Category Archives: Bass Fishing

Bass Fishing Information

Where and How Can I Catch Middle Georgia Bass In April?

Middle Georgia April Bassin’

If you like catching bass in April and live in the central part of Georgia, you are in luck. Bass are shallow and feeding, and you can catch them from big lakes and smaller public waters.

The following lakes give you a variety of types of fishing and offer chances to catch either largemouth or spotted bass, or both.

Lake Harding

Often called Bartletts Ferry by Georgia fishermen, Harding is a 5850 acre lake on the Chattahoochee River north of Columbus. It has varied cover and structure, from rocky banks and points to channels, grass beds, docks and blowdowns that all hold bass.

The lake has a big population of spotted bass as well as largemouth. Most of the spots are small with an average size of only about half a pound, and anglers should keep spots for a meal. There is no size restriction on them. The largemouths have an average size over 12 inches long and 15 inch plus fish are fairly common.

In the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Creel Census report, it took about four hours to catch a 12 inch keeper, yet almost 20 percent of club tournament fishermen weighed in a five fish limit. The average bass weighed 1.36 pounds and just over 70 percent of the fish weighed in were largemouth.

To catch largemouth in April the water willow grass beds up the river from the Georgia Power ramp are good targets. Bass feed in them as well as bed around them. A spinnerbait run through the grass is a good way to cover water. Use a chartreuse and white bait with one gold and one silver willowleaf blade.

Also fish the grass beds, docks and blowdowns with a weightless worm. A black or white Trick worm works well. Try moving it steadily with short twitches just under the surface, but also let it sink to the bottom and sit still for several seconds before moving it. Bedding bass on the edge of the grass will often pick up a worm sitting on the bottom.

For spots, target rocky points and banks with a small jig and pig or jig head worm. In clear water use a three sixteenths ounce brown jig with a brown twin curly tail trailer. In stained water use a black jig with a blue trailer. Raise the bait off the bottom a few inches and let it fall back, making the tails of the trailer wiggle. Dip the tails of both color trailers in chartreuse JJ’s Magic. Spots love chartreuse.

A green pumpkin Zoom Trick worm or smaller Finesse worm work well on jig heads. Dip the tail to color it and give it scent, and work it with shakes and short hops through the rocks. Also fish both baits around docks, both largemouth and spots will hold on them and hit the worm.

Lake Tobesofkee

Lake Tobesofkee is a 1750 acre lake just outside Macon owned and operated by Bibb County. Although a small lake, it has plenty of structure and cover to fish for largemouth, with grass beds, rocky points and banks, docks, channels and wood cover.

The largemouth population is excellent at Tobesofkee, with 20 pound plus tournament stringers of five bass not unusual. According to the Department of Natural Resources, up to one-third of the catch should be fish in the 15 to 25 inch range with good numbers in the bragging size from 20 to 25 inches.

A spinnerbait or buzzbait worked in the grass and around docks will catch bigger fish. Also try a chartreuse or crawfish crankbait that runs six to eight feet deep on the rocks and docks. Riprap on the bridges hold bass this month to fish it with those baits, too.

For slower fishing try a half ounce jig and pig or three sixteenths ounce jig head worm. A black and blue jig or a green pumpkin worm on a jig head works well. Fish both around dock pilings, brush piles and rocky banks. For riprap go to a one-eight ounce jig head and fish the rocks, concentrating on the corners at the bridges.

The area above the Lower Thomaston Road Bridge has a lot of shallow water but is ringed by good grassbeds to fish. Where the creek enters the lake is a good area to target. The docks and points as well as the riprap on the lower lake offers more varied cover to try.

High Falls

High Falls is a 650 acre lake east of I-75 north of Forsyth that is a Georgia State Park. It is an old lake that has been silted in so most cover is shallow. There are grass beds, stumps and docks to fish all over the lake and you can easily spot the best places to fish.

You are limited to a ten horse power motor but you can use a boat with a bigger motor if you do not crank it. The lake is small enough to cover with a trolling motor from the ramp in Buck Creek and the one at the dam. Fishing is limited to sunrise to sunset.

The Georgia DNR says High Falls is an untapped resource for largemouth. It has one of the highest populations of bass larger than 15 inches long of any of our lakes, with average size about 14 inches long and weighing about 1.5 pounds.

Ricky Hightower lives near the lake and fishes jon boat tournaments like the Lil’ Waters Bass trail and others. He also puts on pot tournaments on High Falls and fishes it often.

Since most of the cover in High Falls is on the bank, Ricky fishes a lot of water fast in April with a spinnerbait. The fish are scattered and will move in and out of the shoreline cover, so he will fish the same places more than one time during each trip.

A Constant Threat spinnerbait made by Terry Lee in Griffin, director of the Lil’ Waters Bass Trail, is his favorite. He likes a white skirt and one silver and one gold blade on a half ounce bait. He fishes it fairly fast around and through the grass and blowdowns as well as around docks.

A KVD 1.5 or 2.5 crankbait also works well around the docks. Try a natural shad or orange belly bait and try to bump the dock posts and other wood cover.

If the bass seem to be reluctant to bite Ricky fishes a jig and pig or jig head worm. He likes a black and blue three sixteenths ounce jig with a blue twin tail trailer. His jig head is one eight ounce Spot Remover head with a candy bug Trick worm on it. Both should be cast around and under docks and to blowdowns and brush piles.

