Schooling Fish Can be a lot of Fun
If you are looking for a good time on the lake; looking for some easy catching and great results chasing the schooling fish could be just what you need. When I get a customer in the boat in August and all they are looking for is a way to catch fish regardless of size then I start hunting the schooling bass.
The first thing I do is rig up a couple of rods each for the customer to choose from; I put a rattle bait on one rod and a top water bait on another and we go hunting schooling bass. August begins the start of the grouping of bait fish and bass and as the big bait balls move throughout the lake the bass chase them. The great thing about the schooling bass is it could be a small white bass, a monster striper or just loaded with largemouth and or spotted bass. Regardless of which species when the bass are schooling they become competitive and if you reach them with your bait you can pull in fish after fish.
One thing I have learned about schooling bass over the many years of fishing them is you can tell whether or not they are largemouth or white bass and stripers before you ever catch a fish. In most cases you will find that the white bass and stripers are very sensitive to the trolling motor noise, and if you are not interested in catching the white bass you will find that they are difficult to catch up to. You will troll to where the action was and they are gone and appear 75 yards away, if you can't catch up to them then they are the stripers and white bass. The largemouth and spots seem to ignore your trolling motor noise when they are schooling and will be easier to stay in contact with. This of course is not a perfect science but generally I find is correct.
The other good news is schooling fish generally hold some big large mouths below them, so if you get tired of the little bites change to deeper bait, you have a great chance of catching a big fish on the bottom underneath them!
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry