Schooling Bass

If you have a question the Pure Fishing Team has the answer. The Pure Fishing Pro Staff Team wants to help you become a better angler and to help you get there the Team will be answering member questions. Each of the Pure Fishing Team members that you'll see listed in the "Ask a Pro articles are some of the best tournament anglers, guides and multi-species anglers in the country. Besides being a part of the Team Reports they contribute many other informative reports and articles to NPS. Please ensure you are a "follower of these talented anglers so you don't miss a thing! The Pure Fishing Team received the following question from an NPS member. PF Team, What are some of the best techniques to fish for schooling bass? Also, from your experience in the fall on large bodies of water, what is the deepest you have found schools of smallies? C.C. Abu Garcia and Berkley PowerBait Ambassador Steve Chiasson of Cambridge, Ontario, offers the following answer: Hi C.C., Schooling bass are an interesting target group. To fully understand this group of bass you must first understand the primary forage and seasonal movements. For example, in many southern reservoirs, a primary forage base would be a blueback herring, and you will get mixed schools of largies, spots, and smallies depending on the reservoir you are fishing. If you fish largies in Canada, following bluegills could be your best chance of finding schooling buckets. Weed lines, rock piles could be the ticket to locating schooling fish. In the case of buckets a swimbait or crankbait resembling a bluegill would be an excellent choice here. Seasonal movements are also key since early season bass are primarily focussed on spawning so schooling bass would not be reliable this time of year. In most cases, you are looking at summer and fall patterns when bass follow bait. A fall migration of baitfish into creeks in reservoirs causes the bass to school and follow bait, again match the forage. Hopefully the above examples will get you thinking about the forage and schooling bass connections. Since you are specifically asking about fall smallies, I will talk about large bodies of water such as Erie, Simcoe, and St. Clair. It's not always easy to find schooling bass but when you do, you can win a tournament in a real hurry! However, be forewarned that relying on schooling bass in a tourney is a risky proposition! Shiners, perch, and smelts would be three examples of bait that can cause smallies to school up at this time of year. Paying attention to your electronics is key. Is the bait deep, suspended, or are there signs of baitfish up high? Personally I've caught bass in almost 60' of water. Walleye trollers in the summer will often catch tank smallies on hard minnow baits on riggers or planer boards out in open water well over 60" deep. Obviously these schooling smallies are relating to bait and willingly snatch up these minnow hard baits.. It's no different in the fall, find the right bait,, run your lures at the right depth, and chances are it will be GAME ON! The key is finding a technique that will get your lure in the right depth range. Fish with an open mind and be creative. When fish are down low, traditional drop shot presentations, tubes, jigs, and jigging spoons could all work here. Suspended smallies can be very frustrating but still catchable, try suspended drop shot rigs, crankbaits, jigs suspended above bottom, twitching Havoc Smash Tubes or Johnson Slamaspoon jigging spoons (fluttering action when twitched), swimbaits such as the Havoc Beat Shad on a heavy jig, a fast sinking Natural Shiner colour Sebile Magic Swimmer, or whatever creative idea comes to mind. If the water is clear enough, you might even be able to call up smallies on a surface bait from deep water if they are suspended high in the water column. Good luck C.C. Steve Chiasson The Pure Fishing Team is made up of experienced and knowledgeable anglers from across the country that fish for just about anything that swims. Is there something fishing related that you're unsure of or would like to have someone else's perspective? If so, please forward your question(s) to myself and someone from the Pure Fishing Team will answer the question(s) here on NPS and no names will be used, you'll remain anonymous. Keep the questions coming! There's no such thing as a ridiculous question if you don't know the answer! Concernant notre projet Q et R, S.V.P. noter que vous pouvez également soumettre des questions et recevoir des réponses en français. See You On The Water, Andrew