How to catch schooling bass??

[sharrison]

Was out at creek side of Ocklawaha today and had some pretty good luck. Caught 8 LMB ranging from 1.3- 2.5#

Water was stained but clear, I could see the bottom at 12' or so. Most the bottom was in the 5-7' range and you could see the bottom real well.
There was a strong current which might of been drawing down Rodman Resevoir, not sure on that but the current was way stronger then it's ever been.

I caught them on either a Sexy shad Spinner bait, Watermelon tube or Watermelon trick worm on shaky head jig.

On my way back to the ramp I saw the biggest school of bass i've ever seen swimming by. Had to be well over 100 of them. They looked to be in the 14-16" range. I tried everything but couldn't get any of them to bite. A few were boiling the surface but mostly just hanging out in one deeper spot. I let them settle down for a bit then tried my luck.

Tried spinner bait,shaky head,jig,top water,lipless and regular cranks both square bill and deep, Floating Rapalas,ect.. pretty much everything I had in the box and came up empty. Not even a bite.

then as I hung my head in shame and as I was pulling off the spot to head back another big school came by. I didn't even try. My ego couldn't handle anymore for the day


I'm sorry this is a novel. I just wanting all the info out there..

What did I do wrong? What can I do differently next time?

Thanks guys..

[keithdog]

First off, welcome to the forums. Always good to have new faces join in. Now back to your post. Not sure if you really did anything wrong. If the water is that clear and you can see the bass, they can see you as well. I've never had a lot of success in that situation. One thing that has worked fairly well for me is to make long casts with a 3" Excaliber popper and retrieve it back with a fairly quick retrieve jerking hard and fast. Not too hard but a good jerk non the less. I'm trying to make commotion on the surface as though a baitfish is in trouble. It's always worked for me in schooling situations. And in clear water like that it can draw interrest from fish in deeper water. Good luck.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I am not a guru on the subject myself, but I did find this article. I did a few searches and most of them point towards spoons.

[g_rigor]

I've run into this and spent hours until i found something that i could catch them with. I finally found something that works almost everytime and me and my son just load up when we see the fish boiling on shad. Try a weightless yamamoto shad shape worm or a small cuttail worm. If you have to add weight just insert a small nail weight into the worm. Cast it into the school and just let it fall with an occasional twitch. It's what works best for me when they are schooling. Give it a try.

[sharrison]

Thanks guys i'll give all the suggestions a shot if i'm ever in the same situation again.

[SaminVa]

I wonder what a fluke or super fluke would do for them? Cast out.. twitch twitch.. fall..
or a wacky worm. I do feel your pain...

[jasonfish320]

SPOONS!! A few years back I fished a tourney with a co-angler and knew that there were fish in this one spot..The bite was insanely tough but I could see a huge school on my graph 20' down..I had been in this situation before so I threw on a 1/2oz silver/blue spoon (no idea what it's called) and managed 3 keepers in an hours time... The co-angler was struggling so I gave him one of my extra spoons, a bit smaller and lighter and all silver but he ended up limiting out..I was happy for him as we were not fishing against each other..I caught one other dink for the day that measured and ended up 15 out of 80 and my co-angler got 3rd in the non-boater.

[bamabassman]

i have found that ROOSTER TAILS and SUPER ROOSTER TAILS do great on schooling bass IF, now IF THEY ARE FEEDING ON THE SHAD. JSUT MY COUPLE OF PENNIES WORTH.

[lilmule]

There are times when the bass here on ky lake wont hit much of anything when schooling and even tearing the surface apart,mostly due to not feeding on shad but more slender fathead or shiner minnows it takes a small elongated offering like a pins minnow-3 inch jerkbait is best to desribe it.Flukes work at times but when they are uninterested the smaller bass assasin will work often.
At such a time a shad imitator is useless unless they are thick enough to snag.

[danielbasspro]

try a spoon. Ive done really well with the Zoom Magnum Flukes with a Owner 7/0 hook for those big fish on the bottom.

[Rebbasser]

Welcome to the forum!

You did not mention the one bait I have had a lot of success with: A lipless crankbait, chrome with a blue back is my color of choice, either 1/4 oz or my choice of 1/2 oz. Rat-L-Trap. That color or a a smokey joe Cordell Spot.

I've had a LOT of success with those 2 colors.

[Lvitch]

Spoons or a suspending jerk bait worked FAST. Either or usually gets em. maybe a weightless fluke too. Either really fast to get em excited n compete for the food, or really slow so they cant resist it.