Favorite areas include Brushy Creek, Watkins Bottom and the area near the dam. All have docks, grass and wood to fish. Keep moving and cover water to catch the scattered bass this month.

Lake Jackson

Jackson Lake is a 4750 acre Georgia Power Lake at the very upper end of the Ocmulgee River east of Jackson, Georgia. It is an old lake but still has a lot of good structure and cover to fish for spotted and largemouth bass.

Although the DNR says largemouth make up about 42 percent of the bass population, only half the bass weighed in at club tournaments are largemouth. And the numbers are sometimes skewed in tournaments since spots are usually culled for heavier largemouth.

In club tournaments it takes about four hours to catch a 12 inch keeper that weighs an average of 1.77 pounds. There are some quality bass in the lake, with it taking 254 angling hours to catch one over five pounds, one of the lowest times per five pound bass of any of our lakes.

The lake record largemouth, caught in March, 1986, weighed 14 pounds, 7 ounces. Twenty years later a 5.08 pound spot set the record for that species. There are some grown spots in the lake and you still have a chance of landing a wall hanger largemouth.

Kip Carter is a well known tournament fisherman that grew up on Jackson and still fishes it often. He guides on Jackson and other area lakes when not fishing a tournament, and makes Bass Hound lures. He sells his lures in tackle stores and through his web site at http://ginebrewedtackle.com. “Everything on Jackson centers around the spawn in April,” Kip said. Some bass have already spawned by early April but bass continue to move to the spawning areas in waves all month long. You can catch pre spawn, spawning and post spawn bass all during the month.

The shad spawn also takes place in April and is a key to catching both largemouth and spots while it is happening. During the shad spawn a spinnerbait fished on main lake seawalls and rocky banks is a sure way to catch fish early in the morning.

You can catch bass off the beds during the day but Kip does not concentrate on them. If he sees a good one on the bed he will try to get it to bite, but he is usually fishing a variety of baits to fish for bass he does not see.

During the shad spawn a white buzzbait and white spinnerbait are always ready to cast around the spawning shad. A Pointer jerk bait will also catch bass around the shad spawn.
A brown jig tipped with a Zoom brown or pumpkinseed trailer is a good bait to fish around shallow cover, and it will catch bedding bass, too. He likes a three-eights to one-quarter ounce jig and trims them down.

A weightless worm s one of the best baits to fish around shallow cover on Jackson this month. Natural colors are best and the bait should be fished around all shoreline cover, from docks to blowdowns and seawalls.

A Carolina Rig and a jig head worm work for fishing a little deeper, too. A Baby Brush Hog is fished on the Carolina rig and a Trick or Finesse worm works well on the jig head. Green pumpkin and natural shad are good colors.

Start at the mouth of spawning coves all over the lake and fish from the point to the back, covering all the cover. If you are not catching fish back in the pockets concentrate on the points with your jig head worm or Carolina rig.

Lake Russell

Lake Russell is a 26,650 acre Corps of Engineers lake on the Savannah River north of Augusta. No shoreline development is allowed so its natural shorelines are pretty to fish and the lake holds good numbers of both largemouth and spotted bass.

You can catch a lot of bass on Russell as the Creel Census Report shows. Average time to catch a 12 inch keeper in club tournaments was less than three hours, the best in the state. Sizes are good with the average tournament bass weighing 1.38 pounds and about 31 percent of the fish were largemouth.

Kent Guest is a tournament fisherman from Elberton and fishes Russell often. He says bass are on many patterns that work this month, with pre spawn, spawn and post spawn bass all month long. Baitfish are the key to catching both pre and post spawn bass and Kent fishes where he finds bait, knowing bass will be feeding around them.

A variety of baits are good, including crankbaits, a jerk bait, a jig and pig, a weightless worm and a Carolina rig. A jig head worm also catches fish but he prefers the Carolina rig to the jig head. And he also has a drop shot worm ready to catch fish he spots holding deeper.

Wind really helps the bite this month so Kent fishes wind blown banks and points as long as he can control the boat in the wind. Rocky points and banks are best but bass feed on clay bottoms, too. Use a crankbait or jerk bait in the wind to fish fairly fast. Cast near the bank and work both baits back all the way to the boat.

If the wind is not blowing try the points at the mouths of spawning coves with your Carolina rig and jig and pig. The water is usually clear so stick with browns and green pumpkin colors. Fish water from three to 15 feet deep and rock or brush cover holds the bass on the points.

Also work the back one-third of coves with a weightless work, fishing it around all cover in shallow water. A bright colored worm like white or chartreuse will help you see the bite and know when to set the hook.

Spots are all over the lake now but the best largemouth fishing is in the creeks like Beaverdam, Coldwater and Pickens. And the largemouth are more likely to be around wood cover with rocks holding spotted bass. The DNR says it is easier to catch spots than largemouth on Russell.

Head to one of these lakes near you or travel to one a little further away for some great April bass fishing. You won’t go wrong with any of them.

What Are Georgia’s Best Spotted Bass Waters?

Georgia’s Best Spotted Bass Waters

Seeing spots before your eyes is usually a bad thing, but when it comes to fishing it is a mixed blessing here in Georgia. Spotted bass fight hard and are fun to catch and eat, but in most Georgia lakes they create problems for the largemouth population.

