Bass Fishing,when the shad are Running .How?.

Question
Dear Jack , i been fishing off and on my hole life as a  boy and a man ,  me and my family bought our first bass boat over the summer. and just about every evening we  take it out and me and my wife and son Bass fish, on a river in alabama , called Elk River near Decatur. and lots of times it's hard fishing, and these past week we have been out on the river, The Shad are running and the bass are going Crazy , soo we get excited and fish all around up and down , in the middle of it , and nothing we use little spinner big spinner baits , Rattle traps , Crawls,  u name it they wont bit , now my wife through this little bitty shad rattle and she caught one in  two hours , can u help me and give me a little advice , Your Bass fishing Friend Preston

Answer
Preston;  I really do not know if I can be of much help with this question but I will tell you what I have found.  I have only run into this situation rarely here on Lake Seminole.  One time I found a line of shad in a long string on the surface running for over a mile down the creek arm of the lake where I now live.  They were about 50-100 ft. wide and in most places just swam around but here and there the bass would be attacking them.  I tried casting into the schools but did nothing.  The only fish I caught was when I got a backlash and my spoon sank.  The fish picked it up on the way down and almost took the rod out of my hands.  By the time I landed that one the others had moved on and I did not find them but on another occasion I used what had happened before and cast beyond the shad and let the spoon sink.  I caught a couple of bass this way before again the bass quit and moved on.  Another time I got some using a chrome-blue Rattletrap and letting it sink and then yo yoing it under the shad. I like a relatively heavy spoon that sinks with a wobble. The Johnson Sprite, I believe it is called works well for this.  The little red tab on it tends to look like blood coming from a wounded shad.
I have read since that it is usually smaller bass attacking the shad schools while the larger ones wait below and pick off the easy pickings of wounded shad.

This doesn't work as well now here because of the hybrids.  They are the ones chasing the shad here.  Of course catching a bunch of hard fighting hybrids isn't all that bad and they are good eating when baked with wine and cheese sauce.

Sorry I can't be of more specific help but I really haven't had that situation for a long time and not often then.

I hope working below the shad school works for you.  Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.  If you have more questions let me know.

I am
Jack L. Gaither  (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia