went fishing yesterday evening for a couple of hours. Went to one of my normal spots and all of a sudden the bass are schooling all around me. For 2 hours I caught 1.5--3# schooling black bass. Tried several baits but they really only hit 2 of them,,,, a 4" hard jerk bait & a lightly weighted fluke that I just barely worked under the surface. I caught fish on just about every cast.... BUT
at the end of the 2 hours I felt kinda so-so. I felt like I "cheated", like I had just snuck out on my wife and met a girlfriend for an evening of drinking or like I called in sick for the day at work when I really wasn't sick. You know something you would do once in a while,,,,,but not all the time. It was fun to feel the tug on the line and wonder how big is this one gonna be. But in the midst of these schoolers I finally put the jerk baits down and picked up a worm rod to see if I could get a BIG one from below the schoolers.
so my question is: How do you feel about catching schooling bass ? Does it satisfy your fishing urge ? Do you stay on the schoolers or go looking for the bigger bass ?

Would depend if I'm out fun fishing and who was with me or if I was in a tournament and needed a kicker... I imagine there were a few in the 3-5lb range within the school too.... Catching is always a good time though.

isn't the point of fishin' ketchin'???...

Had a very similar day Saturday. It was a tourney. Lol

Not a bite from 6am - 1pm. Was gonna just forfeit and get off the water. Went to a busy boat ramp and started casting while waiting. Caught one on almost every cast from 1pm-3pm. Then disqualified myself because in the 2 hour flurry of bass, I missed one on the culling and had six in the box when I bagged them for weigh in. Lol.
Duh.

Still a good end to a [censored] morning. Caught around 180-200 in the afternoon. All in a cove by the boat ramp. Afterwards, the surface started to look like a fish kill. Shad everywhere.

Would have had second place for sure....don't know about first, those guys caught a stud! Caught mine on a Rapala No6 natural shad lipless.

....as for was it satisfying? Well.....it was fun. But I'd rather catch a "real"'bag and one with an 8lb kicker. Lol.

Went Monday evening for a bit and had a more rewarding trip. Caught 3 fish, but I was practicing and only brought three baits on three rods. Caught a good keeper on each rod in 1 1/2 hours. It was a heavy grass lake and I left my comfort bait (senko rod and senkos) in the garage. Used a crank, spinner, and a punch.

Don't get me wrong.......
It was a good fun time & I'll do it again........... just like calling in sick or that evening of drinking.
The really fun part was switching up baits to see what they would hit. They would not touch a rattle trap,,,or deep diver. But the fluke and the shallow running jerk bait they would tear up. I think the 4-5" size of the bait was the key. They weren't just in one spot either,,,,,that whole end of the lake was boiling with schoolers. Should be able to catch some bigger ones Saturday morning on plastics fished a little deeper.

That would be fun just to see what baits you get bit on. I don't see schooling bass too terribly often, but if I do, I'm throwing at them most of the time. Just too fun not to, and I know what you mean about feeling like you're cheating, you get that evil little grin on your face haha

I don't run around on my wife and I don't call in sick even when I am, but schooling fish even though it is cheating and kinda dirty...I am in!! They are just plain fun even if they are on the small side!! I really love it when I can get them eating a top water every cast!

Love schooling fish when out having fun. I like to try new baits then too, just to get the hang of how they are worked and what not. Though, a lot of time like you mentioned, they will only hit a few types of baits

edit: typos, waking up

If they are schooling, I am fishing for them! I love catching!

Some of my biggest bass have come from fishing the bottom under a school of surfacing fish.
I like to use a fluke.

This has worked twice for me over the years. I could see and hear the wave of schoolers coming into the cove toward my boat. They were all around and very easy to catch on all the baits mentioned. There were no size to them. They were working their way down the shoreline as they approached the point I was sitting on.

I worked my way straight through them in the direction they came from on both occasions. One of these trips produce several Bass up to 8 lbs. outside of the school as the larger fish were following and picking up all the injured bait. It happened late in the afternoon. We came back to that same shoreline the next morning at daylight and caught big fish on a spook for the first hour of light. The other trip was huge Stripers that were so aggressive, we could not keep from catching one. They were also following the school. I am sure the Bass were there somewhere but we just couldn't hook up.

I too felt a little guilty until my uncle told me if you have them cornered hammer them because they will even the score in the long run.

I'm sorry, I missed the part where you gave out the coordinates where the school was found...

before I moved to Texas, those schoolers were most likely 3-5lb hybrids.. and those guys are a blast to catch.