Spotted bass are a subspecies of black bass, first cousin to the largemouth. If you compare the two, the spotted bass has a smaller mouth, with the back of the mouth not extending past the eye when closed. Largemouth mouths will extend past the eye.

Spots have a “tooth” patch on the tongue that largemouth usually do not have. This rough patch is visible as a dark spot on the tongue and you can feel it with your finger. This rough patch is normally used to determine if a bass is a spot in tournaments.

You can see definite rows of black spots on the lower sides of the spot that are not present in largemouth. The dorsal fins are clearly connected in spots while largemouths have a definite separation of the two fins.

Spots are not native to Georgia waters except for a few streams in extreme North West Georgia that eventually lead to the Mississippi River drainage. But they are now in almost all our lakes thanks to well intentioned but misguided fishermen doing “midnight stocking” by releasing them illegally.

Since they are more aggressive than largemouth spotted bass are easier to catch under adverse conditions like cold fronts and during the winter. But that also creates problems since they out-compete largemouth for food and can take over a lake, becoming the major black bass species in a lake. They don’t grow as fast or as big as largemouth so they can severely limit the numbers of quality fish over five pounds available to fishermen in a body of water.

To show the how they spread and become prolific, and harm a lake, the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Creel Census provides good data. My clubs fish Jackson Lake several times each year and I have been fishing with the clubs since 1974.

In the 1970s and 80s it was an unusual tournament when we didn’t have a six pound largemouth weighed in during winter tournaments. I caught my first two eight pound largemouth at Jackson in the 1970s and my biggest ever, a nine pound, seven ounce fish, was caught in Jackson at a 1991 February club tournament.

In one tournament in the early 80s I had a eight pound four ounce largemouth that was third biggest bass. In another club tournament about that time I had a seven pound eight ounce largemouth that was fourth biggest fish.

But in the early 1990s we saw our first spot weighed in at a club tournament. Before that every fish we caught was a largemouth. In the 2012 Creel Census Report half the fish caught in club tournaments were spots. And that is probably skewed toward more largemouths since spots are often culled for a largemouth.

In our club tournaments there have been only two bass over seven pounds weighed in during the past 20 years. And both clubs still fish Jackson at least twice a year. Now big fish is usually a spot weighing less than three pounds.

But spots are here to stay, no matter how they got in our lakes. Fishermen might as well enjoy catching them and not feel guilty about keeping them for the frying pan. That is why there are no size limits on spots in almost all of our lakes. Keeping them to eat is a good thing for the lake.

Spots usually like smaller baits than you would use for largemouth. So use a four inch Finesse worm on jig heads and Carolina rigs rather than a six inch worm. Try three sixteenths to one quarter ounce jig and pigs rather than half ounce ones. And try smaller topwater plugs and crankbaits. A Pop R will usually catch more spots than a Zara Spook unless fishing for bigger spots.

The following lakes have big populations of spots and you can catch them now on them.

Lake Lanier

Lake Lanier is known nationally as an excellent spotted bass fishery for a good reason. It is perfect habitat for them with clear water, rocky shorelines and deep cover. In club tournaments, 89 percent of bass are spots. Spots have been in Lanier almost since it was dammed but they were small until blueback herring were introduced into the lake.

The bluebacks have made the spots in Lanier grow big but Lanier but they create problems, too. Lanier is not the typical Georgia lake and just a few others in north Georgia are similar. So the same results when spots and bluebacks are introduced together won’t happen in most cases.

Spots are so important in Lanier that it is our only lake with a minimum size limit on them. All black bass at Lanier have to be at least 14 inches long to keep. There is no size limit on spots on any other lake. Due to the unusual conditions at Lanier, five pound spots are common and seven pounders are caught every year.

In the early spring you can sight fish for big spots at Lanier, and they are easier to catch off the bed than a largemouth. Look for bedding spots in protected pockets with rock and gravel bottoms. Spots bed deeper than largemouth so focus on water three to six feet deep.

After the bass spawn is a fantastic time to fish Lanier. Spots move out to blowthroughs – gaps between islands and between islands and the shoreline – and feed on everything that comes near. When the blueback herring spawn in those places, usually in May, the fishing can be incredible.

Fish topwater baits like Zara Spooks and poppers, and also spinnerbaits and crankbaits early in the morning. Watch for swirls on top and cast to them immediately. After the sun gets bright back off a little in the same places and fish a jig head worm or Carolina rig with a small worm, raking the bottom to find waiting spots.

Even after the sun gets high try topwater and soft jerk baits over brush piles. As the water warms later in spring back off and fish brush piles with topwater plugs and dropshot worms in deeper and deeper water.

Lake Allatoona

Allatoona shows the other side of the spot story. The lake is crowded with small spots and you can catch a lot, but you will seldom catch one over three pounds. And it is hard to catch many largemouth in the lake. In club tournaments last year no bass over five pounds were reported.

The best way to catch numbers of spots on Allatoona is to fish rocky bluff banks with jig head worms, small jig and pigs, jerkbaits, small crankbaits and topwater baits. Fish the outside bends of the river channels where rocks drop almost straight down to 20 feet deep.

Fish from a couple of feet deep down to 25 feet deep, but concentrate on the six to 15 foot range. Browns and greens are usually the best color for worms and jigs. A crankbait with some chartreuse in it is good.

