First a trip report for Monday:

Forgot coat-was a little cold all day long.
Slipped on the truck getting into the boat-shin has a big bruise.
Cold hand slipped while holding a lure under tension-have 1.5" gash on right index finger.
Caught about 20 stripers from 16" to 24" and one little one.
Effective lures were a silver spoon and a plastic shad.
Locked myself out of the truck at the storage facility, walked home, and spent almost 2 hours outside with no coat, hat, or gloves from 6:45 until 8:30.

Now to the main topic:
I tried to use the trolling motor as much as possible when following the schools under birds; however, the schools were traveling much faster than my trolling motor can pull the boat. I have an 18 ft cc and my trolling motor has 55 pound thrust.

I could almost keep up with the schools. Toward the end of the day, when a school had outrun me, I started to fire up the outboard and run a wide circle around the other boats and fish to get 150 yards or so in front of the other boats and in front of the leading edge of the school, still well out of casting range. My hope was that the school would come right into me and I would be in for some good fishing. It worked about 2/3 of the time and the fish would turn the other 1/3 of the time.

Many people were simply chasing with the big motor. What is the most responsible and effective thing to do?

Of course, there were also people who would just cruise through the middle towing downriggers as well.

Greg

Just my personal opinion is that alot of the running and gunning chasing bird(and fish) wouldn't be as necessary, or at the least not have to run as far, if people would just be patient and not use the big motor. Piepuncher and I have worked schools for over an hour with them only moving a few hundred feet in that time. Every time there has been alot of action on the water(ie people that think that fish cant hear an outboard)the school scatter, move several hundred yards, or constantly move.

So I guess to answer your question, in my opinion, the only time it is polite is when you are the only one fishing that school. Just my opinion.

Schools move constantly find the fish in a general area and let hem come to you. I have when alone cut and lifted my engine and coasted into the school w/o a problem. Jason I will be home all evening if you want ot pick up that Yo-Zuri line.

Is your nick name Lucky by any chance?


George

Took that advice from Jason who got it from DtA and it works line gang busters everytime.

greg, after all that, do describe Monday as a good day, or a bad day?

I do it pretty much like you did. Works better for me. To answer your specific question...once on Lewisville they were schooling from shore to shore...okay, at least as far as I could see to the east and the west...no other boats nearby, I just cut through 'em to get upwind of 'em...they didn't seem to notice...otherwise I do my best to avoid it.

trolling downriggers busts up a school, it's the real ******* who disrupt other peoples' fishing by doing that...and they're not real fisherment...probably not even real men

When in doubt, keep the big motor off.

I hate when people run up to them with the big motor. I have a Ranger boat and us my electric or use the wind and go up wind and drift to them. I was on Texoma a few months ago. The boats would come in so hard and fast you would get one cast and the fish would move.

Get an appropriate size trolling motor.

JMO, but I say don't spend as much time chasing birds.
the birds leaving just means they cant see bait on the surface
anymore. this doesn't necessarily mean the fish have moved off,
just the bait went back down again. birds are a visual tool, not a fish locator. I suggest the
slow approach/coast in method. don't let the birds determine
your pattern, watch your graph and let the bite determine whether you continue or motor up and go around again.
more time "gunnin", less time "runnin". secondly,
try to work into a rotation if there's a lot of boats working the same school. don't "front-end" another boat by "beating" them
back to their or some other marker buoy. plain courtesy goes a long way. by the way, in a wide-open, acre-wide surface bite
@ Lewisville, all bets are off!! just don't hook another angler. LOL
jmo, & I'm probably wrong
tight lines
-B

B,
you are absolutely wrong, especially at Cedar Creek, if you see the birds leave an area at Cedar Creek by all means follow them, don't worry about the fat guy in the red boat, he'll get it started and join up with you later, just go off and leave him all alone, he'll be okay, really.

George

IMHO it depends to some extent on the fish and what's going on in the area. I've come across surfacing fish @ LL right in the main channel between Sneaky Pete's and Party Cove with pleasurs boats so thick we cast about 5 times and ran for our lives. Then, at times, I've found fish on top that would dive at the approach of a gust of wind.
Most of the time,however, the more stealth the better. It ain't you folks who chase the fish down. Zoomies, (those folks who can't or won't control themselves) probably haven't got any idea they're even doing something wrong.
Sad, but we gotta share the water.

I like to drift, rather than use the trolling motor sometimes. I will use the gas motor to get well upwind of the fish then drift through them. Is that so wrong??? As long as you cut around them enough, it doesn't cause any problems.

Bob

If other boats are around idle just in front of where the school is heading. Try not to run right through the action. Go around them. Use the wind to help drift with the school if possible. The main problem I see is not so much the big motor as it is them running the big motor right through the school lol. Or punching it going through the school. And if you dont have a trolling motor stay on the outer edges of the school or see the direction the fish are heading and jump in front of the school. Once again try not to motor through the school.

Hope that answeres your question Boston Bob. And I see alot of boats trying to do this. And sure enough some idiot trolling or greenie will just run right up in them and everyone else says **** that if he is going to do it then so will I. All I can say is try to be curdious to others around you. If they have their trolling motors down then you know how they will feel about you motoring through the school. Noone owns the lake nor the fish.