Crazy to think
 

I've been lounging around the house for a couple days trying to get over whatever crud I've contracted. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be back to normal. The last couple days I've spent a lot of time thinking about fishing, and was thinking about schooling fish. I'm almost positive that I have not caught one schooling fish all year. I've spent over 100 days on the water this year and I can't think of one schooling fish I caught. I ponder what that means. One thing that sticks out is I fish the majority of the time in the afternoon and rarely see daylight on the water.

I can only remember a couple times that I've seen schooling activity. I spent some time trying to catch some schooling hybrids on JPP with no success but my friend did catch a couple. It might be the drugs I'm on right now talking but the idea that I haven't caught a schooling fish this year seems almost impossible to me. I have a sneaky suspicion that sometime in the next month I'll catch a rockfish or 2 schooling at the steam plant.

I think I may have left out an important detail. I meant schooling on the surface. I've certainly caught my share of fish schooled up on humps, points, etc.

This is my favorite time of year to catch schooling hybrids on JPP. For me, I start looking the last hour before dark. It’s all about dive-bombing birds. I got into a school of white bass two trips ago. I was done for the day and headed to the ramp when I saw the gulls circling and skimming the water.

The key is LONG casts with a small shiny bait to imitate the shad. My best luck has been with a Silver Buddy or Little George. I let it sink for only a few seconds, the pump and drop the bait back to the boat. They usually hit it on the drop, and pumping the bait also serves as the hookset.