To catch quality spots try a big hard or soft swimbait. Fish it over brush piles in 6 to 20 feet of water. You will have to make a lot of casts to get a bite but if you hook a spot on a ten inch swim bait it will probably be a good one.

Lake Burton

Another north Georgia lake that has the right conditions combining blueback herring and spots is Burton. It produced the state record eight pound two ounce monster in 2005 and it has a lot of quality fish in it. Five pound spots are fairly common.

Like Lanier, the clear water in Burton makes sight fishing for bedding spots good. They will bed as deep as nine feet so it can be difficult to spot them but worth the effort. Drop a small jig and pig or jig head worm in the bed and let it sit until the spot can’t stand it and eats it.

After the spawn follow the blueback herring schools to spawning areas on gravel points and humps. Fish topwater baits, soft jerk baits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits where the bottom rises to a few feet deep.

When the herring spawn is over target brush piles in 15 to 25 feet of water and blowdowns on steep banks. Fish dropshot worms, a jig and pig and jig head worms in and around the brush. But don’t hesitate to throw a big topwater plug over the brush for explosive bites.

Carters Lake

Carters Lake rivals Lanier for numbers of big spots. It regularly produces five pounders and some say the next world record is swimming in its waters. It has herring but one of the key baitfish in Carters is alewives, one of the few lakes in Georgia with this baitfish.

Louie Bartenfield guides on Carters and is well known for catching big spots there. He often fishes deeper than most bass fishermen realize and catches spots as deep as 50 feet deep. Alewives tend to school deep so he targets them and drops a spoon or drop shot worm to the bass holding around them.

Topwater lures, swim baits and jerkbaits are good before and after the spawn, too. Fish humps and deep banks and points. During the spawn look for bedding fish. There are also herring in Carters so watch for blowthrows when those baitfish spawn.

After the spawns are over look for fish in deep water on humps, in standing timber and on points that run out to very deep water. Any drop on a point or hump will attract the spots so fish them, casting to more shallow water and working a jig and pig or jig head worm across and down the drop.

West Point

Further south West Point is quickly becoming overcrowded with spots. Once known as a quality largemouth fishery, now you are more likely to catch a dozen one-pound spots than a three pound largemouth. In club tournaments, 63 percent of bass are spots and the average size is 1.58 pounds.

In the spring topwater plugs will catch a lot of fish on shallow gravel points. During the shad spawn topwater and spinnerbaits fished on riprap draw many strikes. Gravel humps and points are good year round.

Spots love rocks and a jig head worm or small jig and pig fished on any rocks on the lake will catch spots. The best fishing is on the main lake, from the junction of the Chattahoochee River and Yellowjacket Creek to the dam.

Fish points near the mouths of creeks and smaller pockets back to the secondary points half way back in them. Also try main lake points and humps that have gravel or rocks on them. Until it gets hot in the summer target water from six to 15 feet deep.

Jackson Lake

As mentioned, Jackson has become overcrowded with spotted bass. Its rocky shorelines offer them perfect habitat and they have thrived as the water has become clearer and less fertile over the past 20 years.

Bedding spots are harder to find at Jackson but you can catch them. Look for beds in gravel coves and protected areas from three to six feet deep. The lower lake near the dam and Tussahaw Creek usually have the clearest water making it easier to find them there.

After the spawn fish rocky points and banks with smaller baits. Poppers like the Rebel Pop-R work well for them. Also try jig head worms and a small jig and pig in the same areas. If the water is clear stick with browns and greens like green pumpkin and watermelon. In stained water try Junebug and black and blue.

Lake Russell

Russell is our newest lake and is full of spots, thanks to stocking by fishermen. There are some quality spots but most will weigh about a pound, so try your smaller baits for them.

Beaverdam Creek and the lower main lake are excellent for spots. And places to fish are easy to find. Channels are marked by big poles and most are on the ends of shallow points and humps. Fishermen have put brush on most of them and many are rocky. Spots love them.

Fish topwater baits around the poles then probe the bottom for the rocks and brush with a jig head worm or small jig and pig. The water is usually clear so stick with browns and greens. Fish shallow, in water from three to ten feet deep, early in the spring then work deeper and deeper as the water warms.

Many coves and small creeks on Russell have standing timber in them that hold spots and they bed on the banks in those places. Go into the smaller creeks and fish near the backs of the deeper ditches and pockets in them that have gravel or rock bottom.

Tie on your smaller baits and head to Allatoona, West Point, Russell or Jackson to catch a lot of spots. For quality fish use bigger baits on Lanier, Carters and Burton. Keep spots, even those shorter than 12 inches, everywhere but Lanier for the frying pan. They taste great and you will help the lake.

Where, When and How To Fish A Jig and PIg

A jig and pig is one of my favorite baits and I have at least one tied on year round. I have caught fish on them every month of the year, both at night and during the day. But I think October through March here in middle Georgia is the best time to fish them. I never hesitate to fish with a jig and pig any time of year, though.

The jig and pig can be fished in many ways. I usually start by dragging it along the bottom for a foot or so then hoping it up off the bottom an few inches. That imitates a crayfish feeding along the bottom then being startled and trying to get a way. When I hit brush I will pull it up a limb then let it fall back a couple of times before pulling it over the limb and letting it fall. That looks like a bream feeding in the brush. Both are effective for catching bass.

