I was out on Lake Waco on Monday. TONS of white bass busting the surface in small schools. They would bust water for about 2 to 3 minutes and then go down. Lots and lots of these small schools in about a 500yrd by 500yrd area.
We threw every lure I had at these fish. Had a ton of chases but no fish in the boat.
We tossed spoons (Kastmaster), Rattletraps (white, blue/silver, white/chart.), Little George's (Chart.)
The most follows we had was on the Little George.
Heck I even tried slabbing under these fish and no luck.


What should I have done? I know these fish were actively feeding and this is the first time I have not been able to catch them while they were busting.

Were there a lot of bugs?

Nope. Just a lot of shad fry swimming in main lake.

I have had this problem where they are picky before. Most of the time I've at least caught some fish, but once on Joe Pool I had the same deal as you. I threw everything I had at them for a long time with no hits. Finally I saw some of the Shad swim by. They were very small. I found the smallest Rattletrap I had and started throwing it. I caught a fish on almost every cast. It was a matter of matching the bait size. I feel your pain. It is very frustrating to find them and not catch them.

Weighted cork with a SMALL white fly about 18 inches behind it....cast it out and retrieve at a medium speed, fish every cast.

wow guys I have had this exact same problem the last week or so on Joe Pool it has happened to me twice now, they will school for an hour or so at a time. I tried everything that I had, including smaller baits here is a list of what I used that didn't work: 2'' white rattle trap, 2'' white grub body on a crappie jig head, black back and chrome topwater, white 1.5'' tailspinner, chartreuse road runner 1/4oz., chartreuse slab 1oz., and a silver slab .75oz. Usually they will hit a brick with trebles on it if they are schooling this behavior has been very frustrating to me, the one thing I can say to this is that the shad are apawning right now and this usually happens at or near the surface. So match the hatch is right but the weird thing is that I knew this and that is why I threw those smaller baits at them and those still didn't work. I think the fly under the cork may just be the ticket if this happens again though. All fish are like this at times however very picky and you must match the hatch during certain times of the year.

I would try either a white Roostertail or a pearl white Bandit 200 crankbait...

try a topwater with a white tail on back hook. Clear topwater even better. Or what madmac said

+!

this is what you have to do when they are chasing fry.

There is a wieghted cork called the " Launcher "
the main line and leader tie to the same end, the other
end is wieghted. These things work great.
I fish it faster than a medium retrieve, I zip it about
as fast as I can crank. You can not out run a sandbass
that wants the lure.

MO

white blue fox vibrax spinner , also might try some sort of blade bait like cotton cordell gay blade. worse comes to worse try a minnow under a bobber or a piece of shrimp. ive never had them not hit the vibrax spinner, at times id throw a regular rooster tail or bluefox and nothing but toss on one of the vibrax and they smash it

Smaller the bait , the better the luck with catching fish. Always match the hatch, if you know what it is. a small fly tied up on a swimbait or slab would have yielded better results. I bet that was frustrating though and I have been there Soon enough those shad will be bigger and it won't matter what you throw!!!

Thanks guys.

When I saw the size of shad I switched to a 1/4oz Kastmaster. This bait is only about 3/4" long. I was sure that would work, but it did not.

I will use the fly or jig under a float next time.

My buddy uses the Vibrax. They have worked every time we have tossed them at schooling whites, but I do not fish with them enough to have a real opinion.

I am going to take a couple dozen minnows as well next time to see if that will get their attention.

My buddy was tellin me about using flies with other lures. I have never done that. Will have to try though.

I tried it just like fishing for speckled trout in salt...

put a fly under a cork with about 1-2' leader and pop the cork.. it worked for me.. i did it because they were chasing my sassy shad (4") to the boat but not taking it.. also the fly above the slab works good (as you probably already know)

All the info sounds good I would definitely down size..