Massive schools of Baitfish, What would you do?

[Pat Dilling]

I was on California's Clear Lake yesterday and their were huge schools of Silverside Minnows.  They were everywhere we went.  Some schools stretched for hundreds of yards.  They vary in size from an inch up to 3 inches.   My thought is, with all this real food around, why would the bass be interested in a piece of plastic?  We did catch some fish with drop shot, whaky senkos and shaky head worms, but over all fishing was tough.

What have been successful with when natural food is so plentiful?

Thanks

[Capt. BassinLou]

I was on California's Clear Lake yesterday and their were huge schools of Silverside Minnows.  They were everywhere we went.  Some schools stretched for hundreds of yards.  They vary in size from an inch up to 3 inches.   My thought is, with all this real food around, why would the bass be interested in a piece of plastic?  We did catch some fish with drop shot, whaky senkos and shaky head worms, but over all fishing was tough.

What have been successful with when natural food is so plentiful?

Thanks

Match the hatch as best you can and look for bass schools actively feeding. Having bait around is good, too much bait and the fishing can get tough, especially if they are honed in on very little bait.

[FD]

Johnson silver minnow to match the bigger bait and I have some smaller ones (1.5") with small treble on it.  It's about the only way to catch the schoolies here when they are feeding on a shad spawn.  Just work it erratically around the bait and it will look like an injured bait fish.

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[Wizard]

Pat, read the thread on "Fishing mid channel Shad schools". The bait fish type is unimportant but the concept fits your conditions.  It is a big bass tactic for deep water fishing.

Wizard

[Dog]

I was on California's Clear Lake yesterday and their were huge schools of Silverside Minnows.  They were everywhere we went.  Some schools stretched for hundreds of yards.  They vary in size from an inch up to 3 inches.   My thought is, with all this real food around, why would the bass be interested in a piece of plastic?  We did catch some fish with drop shot, whaky senkos and shaky head worms, but over all fishing was tough.

What have been successful with when natural food is so plentiful?

Thanks

Don Pedro was the same way on the 25th. Didn't matter what we threw at them couldn't buy a bite. So we went trolling for trout wife caught a small small mouth only fish all day. Seemed everyone else was having the same problems tons of the minnows biggest bait balls I ever seen.

[D.W. Verts]

Fish the FRINGE areas, where the baitfish start to disperse. It's been the best bet for me over the years.

Dale

[Smallie_Stalker]

Fish the FRINGE areas, where the baitfish start to disperse. It's been the best bet for me over the years.

Dale

^^^This. And let the bait fall below the school. Lots of times the bigger bass sit below the school and wait for the injured or dying baitfish to fall.

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[njpaulc]

What's eating the bait beside bass?  Sometimes, fishing a larger lure underneth the bait shool will mimic feeding fish.  Choose a lure that will float to the surface, crank it down and let it rise like it is feeding on the bait.  A large shallow square bill or large (6 inch) floating minnow bait should work.  It's a great technique during a mayfly hatch also.