Rocks are one of the best places to fish a jig and pig. I will slide the bait along pulling it over rocks and letting it fall between them. I also hop it and pop it over rocks then let it fall back to the bottom. Spotted bass especially like rocks and a small jig and pig is almost irresistible to them. On riprap or bluff banks, I cast right to the edge and move the jig and pig slowly, keeping in contact with the fast dropping bottom. When it falls I keep my line simislack, watching it for a tick or jump until it hits the next step down, let it sit then move it until it falls again.

Around docks I try to get the jig and pig as far back into shady areas as possible. I work the bottom under the dock probing for cover. On docks with posts I pitch to each one, getting my bait right beside it then letting it fall straight down the post to the bottom. When I go over a cross brace I will pull the bait up and let it fall, just like on brush.

Stroking a jig is not something I do a lot but it is effective. Let your jig and pig fall to the bottom by a post, hesitate a few seconds then stroke your rod tip up a couple of feet, then let it fall back. This looks like a bream that gets spooked by a bass and tries to escape and will often trigger a reaction bite.

I use browns in clear water and black and blue in stained to muddy water, and dip the tails in chartreuse JJs Magic. Bream fins and tails have a chartreuse glimmer in bright light and this helps, and spots just love anything chartreuse.

Give a jig and pig a try. You will catch fish on it.

Fishing and Writing About It

Some people tell me I have the best job in the world, fishing and writing about it, and I can’t disagree! And I get to fish with some great people doing “research” for my articles. Thursday was no exception. I met Carter McNeil, a high school senior, at Lake Russell for my June Georgia Outdoor News article.

Carter lives in South Carolina near Lake Russell and fishes it a lot. It may seem he is too young to really know enough about bass fishing to share with magazine readers, but Carter has proven himself fishing with his high school team and in local pot and charity tournaments.

This year the Bass Angler’s Sportsman Society picked two high school students from each state as outstanding fishermen. They then chose 12 of them to be on the High School All American Bass Team. Carter is one of those 12 high school fishermen, from all the high school fishermen in the US, to get that honor.

I have done a good many of my articles with college and high school fishermen over the past few years, and I am always amazed at their knowledge of bass fishing, the lakes we fish and their techniques. They have learned at a very young age and some of them will go on to a professional bass fishing career.

One common trait they all have is a mentor that got them interested in fishing and taught them about bass fishing. It is usually a family member or close family friend. Carter’s uncle, Trad Whaley is a well-known tournament fisherman in that area and has been teaching Carter all his life.

Russell is a beautiful Corps of Engineers lake between Clarks Hill and Hartwell. Shoreline development is restricted on the whole lake so the tree lined shoreline is natural and pretty. The water is clear and full of fish.

Unfortunately, some misguided fishermen brought spotted bass from Lanier and released them in Russell not long after it was dammed. And has happened on way too many of our lakes, they have overrun it, reducing the largemouth population and filling the lake with what many fishermen call rats – 11 and 12 inch spotted bass.

Spots are fun to catch but Carter told me most tournaments there are won with ten or eleven pounds now, compared to the 20 pound stringers landed in the pre spot days. Not much can be done about it now so Russell is a good place to go and get your limit of spots to eat.

A little over a week ago I went to Lake Jordan for my Alabama Outdoor News Map of the Month article and went out with guide John Pollard. Spots are native to that lake on the Coosa River and they do grow big. Three pounders are common and five pounders are caught every week.

Lake Lanier and a few other Georgia lakes have good spotted bass fishing for quality fish, but they are the exception. It takes a combination of factors to make a good spotted bass fishery, and most lakes where they are not native, including all Georgia lakes, do not have all the right combinations.

High school fishing teams have become very popular and they can lead to college scholarships for better fishermen, just like in any other sport. Carter is going to college next year on a bass fishing scholarship.

College teams compete for money for their school and some of them become professional fishermen. It is great training for a professional career and all the pros I fish with and interview agree a college degree should be the number one goal of any young fisherman hoping to be a pro.

A degree in public relations or marketing is what they recommend. That may sound strange, but to be a successful pro fisherman you have to get sponsors to pay your bills. And to get sponsors you have to be able to market not only your sponsor’s products, but also yourself.

Many fishermen stick with local and state tournaments to keep down expenses. You can fish the BFL trail with six tournaments within Georgia each year, and entry fees are $150 per tournament. You can win $5000 for first place in those tournaments.

Contrast that to the BASS Elite Trail. Only the top 100 or so fishermen qualify for that trail and entry fees are $5000 per tournament. But first place wins $100,000 and the top forty fishermen win over $10,000 each.

And you have to travel a lot. So far this year the Elite trail has fished a lake in Florida, one in Texas, one in California and one in Arizona. Now they are headed back east for the next two tournament. But that is the dream of many bass fishermen.

If you can, mentor a young fisherman, either a friend or in your family. That can give them a good start and even earn a college scholarship. And a good way to get started is to bring a youth to the Spalding County Sportsman Club youth/buddy tournament on Bartlett’s Ferry on Saturday, May 30!

How Does the Shad Spawn Affect Fishing?

Why should I go fishing during the shad spawn?

Threadfin shad spawn when the water hits the upper 60s in temperature, usually in late April in Georgia.

