Shutting Down A School

[clayton86]

Iv heard several times diffrent places that u can shut down a school of fish by throwing them back and that u can fish the school longer by putting them in your livewell till u leave. Now I'm a bank fisherman and don't have a live well so how true is this.

I ask because yesterday I found some smallies and they were schooled up pretty heavy id pull one out and 5 more would chase it in or they would be smacking the fluke that slid up the line well the other is hooked. I managed to pull 4 out fairly quick and broke one off but then it just shut down did I kill the bite or do u think they wised up and figured hey that white things yank all my buddys out by there face.

I was also thinking even if they do release this what ever that shuts em down it was a strong river and the "scent" would of been swept away.

[grimlin]

I find that rumor false. But schools,specially smallmouths will move a lot!

2 days this year I had the same day you did...would catch them left and right for about an half an hour to an hour then the bite would be gone.

Many of times you need to be moving down to keep up with the bite. Something to think about.

I'm in the same situation as you I'm shorebound. So sometimes you can only move so far to the point you can't reach em' anymore.

[clayton86]

Yeah I moved down as far as I could stoping at every big rock pile and tree in the water till I got a snag with my last tube and I didn't bring any tackle just 3 poles no spare lures. I got that last tube snaged and contomplated going swiming in my work jeans and boots......I jumped in it was only knee deep on the edges it wasn't the first time them boots have been soaked won't be the last lol. I worked another half mile down befor I couldent find any fish. The bite was fast and furious though id drop either a tube or fluke by the tree let it sink just outa sight and start to lift to find a swarm of smallies atttacking the rig like hornets on a nest.

[webertime]

I had the same thing happen to me last weekend. We'd limited out and started culling on one point when my DS got smashed... I got it to the side of the boat and it was an easy 5lbs. Boater was a touch lazy with the net and I was feeling the teeth zippering on the line... POP gone. He said when a larger/dominate fish goes back down into the school area and is shaking out a hook, etc. it will shut them down for a while. It did...

He went back the next day and caught my lost fish, it still had the hook (1/0 Gammy) in it and he showed it to me at weigh in. We all had a good laugh about that, he kept my hook too!

[clayton86]

I had the same thing happen to me last weekend. We'd limited out and started culling on one point when my DS got smashed... I got it to the side of the boat and it was an easy 5lbs. Boater was a touch lazy with the net and I was feeling the teeth zippering on the line... POP gone. He said when a larger/dominate fish goes back down into the school area and is shaking out a hook, etc. it will shut them down for a while. It did...

He went back the next day and caught my lost fish, it still had the hook (1/0 Gammy) in it and he showed it to me at weigh in. We all had a good laugh about that, he kept my hook too!

That does make sense because it shut down completly when I broke off a 2 maybe 3 lber he was jumping like crazy and I had em on my UL and a jackall ishad jig head and a mini super fluke. He jumped and then made a hard run under a log and broke off not a bite after that moment till I got 100yds down stream.

[Gatorbassman]

I ask because yesterday I found some smallies and they were schooled up pretty heavy id pull one out and 5 more would chase it in or they would be smacking the fluke that slid up the line well the other is hooked.

Dude!!!!! Tie up a double fluke rig when you see this happening and catch that other fish.

[NorcalBassin]

Hank Parker said that can happen, so I'll take his word for it.

[Sam]

Jim Kerr, a local guide and good friend in Virgnia who passed away two years ago always told me that he learned in his "guide school" that the fish will give off an "alarm oder" when hooked and the bass will flea the area or stop eating.

I have no literature or statistics on this theory but Jim believed it.

If anyone knows of any research that addresses your query please post it as I think everyone would like to know.

[Catt]

I’ve heard of this theory for years but can’t really put much stock in it since the number of variables associated with why a bass does or does not bite is almost infinite.

I’ve sat anchored on a piece of structure & caught bass all day long without moving. The bite would speed up, the bite would slow down, the bite would be on the shallow side, & the bite would be on the deep side.

[NBR]

Like Catt I've heard the theory and don't put much into it. We have sat in one spot and caught many smallies; you might put them down but I don't believe it is from catching their brethern.

[tyrius.]

Jim Kerr, a local guide and good friend in Virgnia who passed away two years ago always told me that he learned in his "guide school" that the fish will give off an "alarm oder" when hooked and the bass will flea the area or stop eating.

If that was the case then you would never see other fish trying to steal the bait from the fish that you've caught. Those other fish wouldn't follow the caught fish back to the boat, they'd "flee the area".

[dhami013]

You see what happens is one fish tells 2 friends, then those tell two friends, then they tell two friends and so and so forth. Next thing you know. You can't buy a bite anywhere. Seen it a thousand times. And thanks to twitter and facebook the word gets out even faster than before.

Today's age and technology. Just ruining the fishing.

Ha

[clayton86]

I was thinking bout this today when my 2 yearold pulled like 100 long ear sunfish out of a tree next to the boat launch if u could shut down the school explain kids pulling fish outa the same hole all day throwing them all back.