If this were a spawning fish it would be easy to understand. However it was a fish feeding in about 17 feet of water. A wolfpack of smallies had chased a school of 4 inch baitfish onto a point. One of my clients hooked and broke off using a dropshot rig on a decent fish.
Two casts later he caught the fish with the dropshot hook in the corner of its mouth. And it was spitting up eaten minnows. That is AGGRESSIVE!