Saturday had the boat over this school of fish for about 35 mins and could not buy a bite. What would you throw?

Sometimes fish don't bite. When I target a school, I either want them tight to the surface or tight to the bottom. When they are in the middle of the water column, they tend to be traveling and less likely to strike a lure. Unless I see them balled up in the middle, I won't even stop to fish them.

With the Fish ID on, you don't get a good representation of the echo arch. For all you know, that could be a school of large shad. Spend time with Fish ID off and learn to read arches.

Looks like prime target for deadstickingand thumping, with 51 degree water and suspended fish. Capt Craig has a good point on using electronics to your advantage, by learning to I.D. the type of fish a little better. Many species of fish will suspend, and most are tough to catch when they do.

As mentioned above you really want to see those marks attached to the bottom. Those fish are the ones most actively feeding. There are 2 big exceptions to that though . First is when the water Temps are cold you can thump and dead stick those suspended fish with a swim bait or even a slab. This year dead sticking really small baits seems to be the ticket for me. The other exception is during the heat of the summer when there is a thermocline. We catch a ton of suspended hybrids right above the thermocline.

Agree with ML56. With suspended fish in water that cold, dead-sticking would be appropriate.

Dead sticking 1/2 to 1 oz jigheads with a small swimbait. 3 " has been working. Ghost minnow slabs in chartreuse or/and white works also. Thumping is manditory too. It's been working well for several weeks now.

Most definitely agree with many here, turn that fish ID off...it's definitely misleading. You will have much more success by learning what your target species "looks" like if you're using 2D, and can confirm at times by switching to Down imaging if you have it. Once you learn what you're looking at you can eliminate alot of unproductive water and concentrate on targeting.

Feeding whites on 2D






and Down imaging

wow thanks for the picturs

Stripers

Turned the fish ID off , and now my question is what am i looking at ? My thoughts are - just to the right of the depth would be a big ball of shad, in the far right drop would be sand bass and the school between the 5 and 10 would be crappie??? Trying to learn the new electronics , if I am completely wrong- tell me lol

I have been in that situation, sometimes it is gizzard shad. ( snagged a few )

MO

Everything above the 15.3 line is bait. Bait balls are more than just one solid clump, they have pieces, split offs, curves, etc. Few small fish close to the bottom but not much.

Eric

Where did you find 51 degree water last saturday. Water is mid 60 to high 60 around here.
Turn off fish Id it is useless.
Johnny

Big schools of white bass on Richland-Chambers.

+1

The original post was back in Feb.

Fish ID off. Many times they will hold on the bottom and look like rocks/popcorn on sonar

When I find fish that aren't feeding, will often find a shallower flat nearby where they are feeding. Won't spend more than 10 -15 min. If they're not biting... move on.