Crazy to think

[Texas_Rig]

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.

[Texas_Rig]

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.

[Jlg309]

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.