The shad spawn is anticipated by bass and hybrid fishermen each year because you can usually catch a lot of fish while these baitfish are laying their eggs. When shad spawn they move in to rocky banks like riprap and the females run the rocks inches from the bank laying eggs and males join them to fertilize the eggs. These baitfish are easy pickings for predators. Bass and hybrids will run in right on the bank and eat them, and hold just off the bank and eat anything that comes by them. Shad spawn right at daylight, and it is usually a prime time to catch fish, until the sun gets on the water.

A spinnerbait fished right on the edge of the rocks or slow rolled out from them is a good choice. The bass will also hit crankbaits and top water plugs fished around the shad spawn. We are right at the end of the shad spawn now.

Last Sunday I couldn’t wait to fish Oconee in the Flint River tournament since I just knew I could catch some fish early. But a problem with the shad spawn is bass gorge themselves so much at daylight they are often hard to catch the rest of the day. That certainly proved true for me in the tournament.

Bass Club Tournaments On Lake Oconee and Lake Lanier

Last Sunday we had a tournament at Lake Oconee.

In the tournament, 18 members and guests fished from 6:30 AM to 3:30 PM. In the nine hours of casting, we brought in 33 14-inch keepers weighing about 65 pounds. There were only two five-bass limits and seven fishermen didn’t land a keeper.

Niles Murray won with five at 11.04 pounds. Chuck Croft was second with five at a very close 11.02 pounds. Tim Puckett got third with three fish weighing 9.20 pounds and his 5.44 pound largemouth was big fish. Javin English rounded out the top four with four keepers at 7.87 pounds.

Niles, Chuck and Javin all said they caught one or two bass early on the shad spawn. Jordan and I fished two places with a lot of shad spawning, but we caught only hybrids. That seemed to doom us the rest of the day.

At 11:00 we didn’t have a keeper in the boat although Jordan landed a 15 pound channel cat on a drop shot worm. I had caught a few short bass on plugs and worms but that was it. We had fished from the ramp at Long Shoals all the way to the mouth of Lick Creek and were very frustrated so we decided to make a big move.

After running the 10 miles to Double Branches we pulled into one of my favorite coves this time of year. On a shallow secondary point Jordan got a keeper on his drop shot then I caught one on a jig head. Within a few minutes each of us caught our second keeper of the day on that point.

About 15 minutes later I got a hit beside a dock and landed my third keeper. That was it! Neither of us caught another keeper although we fished hard the rest of the tournament.

The Potato Creek Bassmasters fished Lanier on April 18 for their monthly tournament. Eleven members fished to land 38 14-inch keepers weighing about 80 pounds. There were three five-bass limits and only one fisherman didn’t land a keeper.

Donnie Willis won with a good catch of five weighing 13.25 pounds, Lee Hancock came in second with five at 11.19 and Raymond English was a close third with five at 11.13. It is always amazing how close the weights often are in a tournament. JJ Compton had four at 9.62 for fourth and his 3.78 pounder was big fish.

What Is the BASS High School All-American Fishing Team?

B.A.S.S. Announces First-Ever High School All-American Team

BIRMINGHAM, AL. – Twelve high school students from 10 states have been selected as members of the first Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team.

Twelve high school students have been selected as members of the first Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team based on tournament performance, community service and recommendations from coaches and school officials.
“These 12 student anglers have a rare combination of fishing ability, leadership skills and involvement in community service projects,” said Hank Weldon, B.A.S.S. youth manager. “We believe they will continue to make an impact on their communities and the sport of fishing well into the future.”

The High School All-Americans were selected from a pool of 57 Bassmaster High School All-State anglers from 33 states. Judges reviewed tournament resumes, service activities and recommendations from coaches and school officials before making the selections. More than 200 nominations of student anglers in grades 10-12 were submitted for the inaugural All-American program.

Those earning the prestigious High School All-American title for 2015 are Laura Ann Foshee of Gardendale, Ala.; Zeke Gossett of Cropwell, Ala.; Joe Grafeman of Lake Ozark, Mo.; Dillon Harrell of Porter, Texas; Jake Lee of Knoxville, Tenn.; Julius Mazy of Phoenix, Ariz.; Carter McNeil of Abbeville, S.C.; Nick Montilino of Edina, Minn.; Jared Penton of Sanger, Texas; Cam Sterritt of Newfields, N.H.; Ryan Wood of Broomfield, Colo.; and Trevor Yates of Norman, Okla.

All have been invited to participate in a special Bassmaster High School All-American Bass Tournament being held in conjunction with BASSfest June 3-7 on Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Tennessee. Each high school angler will be paired with a Bassmaster Elite Series pro for the one-day tournament.

Here’s a look at what they did to become All-Americans:

Laura Ann Foshee, Alabama
A junior at Alabama’s Gardendale High School, Foshee is a founding member of the Gardendale Rockets Bass Fishing Club. She has a long list of tournament accomplishments, including a pair of victories.

Foshee helped create a benefit tournament to raise money for the Outdoor Ability Foundation, which provides hunting and fishing equipment to children with disabilities. She is also a member of Team Pink Fishing, which raises funds for breast cancer research. She assists with fish care in various tournaments, and she encourages other girls to enjoy fishing during an episode of the television show “Lunkerville.”

