Schooling Fish Action Can Be Exciting and Productive

First posted on 04-21-2011

Fishermen have all sorts of favorite moments. A big largemouth bass blowing up the surface on a still morning to grab a topwater bait is one.

Finding a wad of hungry bream that hit your hook as fast as you can bait it is another. A bunch of slab crappie that suddenly turns on for several minutes, then just as abruptly shuts down is one.

For pure ol’ fun fishing, schooling white bass can be a special moment.

Some anglers make a specialty of this type fishing. Warmer weather is a good time for it, and they may set out with binoculars within reach to look for schooling whites. Spot a frothing of the surface, and you know the whites are herding and tearing into schools of shad.

The trick is to get within casting distance as rapidly as possible, because the schooling activity may last only a few minutes. One requirement is to have one or more rods rigged and ready for each fisherman in the boat.

The lures can be most anything that imitates a shad. A Little George is a good choice. These tail-spinner lures, sometimes called helicopter lures, are weighted enough to cast far out and they flutter down through the water like an injured or dying shad.

A small, pearl-finish crankbait has worked well for many anglers.

It’s opportunistic fishing. The boat dock operator or bait shop proprietor may tell you, “the whites are schooling early these days,” but you just have to get yourself in position and ready to take advantage of the schooling fish if and when you can find them.

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