How many ways can you fish schooling shad ?

[Choupic]

Where I live and fish is all tidal waters and the fish bite depends greatly on the which way the water is flowing . But my question is that during the summer there are huge schools of shad that drifts in and out with this tide . I've fished the shad on numerous occasions with little success . Me and my son have always jig fished but we've thrown beetle spins and dropped jigs in the middle of the shad. We caught small bass and a few sacalait and even a catfish or two , nothing to brag about. Every summer when the shad start up I always tell my son I am gonna figure out how to catch these fish ! What am I doing wrong ? Should I be trolling ? Pulling about 10 crank baits ? Should I have 3 minnows hanging off each pole ? I'm willing to try anything cause the fish are there ...
Thanks for yalls help in advance !

[CrappiePappy]

First off, I hope I'm understanding you correctly, in that you are trying to catch CRAPPIE around schools of Shad (& not actually trying to catch the SHAD).

Always fish under the Shad schools, rather than "in the middle of the Shad". Also, fish out around the outer perimeter area of the Shad school, but still deeper than the main body of the school. Crappie aren't going to be slashing & dashing into the school ... they're gonna pick off strays, the injured, or stragglers. If using jigs, match the size or go slightly smaller, and imitate a injured or dying Shad (drop/lift, or shaking the rod tip when letting the jig swing back to you, &/or using a lighter weight jighead for a slower fall).

If there's any cover nearby, like a standing tree or brushpile, search around that ... the Crappie know what the Shad are going to do, given the circumstances, so they'll set up in ambush spots & wait for the Shad to wander by. Shade is a big deal to Crappie, as it hides them and it's generally cooler. Depth creates shade, too ... if there's no other object around to cast a shadow.

On the other hand, everytime I've ever seen schools of Shad just tightly circling around & around in one spot ... I've never done any good. But, when the Shad are on the move, the fish seem to know ... and they set up where they expect the Shad to pass by, or follow behind the school, never getting too far away to lose contact.

... cp

[Choupic]

Ok thanks for the ideas. Yes it is the crappie I'm after .

[Rees Guide]

We pull cranks, watch for the shad on the fish finder and pull through them. There is a thread on the Mississippi titled "Pulling Cranks 101", it will help alot. Dont give up on it, it works you just got to learn and although the advice from that thread and others is great there is no substitute for time on the water. I just started last year but now feel confident that I can go where ever and catch fish this way.
Good luck

[Choupic]

I can't wait to give it a try ! The shad are on top the water , almost like a mullet but swimming just underneath the surface and every now and then you'll see a fish chasing them splashing around but I feel like there is big crappie under these shad . I do fish shaded deep water areas when the sun is up and hot as heck and do pretty good like that . Very seldom do we go home skunked ! Lol I'm just tryin to expand a lil and feel like there are better crappie under the shad .
We are definitely gonna rig up for pulling some cranks . Thanks again for yalls much needed information !