reoccurring wintertime problem getting bites when bass are in giant schools of bait

[kls2020]

I seem to have this problem every winter at times and I am perplexed ? In winter I keep experiencing this situation when I find massive schools of shad that have gone deep 25-40 feet + and I can see the bass amongst the cloud of bait but no matter what I try cant get them to bite . If I find sparse bait and small groups of bass with them I can get them to bite pretty easy.

Around the first week of November when the water was still in the 60's I found a similar situation with a big school of bait with bass among them and I did catch multiple fish by leaving a dropshot 4" worm on a 10" leader on 6# line sitting in place on the bottom at 25' and eventually a fish would eat it after a long delay .

I have tried vertically spooning , dragging football jigs , Carolina rig , shaking a texas rig worm with glass bead , nose hooked drop shot . Sometimes I can feel a fish pecking at my lure but they are just not eating it .

Seems to happen more on Spotted bass lakes and I am wondering if there is just so much food around and they are stuffed if this is why they are being so selective ?

Anyone else ever experience this ?

[DrewFlu33]

This is something I run into every year in the fall on the upper pools of the Mississippi River. After countless hours of frustration spread out across dozens of trips, I finally decided that there is simply such a thing as too much bait. Of course it's easy to leave an area when there's no bait, the hard lesson I've learned is that I also need to leave when there's too much. Sure, you've got to try. But you've also got to be willing to pack up and leave because 99% of the time in those places, it's just not going to happen unless there are mega schools of bass to go along with the mega schools of bait. I can tell you from personal experience it's a great way to waste your whole day. So I look for exactly the type of situation where you mentioned you've had success--the areas where there is some bait, but not too much--and I've found great success there.

[SPOONMINNOW]

In that situation I would go with finesse soft plastics on light jigheads - 1/24 - 1/16 oz. I figure the fish's metabollsm is on the slugggish side and they don't have to feed as much. The actions of smaller, slower shapes kind a irritates fish into smacking that which doesn't blend in with anything else, including baitfish. I find that idea valuable most months of the year and have done well ice fishing using smaller lighter lures.
JMO

[johnnybass]

Damiki?

[willwork4fish]

This is something I run into every year in the fall on the upper pools of the Mississippi River. After countless hours of frustration spread out across dozens of trips, I finally decided that there is simply such a thing as too much bait. Of course it's easy to leave an area when there's no bait, the hard lesson I've learned is that I also need to leave when there's too much. Sure, you've got to try. But you've also got to be willing to pack up and leave because 99% of the time in those places, it's just not going to happen unless there are mega schools of bass to go along with the mega schools of bait. I can tell you from personal experience it's a great way to waste your whole day. So I look for exactly the type of situation where you mentioned you've had success--the areas where there is some bait, but not too much--and I've found great success there.

Not sure this helps the OP (I don't really fish much of the type of water you're talking about) but for you Drew when those shad ball up in the fall on the upper Miss river my #1 bait is a 3/8 Scrounger with a 5" Bass Assassin Straight tail in the salt and pepper color. Second would be the small Bull Shad (the resin one not the plastic one) but that tends to snag a lot of shad.

I target the edges of the bait balls but catch them throughout.

[wmitch2]

1/4 oz darter head with a GYCB 3" single tail grub in Smoke with Blk Flake fished thru the shad and dropped and picked up randomly seems to work for me.

[Quillback]

We've got the spotted bass around deep schools of shad going on in this neck of the woods just about all winter. I talk regularly to a retired gent who fishes just about every day and targets deep fish all winter long. One of his go to baits in a 1/8 oz crappie jig, takes a while to get down there, but can be very effective. Might be worth trying a small marabou jig also. Now that's assuming these shad you're seeing are small shad. Might also try something like a 2.8 Keitech slow rolled through them. Tail spinner - Little George type deal. Rapala Jigging Rap is another popular lure around here for deep winter time spotted bass.

Another hint is to not overwork spoons or Jigging Raps when the water is cold, little twitches or just even moving it along slowly, especially the Jigging Rap will sometimes get you bites.

Something else I also hear is that the bigger bass tend not to be in the middle of the shad, but hang around the edges looking for easy pickings on crippled shad, so maybe try moving a bit away from the school of shad if possible, of course use your electronics to see if they are around.

[dhilljr]

remember bait fish swim in balls when moving so the ones in the middle are in the front or rear while moving. Try fishing the outer edges of these schools where the bait becomes the most vulnerable instead of dropping down in the middle of these schools.Bass are like hooligans they prey on individuals a lot easier than groups

[DrewFlu33]

Not sure this helps the OP (I don't really fish much of the type of water you're talking about) but for you Drew when those shad ball up in the fall on the upper Miss river my #1 bait is a 3/8 Scrounger with a 5" Bass Assassin Straight tail in the salt and pepper color. Second would be the small Bull Shad (the resin one not the plastic one) but that tends to snag a lot of shad.

I target the edges of the bait balls but catch them throughout.

I'll have to try it! One major difference might be the size of the shad around here. The massive balls of shad in the fall are tiny, like 1-2". I'm fishing Pools 2, 3, and sometimes 4 along with the St. Croix (which dumps into the Miss in Pool 3) so my working theory is that we just have enormous proportions of the population--I've read up to and over 99%--that die off every winter? Or maybe you're dealing with the same thing and the fish just end up hitting the bigger bait? I've thrown a fluke and of course a chatterbait through them (among many many other things), but admittedly never tried a scrounger. I've also caught some fish throwing a Shellcracker but never tried the Bull Shad.

I generally have the most luck when I find what I think are shiners. They're bigger, 3-4", and tend to be in much smaller balls of bait.

[willwork4fish]

I'll have to try it! One major difference might be the size of the shad around here. The massive balls of shad in the fall are tiny, like 1-2". I'm fishing Pools 2, 3, and sometimes 4 along with the St. Croix (which dumps into the Miss in Pool 3) so my working theory is that we just have enormous proportions of the population--I've read up to and over 99%--that die off every winter? Or maybe you're dealing with the same thing and the fish just end up hitting the bigger bait? I've thrown a fluke and of course a chatterbait through them (among many many other things), but admittedly never tried a scrounger. I've also caught some fish throwing a Shellcracker but never tried the Bull Shad.

I generally have the most luck when I find what I think are shiners. They're bigger, 3-4", and tend to be in much smaller balls of bait.

I'm mostly on Pool 8, 10 or 13 but have done the same thing on 4 and 5. The shad are pretty small though, I'd say 2-3", have snagged plenty with the Bull Shad. I've caught bass on the Bull Shad where there's also a shad stuck on one of the hooks. I cast past the ball, burn it into the middle of them, give it a big jerk, kill it and then start burning it again. Pretty much same thing with the scrounger but I rarely snag any shad with that.

[Luke]

Rapala Jigging Rap, Damiki, Jigging Spoon, Jewel Scope Spin. These are typical around us here when they move out deep. That Scope Spin is catching on like wildfire.

Pretty normal thing around here. I have more trouble finding the schools than anything.

[ifishinxs]

Deeks dead spin.