Schooling largemouth....

[Umgettinbetta]

In my fourth full year of bass fishing. Definitely have gotten better but being the competitor that I am as most of us are, good is never good enough. But I'm located in north central Florida and the shad spawn is in full bloom. Got out today and just struggled to get the schoolers to commit. Did catch a few but it was hard. Fished a lipless, spinner bait, fluke and a Zara spook. The lipless carried the load, disappointed n the fluke and not a bite on spinner bait. I eventually left them schooling and frustrated. You guys have any tips for me??? I know the shad spawn is a morning deal but the places shad spawn and where the bass school in mornings can you rely on the bass hanging in the same general area in the evenings? As I get a lot of afternoon trips rather than the morning trips... Thank you

[Real Pudd legend]

Try these options and match the hatch for size

topwater - walk bait or popper

underspin with fluke trailer or paddle tail

small swimbait

spy baits

scrounger ( my favorite )

im over in California and this is what works well for me .

[jamey1e]

I can understand your frustration. My local lake is known for schooling bass and I struggled to catch them for long time. They tend to get so keyed in on the size and color of the bait fish and they won't touch anything else. I try to match the hatch as close as possible and then it's just a matter of rotating baits until I find an action they'll commit to. I've worked on schools that would have the water boiling around the boat for hours before, with not so much as a bite until tying on the right bait. Then I preceded to catch one almost every cast for the rest of the day.

[Wackyjig]

White swimbait with erratic retrieve or yo-yoing a preacher jig works for me.

[Ben Danbleume]

I've always had good luck with a lipless during the shad spawn, specifically I like the Red Eye for this. Small swim jig usually does good also.

[Umgettinbetta]

Thanks for the information guys... Was such a frustrating day as I felt I should've caught upward to 20+ fish... Only caught 8 in the day. Ran out of time and ideas.

What about the second part of the question. Can anyone provide insight from their own experience? The location of the spawn. That area they were using can I assume they'd be close by in say afternoon outings. Thank you

[Hez]

For the schoolies...I tend to use an underspin with a swimbait. I don't have a lot of lakes around me that the schooling bite is prominent, but the Conway chain has schoolies, and I struggled catching them until I tried the underspin.

Can't offer an answer on the 2nd part of the question....I am trying to become more educated on the shad spawn myself.

Tight lines neighbor.

Edit: Maybe ask this question in the Florida forum...the guys that hang out there really know their stuff.

[willwork4fish]

Like the guys said above, sometimes schoolies on shad get real particular. Once you figure out what they're eating though you'll get wore out. I usually start out with topwater then go to a scrounger or an underspin. One more lure that works more often that not is just a white grub on a ball head...3" or 5" will usually tell you what size they're eating.

[DrewFlu33]

I feel like this may not even be helpful as Florida bass are a completely different animal, but on the chance that it might...

There have been at least a couple times that I've found largemouth schooling and not been able to get them to bite stuff that they "should" bite where I've caught them by fishing something around them that's completely counter-intuitive, namely something on the bottom. For example, when finding them schooling on sunfish on outside weed edges here, there have been at least a couple times where I couldn't get them to hit anything worked through the area where they were feeding, but really really caught them by casting a Texas rig into them and fishing it on the bottom. On at least one other occasion I found them schooling in open water and was able to catch them with a Carolina rig of all things. My working theory has been that whatever I've tried either gets mixed up with the real thing they're feeding on and so it's a game of chance where the odds are decidedly not in my favor, or the thing I've used to try and stand out from the real thing to avoid the aforementioned conundrum is too different from what they're keyed on and they don't eat it as a result.

The neat thing about those experiences of catching them on the bottom is that those fish have usually been better quality than the ones I've been able to actually see schooling. I've read that oftentimes larger fish will "lay low" around these feeding frenzies and pick off the easy scraps that fall out of the mayhem. That definitely fits with what I've found in those situations.

[BoatBuggy]

I discovered the magic of the underspin on schoolies a few months ago on Toledo Bend. We had some pretty fun days chucking them around.

[Casslaw]

I haven’t tried an underspin but certainly will now. I also agree with Drew, the schoolies get very dialed in on what they’re chasing and there are times I can’t get them to hit anything, but usually there are larger fish underneath them.

A popper or spook is the most fun. A lipless has produced the most fish for me. I haven’t had much luck with squarebills, spinnerbaits or jerkbaits but a small spoon can often work wonders!

I was fishing a tournament around 1992 and they gave us each a small 3.5” spoon at the sign up. I threw it in the boat and after chasing schoolies in the middle of August and not having any luck I tied that spoon on and finished 4th. It’s hard for me to throw one, and they’re not incredibly sexy, but spoons definitely work for schoolies down here. Slab spoon with a treble hook on the back.

[ridgerunner11]

Small .5oz spoon works wonders here too throw it into them and burn it

[LewStulePH.D.]

I caught the snot of them on the 4th; 5th and 7th using a larger than norm Sammy™ at Lake Henderson just South of You. I was using the reg. Ayu and I wasn't getting any distance so strapped on the LARGE Gold/Blk... Then I'd throw a 5" swimbait on a jighead but the BIGGER fish seemed to be dang near the bottom and they were caught on a jig.

I went to the TackleWhorehouse™ site and can't find the Gold/Blk Sammy™ But the way I was catching I figure any color would've worked.

[lperry]

Here where I live the 1/4 oz Kastmaster spoon works really well-most of the time. And as the name implies even my old worn out shoulder can cast it way out there.

[Quillback]

Small .5oz spoon works wonders here too throw it into them and burn it

One of my favorites on Table Rock, 1/2 oz Hopkins type spoon, rip it, let it drop, rip it again, repeat.

Ned rig will work too, give it a little rip when it hits the water, let it drop, give it another rip, repeat. Don't need a violent rip with the Ned, keep it subtle.

[RazorCat]

When I go to South Georgia (outside Richmond Hill) to visit my son we fish a Bill Dance lake behind his house. The bass are a cross between a northern bass strain, and a Florida bass (or so I've been told). You can catch them up shallow occasionally, and consistently during the spawn. Otherwise, they suspend, or school throughout the day pretty much year around. Bar none, we've had the most success using 90 size Whopper Ploppers. We wait on the the school to surface, and wait for them to just stop feeding actively, and then start chunking in that general area working from the outside towards the middle of where they were schooling. We average 15-20 fish off a school. And I'm talking 2-5 pound fish. I've tried the same on my home lake of Millwood and had quite a bit of success with the same bait.
I like it because you can chunk it, and just let it sit, Or pull it through the school and make some noise.

[bassnman81]

Here where I live the 1/4 oz Kastmaster spoon works really well-most of the time. And as the name implies even my old worn out shoulder can cast it way out there.

Me too, yo yo it back and ha ng on.

[TohoRookie]

I fish Butler Chain. I've never seen them school like I did Saturday. Not a good research day because, for once in my life, I could no wrong. Hard jerkbait does the trick for me. I just "upjerk" to keep higher in the water column.

[TheBassmaster]

My best approach in schools that are busting is throwing a fluke in disco color.