this is a first for me.......

[carolina-rig-01]

went to table rock today. i had 3 keepers including one that would have gone 3lbs. probably could have caught more but i was pre-fishing a tourney so i left spots that had fish several times to try to get as many plans as i could. anyways, i got into a school of bait fish. i am talking shad around 1 1/2" long maybe 2". at first i seen them on the locator so i dropped a spoon down in them, couldn't get bit. then i seen the shad schooled up around the surface and i was reminded of a quote my tournament partner said one time about bait fish around the surface...."there not coming up for air". so i quickly grabbed another rod that had a lucky craft pointer on it and started bringing the jerkbait through the school. all of a sudden the bait lost all action, turns out i snagged 3 shad on one cast. then i make another cast into the school of shad...again i snagged 3 shad on this cast. when it was all over, i snagged 12 shad on 5 cast'. with all this baitfish activity i never got a bite in this school and the locator never once showed a fish around the shad. anyways i thought some of you may enjoy my shad snagging skills.

[lunker-lander]

15 fish in the boat for a Prefish? Damn, your good, 01!!!

-Lunk-

[3dkicker]

C-rig sometimes the bass aren't there or sometimes it's white perch that are pushing the fish. I've been on Buggs with thousands (hundreds of) of baitfish dimpling the surface, like it's raining, and not get bit. I've seen them 8-12' thick filling the coves and only catch a bass or two. It's amazing watching a dozen shad chase my spinnerbait and not get bit.

[bassnman30]

I'ts a good thing that you left your other spots for the tournament. If....
They are similar to the ones that you found.
There may have been alot more shad in the water than you saw. Bass have there choice.

[Nitro911]

If you stumble across them on tournament day, throw a big crankbait that will dive 4-6 below them and see if you can't drag up whatever is causing them to ball up. The bigger bait will be the most attractive target and getting below them should make it the easiest, also.

[BassAddict]

Originally Posted by 3dkicker

C-rig sometimes the bass aren't there or sometimes it's white perch that are pushing the fish. I've been on Buggs with thousands (hundreds of) of baitfish dimpling the surface, like it's raining, and not get bit. I've seen them 8-12' thick filling the coves and only catch a bass or two. It's amazing watching a dozen shad chase my spinnerbait and not get bit.

3D,

I fished a T at Buggs in Oct. a few years ago and the cove we were in was LOADED with bait. All of a sudden the ENTIRE cove errupted with fish blasting the shad. I fired a Spook Jr. at them and boom... it was small Stripers. Man that was fun for a little while but we had bass to catch. I've never seen that before to that extent. It was Awesome!

Eric

[3dkicker]

BA - You should see them on the shoreline in the spring when they spawn. Thousands everywhere, chasing crankbaits and spinnerbaits and not because they're hungry. They've got lovin' on their mind. You'd expect to see bass just crushing them in the shallow water but nope.....nothing. It's amazing. Both at the numbers of shad and the lack of bass activity.