Zeke Gossett, Alabama
A senior at Pell City High School and member of the Pell City Panthers Bass Fishing Team, he has a 3.91 GPA and a tournament resume that includes a third-place finish in the 2014 Costa Bassmaster High School Classic, fourth in the 2014 Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship and qualification for the upcoming national championships for B.A.S.S. and TBF.

He’s a 12-time Alabama Bass Fishing State Champion and was named Alabama Sports Festival’s “Athlete of the Year” in 2010 out of 4,000 contestants in all sports. He was featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces In The Crowd Section” in 2011, and was commended for his bass fishing achievements in a bill introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives in 2012.

Gossett started dual-enrollment classes last year and has already completed four college courses, while also holding fishing seminars for junior fishing clubs and high school clubs.

Joe Grafeman, Missouri
Grafeman is a sophomore at Missouri’s School of the Osage. He and his partner won the 2014 Missouri State Championship and Missouri’s Junior Bassmaster tournament on Truman Lake in summer 2014. He is currently working to start a bass fishing team at his high school.

As a frequent volunteer at fishing shows and guest speaker at elementary schools, Grafeman uses his experiences to bring other young people to the sport of bass fishing. Those experiences include more than 20 Top 5 finishes in tournaments on the high school and adult levels.

Dillon Harrell, Texas
Harrell is a senior at New Caney High School in Porter, Texas, where he sports a 3.48 GPA. His incredible list of tournament accomplishments features more than 20 Top 5 finishes, including a wins in a TBF High School tournament and a SETX High School tournament in 2014.

The reigning SETX High School Fishing Angler of the Year, Harrell is president of his school’s fishing team, and he helped add a disability ramp to his local community mission. He also has participated in two roadside cleanups and recently received the New Caney FFA Star Lonestar Farmer Poultry Proficiency Award.

Jake Lee, Tennessee
A junior at Karns High School in Knoxville, where he maintains a 3.3 GPA, Lee and his partner won the 2014 Costa Bassmaster High School Open and the 2015 Norris Lake Bass Pro shops event.

Last year, Lee had a Top 20 finish in the 2014 Bassmaster High School National Championship on Kentucky Lake and a fourth-place finish in a TBF event in the fall. He works the sound room at Middlebrook Pike Baptist Church in Knoxville and helps the Sportsman Ministries program with a kids fishing day.

Julius Mazy, Arizona
Mazy, a sophomore at Arizona’s Boulder Creek High School, hopes to join the growing ranks of Western anglers who have succeeded as professionals. He’s had numerous first-place finishes during his young career, including one in the B.A.S.S. Nation High School Western Divisional on California’s Clear Lake in April.

Mazy and his teammates on the Phoenix High School Bassmasters organize local fun days to help younger kids enjoy fishing at local ponds. He’s also been active with the Cast for Kids program and with boat washes and raffle sales to raise money for his club.

Carter McNeil, South Carolina
McNeil is a senior at South Carolina’s Abbeville High School where he has a 3.2 GPA and is a member of the Abbeville Panthers fishing team.

He and his partner won the B.A.S.S. Nation High School Southern Divisional on the Pee Dee River in April and took third place in the 2015 Costa Bassmaster High School Classic Exhibition. McNeil is the founder and president of his fishing team and a frequent volunteer for Corps of Engineers projects aimed at planting aquatic vegetation on South Carolina’s Lake Russell.

He will be attending Bethel University on a fishing scholarship.

Nick Montilino, Minnesota
A senior at Edina High School, Montilino won the 2014 TBF state championship and was a runner-up in the B.A.S.S. state championship just two weeks later. He finished a remarkable 2014 season with wins in two more summer club events.

Montilino has participated in numerous lake and park cleanup efforts and has prepared meals for the underprivileged through his local hockey association and his church. He has a 3.6 GPA and has mentored younger bass fishermen from Minnesota youth organizations and at his high school.

Jared Penton, Texas
Penton is a senior at Sanger High School where he carries a 3.65 GPA. He won the Texas High School Bass Association Fun ‘n Sun Open in January 2014 and has several other Top 10 finishes to his credit.

He has served as president of the Sanger High School fishing team the past two years and does volunteer work for the Sanger Crisis Center, where he helps stock the food pantry for people in need. He also volunteered at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic Kids Casting Booth, helping younger anglers learn the basis of casting.

Cam Sterritt, New Hampshire
Sterritt has been a standout competitor since he was 12 years old. He won the 2007 New Hampshire Bassmaster CastingKids state championship for his age group and a slew of Junior Bassmaster titles over the years. He and his partner finished second among 60 teams in the 2014 Bassmaster High School National Championship on Kentucky Lake. He won the inaugural New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) High School Bass Fishing State Championship in 2013, as well as the NHIAA High School Qualifier for the state championship that year and the Angler of the Year title in 2014.

Sterritt, now a senior, founded the Exeter High School Blue Hawks Bass Fishing Team. He volunteers at Camp Carefree for children with diabetes, CastingKids competitions, cleanup projects at state parks and a fish tagging project for the New Hampshire Fish & Game agency.

Ryan Wood, Colorado
A senior at Legacy High School, Wood currently has a 4.0 grade average and is a member of the National Honor Society. Just last year, he won the prestigious Costa Bright Future Scholarship, which was presented at the 2014 Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship.

