great bait! One of my favorite it is! Can't go wrong with them most of the time!

The shad are appx 6 to 7 inches long. I got a good look at them yesterday. They swim around in schools about 5 feet by 5 feet. I think it will be hard to mimic them because they are in perpetual motion swimming around and around.

[midnighthrasher]

Try a zoom magnum fluke. Its 7 inches of super fluke. If it works anything like the standard fluke you are going to get them !!!!

[purebass-ing]

icic! That's indeed an interesting situation. Kind of remind me of back then when I used to fish for tunas. The school of tuna is boiling on the water chasing balls of bait fish that is 7-9 inch long. I had great success using a floating or suspend jerk bait giving a fast twitching and stop action, usually I just cast over the balls and if everything went well, usually a bite is guaranteed. Sometimes when the fish went spooky, I cast a suspend one next to the balls ( like really close to it though, but outside of the ball ) Do some fast twitch action followed by dead suspending action, they will hit it like crazy too. I think the key is to maintain the depth and combines fast twitch with dead-stop motion to allow for reaction bites. A flashy jerk would really help too, since when the reaction happens so fast, they hunt for the flash...

But what do I know, Tuna is a complete different specie to bass, i.e. a faster and more active hunter than bass... but hope that my little experience could give u some idea or inspiration on tackling the situation and getting some success! I guess finding a way to catch those fish you found is part of the fun part of the game! good luck on that, and hope to see you posting some good pictures sometime later!

Not to promote any particular bait, but this video has a pretty good demonstration of the kind of presentation I am trying to describe. check it out if you are free.

[Gangley]

Magnum Super Fluke by ZOOM has been stellar for me this year. I have no clue whether or not it will work for your waters, but they have done very well in mine fished weightless and weighted, in Arkansas Shiner and Smoking Shad.

[Indiana Bass1]

Hey I appreciate everyones input, keep them coming. I am going to try all items mentioned so far. If I nail one I will get the pics on here if I can figure out how. I failed to mention I was nearing the ramp yesterday and getting some last cast in when one of these monsters blasted a shad up ahead of me. It sounded like a truck falling in the water. Anyways I just kept throwing and cranking forgetting all about this fish and I get down to where it had kabooshed and out of nowhere my crankbait gets flat hammered dead in its tracks. I swept the rod sideways and barley moved this fish I felt its head thrash back and forth I got two cranks in and it came unbuttoned. I was just sick guys. I was throwing a shad pattern Normans Middle N,it was fairly new and I had not changed the hooks out on it yet????? Could of been the problem I dont know? All I know is that it was a huge fish.

Again I apprecdiate everyones input.

[Fat-G]

I would throw a Bull Shad for sure.

[Indiana Bass1]

The wife and I made a trip down to the lake this morning. We got a late start arriving at the ramp at 9am. I know I know, anyways, when a high pressure moves in it really puts the clamps on these fish so I was not in a big hurry to get there. Today was no exception for the most part. I did not see any shad or bass bustin as we moved down the bank. So we went to fishin the docks and lay downs, we caught a few dinks around some docks and the wife nailed a nice 3 lber on a bomber 4 A crankbait in the new moss back craw pattern. If you have not tried this new crankbait you need to give it a shot. We have caught several nice bass on these within the last few weeks. As the morning turned to early afternoon we begin to see some shad schooled up and an occasional bass bustin on them. I tied on a couple storm shad swim baits and we begin to throw these at the shad. My wife finally had a nice one hit and it was pullin drag but got off. Forgot to set the hook just started reeling. That was for the most part the end of the big bass chasin. We caught several more nice fish the rest of the afternoon with the majority of them coming from around docks on a shaky head zoom trick worm.My two weeks of vacation is winding down so I will be back to being a weekend warrior. Thanks for all of your input.

[quanjig]

1/2 oz longbill scrounger with albino superfluke. Cast past the shad, crank it fairly quickly and tight line kill it. Let me know if that doesn't do it for you!!

[Jim H.]

OK, I know this tidbit of advice probably sounds wierd and is counter intuitive but give it a try. Take a 6-7" plastic worm rigged Texas style and cast it past the shad then "buzz" it back to the shad and let it fall through the school. A blue worm (or tube) with lots of flake is best. Remember to cast as far on the other side as you can and reel back to the shad and let it drop and then hang on... Try it a couple of times and you may be surprised.