Quote Originally Posted by artcarney_agr View Post
It's basically schooling action out the wazoo. Find the shad, and you'll find the fish.

Throw anything that resembles a shad and you'll do well. Keep in mind that most times the fish are all of the same size in a school - so if you're catching dinks out of a school you will contine to catch dinks out of it and need to move on to the next one.

My favorite is getting onto some schooling smallmouth. That's a blast! They'll herd shad like a bunch of cowboys coralling cattle. They'll herd them up on a shallow flat and then explode! Just thinking about that sound is giving me chills right now! Ha ha ha!

If you're fishing a tournament, be sure to have a backup plan just in case something changes and the schools scatter - somedays it's a hot bite and then somedays they just disappear.
x2

Be sure to have a scrounger tied on - that bait is awesome in the fall around the schooling, but one thing over the past few years the little ones are caught first then all of a sudden you start catching big ones - they seem to be running together! Last year and this year has been weird for this happening, used to be catch 3 or 4 little ones then back out or leave but nowadays seems like you have to weed through the little ones first.