One of my worst enemies is schooling fish. 7 out of 10 times i can get one fish when they start to blow up my weapon of choice is always a popr. When you cant get them on the surface and you have to get thru them to bite or under them what would be best to get them to bite. I would think a fluke would be my first guess.
As of right now fluke seems to be a weekness. Ive tried it weightless around grass a few times just havent produced anything to stick with it.
Phoenix 919 pro xp
For schooling fish try throwing a fluke on an 1/8th oz weighted swimbait hook .. Try to let it sink down underneath the baitfish school and then start working it... Most of the time the ones you catch on top in the school are going to be the smaller 1-2lb fish.. The bigger bass tend to hang below the school and pick off the injured baitfish (the easy meals) falling from the smaller bass feeding above.. When you pause between twitches the keel weighted fluke will fall in a perfect horizontal position .. Caught tons of fish using a white pearl or white ice colored flukes..
1/2 oz underspin + fat impact or
Damiki axe blade
Distance is key for schooling fish. You can throw both of those a mile
Last edited by VAsmallies; 07-03-2018 at 03:44 PM. Reason: Added info
3/8 scrounger will do it too
Chrome lipless crankbait.
For schooling fish I a throw a swimbait on an underspin.
Wishin' I was fishin'...
1990 Ranger 374v
1996 175 HP Mariner - Magnum EFI
25p Tempest - A45 model
80 lb 24v MinnKota Maxxum
Humminbird Helix 10
Humminbird Helix 7
Garmin EchoMap 106sv w/ LS
Dual 8' Power Poles
I like to throw something like a DD22 .. you can cast a mile, reel it down a couple of cranks then start fishing it like a jerk bait.. you will also catch the bigger fish in the school...
I like a spook/vixen when they are busting on top.. but will throw a weightless fluke (white) also. Arigs are good to pull through as well as the mentioned swimbait on a underspin.
I use a silver or white, 3/4 ounce Dixie Jet spoon for schoolers, you can chuck that thing a mile and they usually eat it pretty good
Dixie Jet excellent choice.
Couple others work really well.
Megabass Flap Slap is awesome.
If you want to catch the biggest fish in the school, throw a 5/8-3/4oz hair jig and burn it and kill it over and over back to the boat.
I think the biggest thing with schooling fish is if you can do it with a single hook bait, you are less likely to have un-hooking issues and you can get right back on em.
Last edited by TableRock55; 07-19-2018 at 09:06 AM.
2017 Phoenix 618Pro
ThisOriginally Posted by phoenix5252
Scrounger and underspin are money ... double rig is a must .
I've had a fair amount of luck getting bigger fish out of a feeding school, at least as much luck as I've had with schooling fish, by throwing a Carolina rigged fluke right on top of them. You can cast it a long way which is priority number 1 for this type of thing, and I'd always read that the biggest fish will hang out either underneath or to the sides to lazily clean up what the active, smaller fish kill and miss. That fluke fluttering down behind that weight seemed like a way to mimic that, and it's definitely worked for me at times.
I'm sure it's similar to the success people have with a spoon, I've just not done that due to never having much luck with a spoon (the few places we have shad around here, they're often not very big due to frequent winter kills) and due to not wanting to mess with all the issues trebles can bring.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I feel like you watched the same live feed on fb as me last night.... mike and billy lawson??
Honest to goodness, no I did not. Was someone doing this last night? I'm not familiar with those guys, though I have heard a lot of people talking about live streaming fishing on Twitch?
Here I thought I had something slick figured out. No secrets in fishing anymore!!
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
Honest to goodness, no I did not. Was someone doing this last night? I'm not familiar with those guys, though I have heard a lot of people talking about live streaming fishing on Twitch?
Here I thought I had something slick figured out. No secrets in fishing anymore!!
They talked in length about the big fish being the clean up crew underneath.. tossing a BIG worm on a big shakey head so it drops fast and thru the small fish you dont want.
Gotcha. I'm sure that would work as well!
The Carolina rig thing I thought was just awesome. I had only ever drug it around or reeled it slowly on the bottom before and sort of happened upon it accidentally when its all I had on the deck fishing the Mississippi once when they started busting shad. Funny thing is, I was talking to my dad about it sometime later and he was sure he'd told me about it as he and his partner had happened upon something similar after graphing a school of fish and not being able to get them to bite.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I have good luck counting down a Red Eye Shad and yo-yoing it back to boat
Beat me to it! We use gold because our resident Smallmouth and Largemouth bust on schools of perch instead of shad, but it's basically the same principle. What I like about this technique is that it brings the school closer to the boat as they will follow your hooked fish trying to eat the bait out of their mouth. With a couple skilled anglers and tube baits ready in wait you can keep them fired up for a good amount of time. They aren't shy most of the time, they will stay right under the boat and it's basically like shooting fish in a barrel.
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