Found a big school - now what?

What should I do when I find a big school of whites in summer? I've come across several big, active schools of whites in 25' to 30' while trolling. I set the spot lock and anchor above them and drop spoons, cast rooster tails, but only catch 1 or 2. I can catch a couple trolling through the school on every pass, but not casting.

What should I be throwing?

Fish are moving a 100 MPH right now.
Johnny

Thump to keep them under you

If you don't have side image , not much you can do beside guess , toss in all directions and keep troller on jack rabbit.

That worked for me last weekend. Fish were scattered and thumper brought them in!

These schools aren't moving. We can catch a couple each troll through them, and circle around and do it again and again.

Are you casting to them?

No, the ones we were casting to were schoolies. We caught all of our overs thumping in 30-40 foot on shad. The graph videos I took were when we were thumping. You can hear it in the videos.

Watch Dennis Christian’s video. Works very well for me on Joe Pool and Bardwell. I use a tail spinner also, using his same technique. Hope this helps.

Hell pet works good this time of year, as Sandjohnny pointed out they are moving fast.
Combination of a hell bender and pet spoon

What is thumping?

Thumping is literally making a thumping sound on your boat to attract fish. Some people use their net pole and thump the floor of the boat. Others such as myself have built an automatic device to create a thumping sound.

Here’s what my thumper looks like...


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LozMWb94aTk

Wow counter intuitive to what I have always been told, be quiet in the boat lol... that is cool though, thanks for sharing that. I never have luck chasing sandies unless they are busting the top... not good at reading my finders.

Thumping really does work. Yes, it's opposite of what many of us grew up with. You can get by with tapping (thumping) your net handle or a paddle, on the bottom of your boat, to do the same thing. There's videos if you look up "thumping for..." I don't think you'll call them from across the lake though.
Learning how to read your finder is time well spent.

I agree, Thumping can normally concentrate otherwise scattered fish. I use my thumper and my Panoptix. If the fish build up and bite in 10 minutes, keep fishing. If not move on. The other thing that you can do is change frequency to entice bite. I have a bunch of videos on my site,

www.thump’emupfishing.com

Sorry autocorrect got me...

https://www.thumpemupfishing.com

We have been sitting near schools many times when someone would come flying up in a 20-21' Glitter Rocket and run right up on top of the school.

The fishing always goes from good/great to no bites at all when they do it.

We will just sit back and get a cool drink and maybe a snack and let them lose interest when they don't catch any in a few minutes.

After that they will jerk the trolling motor up and speed off to the next "way point" and see if they are biting there.

It doesn't take long for them to start biting again and the fun resumes.

Personally I think thumping in the summer is a waste of time

Screen shot or it didn’t happen

Just purchased one. Can't wait to get it and try it out !!

I have thumped successfully next to boats fishing the technique I was (slabs at Lavon, live bait at Lewisville and Texoma) and we managed to catch a few more fish than they did every time. I wouldn’t say it’s a waste at all especially since it’s easy to do. That said to each his own...

When the going gets tough I’ll mepps it like DC. seems to never fail. Plain Agial spinner, no white skirt size 4.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got an indentation in the floor from my converted walking stick hammering out the tunes in the winter. I just think it’s a waste of time in the summer.

Agreed for us as well via PK and Bporte. Only thing that has worked is to cut up shad and spread around boat when fish are on screen. And even this approach is short lived.