Bass on Beds

May and June are two great months for catching a lot of bass as they have just come off the beds. They  will be feeding heavily on shad that always spawn two or three weeks later. Some days can offer tough fishing, if you are not in the right area. Several things I like to do this time of year if it is a little tough is  to try find an area with shad and the other is to follow the break line.

I will look for shad flicking the surface or flipping in the grass or bushes. Another good clue is to look for the fishing birds because they are going to be in an area where there is food. I made the money at Lake Eufaula a couple weeks ago by strictly fishing flats that had fishing birds working the shoreline. Good techniques to use in these shallow water situations are twitching Zoom Flukes in Albino color or a 4" Possum Lure. Floating worms ( Zoom Trick worm), buzzbaits, XPS Topwater lures are all good. I will rotate the subtle floating worm or Fluke with a noisy topwater until I find what the bass want.

Once the sun gets up or the shallow bite stops, that is when I will go out to the first break line usually 10 feet and start working 1 ½ oz. Ledgebuster shad pattern spinnerbait, Zoom grubs, and Carolina rigs. You need a real good depth finder for this tactic. I use a Raymarine L470, not only does the L470 read to tenths of a foot but it gives an exact digital depth readout next to the fish symbol. This lets you know if you need to be fishing bottom techniques or suspending techniques. One other good lure to use if bass are suspended at this time of year is to use a jerk bait.

Basically what I will do is position my Nitro boat in 10 feet of water and keep my eye on the L470. Don't look at the bank, just pay attention to your depth finder and keep your boat in 10 foot at all times, moving along at a medium pace with your Motorguide trolling motor. Throw towards the bank and cover a lot of water until you find fish. Before the first week of June I'm only looking to catch roaming fish, in other words only one here and there. After the first of June bass will start schooling and you can find bunches in different places.

One of my favorite technique is to fish a pearl Zoom grub on 8 lbs. Stren line, a 6 ft. medium action Woo Daves' Extreme rod, 1/8 oz. sinker. Just follow along the break line casting ahead and let your grub go to the bottom, move once or twice and repeat. I pick up a lot of bass doing this, especially along sandy banks or outside grass lines. You will be using your batteries a lot doing this so be sure and get some good Trojan batteries, they can take the abuse all day long.

The weather is hot this time of year so be sure to drink a lot of water and wear a good sun screen like Dermatone.

Have a good day fishing and may God bless you.


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