How’s it going everyone?! I’m wondering what people’s thoughts/actions are when chasing schools of fish that are busting the surface. More specifically how you approach the school without spooking the fish and them scattering, ruining it for everyone else that is fishing the same school.

1) Get up wind from them if you can
2) Enjoy while the fish are up because someone is going to run their big motor through them or get so close to you that they cast over your line/whack your boat with a heavy slab

If you have kids in the boat they'll really enjoy catching those 6 - 10 inch whites.

Ditto! At least in most lake around DFW.

If your can determine their route, go and wait with your tm down. The bigger or target fish are beneath the rat schoolers. The bigger fish are gorging on the hurt shad falling to the bottom. Slabs , paddle tails that sink and can be worked deeper are key. Nothing wrong with adding a clouser or fly above the bait of choice. SI works wonders when the boat show has left, if there are fish on your screen, fish the area .

In my experience there is always a jerk that will run into the school with the big motor or troll thru the fish. Don't be that guy.

MO

Yep, what Mo said. Upwind, and head them off.. He who can cast the farthest is the lucky one.

Thanks for all the input. I agree with everyone! The last few times I’ve been out there I’ve been so many people drive through the school with their big motor and mess it up, which has been soooo frustrating! There needs to be a class on this stuff!

Good topic. I feel very fortunate that we found some schooling fish and there was only one other boat in sight. Had a blast for about 30 minutes casting from 25-30 yds. Most were small that I caught. My boat partner (aka father-in-law) was using a Mepps #4 and he caught all the big fish. I caught some decent 12-13 in fish, but I had to let the slab sink ~10 ft before reeling. A few times I would feel them bite but I didn’t set the hook to try and get down to the better ones. I still have yet to hook a hybrid. One of these days…

I have a question about why to position your boat upwind. Do the fish move toward the wind direction, or is it so you can just drift to them?

it seems like the people without trolling motor are usually the problems... but not always

Slick, I think you want to be upwind so the wind helps blow you into the school instead of forcing your boat into it from another direction. Also helps when casting too, I can chunk it a mile with a Mepps on a spinning setup. I also agree about the trolling motor.