finding baitfish

I had a pretty good afternoon yesterday at West Point Lake. Didn't leave
the house till noon because of the thunderstorms and started fishing
just after 2:00. We caught about 10 keeper bass, several throwbacks
and abou t 20 hybrids. I also lost a good one - I said about 5 pounds,
my partner said bigger, maybe 6.5. He saw it better when it jumped and
threw my spinnerbait, I was busy reeling like crazy trying to catch up
with it.

When we got to the lake we saw loons feeding in a cove and also some
baitfish dimples. The baitfish lead us to the fish. Water temps were
around 63 degrees and it was cloudy but no wind. Most of the fish hit
Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hogs but two came on buzzbaits, and the
hybrids hit #5 Shadraps. The best bass I landed weighed right at 3
pounds and it hit a spinnerbait in about two feet of water.

Seeing the baitfish got me to thinking and I posted the following list
to my site on ways to find them. Any additions I didn't think of? This
is a list for beginning fishermen.

Here are some things to watch for to find the bait:

Most obvious - small minnows jumping out of the water - sometimes with
swirls of bigger fish behind them

Loons feeding

Gulls feeding - often circling one spot

Herons on the bank

Small dimples on the surface of the water. When shad are near the
surface, it often looks like small raindrops falling over a limited area
of water.

Seeing balls of baitfish on your depthfinder

Groups of boats fishing one area. This is especially true of crappie
fishing in the spring.