Wood has been successful at multiple levels of competition from Junior Bassmaster to high school tournaments and adult events. He won the 2013 Bassmaster Junior World Championship on the Arkansas River, finished third in the 2014 Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship, and then went on to win a Denver Bassmasters adult open at Horsetooth Reservoir. He was a charter member of his club, Front Range Bass Club, and presently serves as its president.

Wood has been a leader in conservation, helping his club earn a conservation grant to refurbish a pond in North Denver and volunteering with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife to assess the aquatic health of lakes, ponds and streams in his state. Wood has participated in church mission trips, volunteered at kids’ derbies and organized backpacks and school supplies for a charity in his hometown.

Trevor Yates, Oklahoma
Yates is an active leader at Little Axe High School, where he is a senior. He has been involved in the student council for the past four years and is a member of the Business Professionals of America.

He has several high school wins to his credit, including the Oklahoma B.A.S.S. Nation High School State Championship and the TBF High School Southern Conference Championship, both in fall 2014. Yates also won the 2013 Junior Bassmaster World Championship alongside his All-American teammate, Ryan Wood.

Yates hosted a fishing clinic in 2014 for kids, showing them how to cast and other fundamentals of fishing. He helped the North OKC Junior Bassmasters assemble and place habitat in Oklahoma lakes. Yates formed the Little Axe Bass Club at his school and encourages kids to get into fishing by helping at local CastingKids competitions.

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 500,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2), social media programs and events. For more than 45 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open Series presented by Allstate, Old Milwaukee B.A.S.S. Nation events, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Costa Bassmaster High School Series, Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro.

Fishing A Bass Club Tournament At Clarks Hill in May

Last weekend 13 members and guests of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our April tournament at Clarks Hill. Fishing was very good for a few and tough for others. There were nine five-bass limits and one fisherman didn’t weigh in a keeper after fishing ten hours on Saturday and eight hours on Sunday. We had 82 keepers weighing about 163 pounds.

Sam Smith won with ten at 24.56 pounds, his partner Chris Davies had ten at 23.68 pounds for second and Raymond English was third with nine at 23.45. Raymond had big fish with a 6.61 pound largemouth he caught Saturday. My nine weighing 20.86 pounds was good for fourth. My partner Jordan McDonald was fifth with nine at 17.96 and Zane Fleck had ten at 17.19 for sixth.

I went over on Wednesday and fished a few hours that afternoon. The lake is full and the bushes are in the water, usually a great pattern this time of year. I caught several small bass then in the last hour before I went in I landed a three pounder and two more over 2.5 pounds.

Jordan joined me the next morning and we put in before daylight and went looking for shad and herring spawning. We didn’t see any so we started fishing bushes, and were real disappointed. After fishing about ten hours we landed only about ten keeper bass, and all were less than two pounds.

Friday morning we started a little later and again looked for shad and herring spawning. We caught a couple of big hybrids on a blow-through, a place where shallow water between two islands or an island and the bank has a gravel bottom. Wind and waves wash the dirt away, leaving the gravel, and herring spawn on them.

The next one we fished we saw some schooling activity and I landed a two pounder on a Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hog. Then I got a keeper on a crankbait off the Raysville bridge riprap. That should have told me something, but I missed it. After fishing the rest of the day we again had landed fewer than ten keepers and the first one was the biggest.

After three sunny days Saturday morning was rainy so Jordan and I drove the 25 miles from my place at Rayville Boat Club to Mistletoe State Park rather than riding 7 miles between the two by water in the boat. We took off and went to a rocky point I like, and both caught some big hybrids but no bass. As it got a little lighter we went to a nearby blow through but nothing was happening there.

Since it was raining hard by now I just started fishing around the island with the blow though. Jordan saw some schooling fish on a point on the main bank across from it and we went over there, and I got a three pounder on a crankbait. After going back to the blow through I caught another three pounder. Working around the island, I got a 4 pounder and lost two more nice bass when they jumped and threw the crankbait.

I also got a five pound channel cat on the crankbait. Jordan got an eight pounder the next day. Some folks had a lot of noodles out for cats in that area and we saw several with fish on them, and Jordan pulled one up that had an eight pound blue cat on it. Catfish were biting good!

By the time we had to go in I had caught ten keepers and culled three three-pound bass – very unusual for me. Raymond English and I were tied with 16.19 pounds each – one of my best five fish limits ever in a tournament.

Sunday was clear and very windy. Although I fished hard I landed only four small keepers and Jordan had the same. What a difference a day made!

Sam and Chris came in first and second by fishing Raysville Bridge. I knew the fish I caught there should have told me something!

Youth Bass Fishing Tournament

Members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club and the youth fishing our youth/buddy tournament in March enjoyed it so much we have scheduled another one. We will be fishing Bartletts Ferry from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday, May 30. The youth tournament is open to those 11 to 17 years old. This combination tournament is open to everyone and you can enter the buddy tournament with an entry fee if you want to, but the youth tournament part has no entry fee.

Youth will compete with other youth for prizes. Thanks to Gary “Pokey” Hattaway, Jack “Zero” Ridgeway, Larry Cook and https://fishing-about.com we have some nice tackle packs as prizes for the youth. For the youth, there can be one, two or even three youth in each boat with the adult bringing them, and they do not have to enter the buddy part of the tournament.

The buddy tournament has a $50 entry fee and $5 big fish pot and is a team tournament. Adults can fish by themselves or with one other adult and their combined weight will be used for the first through fourth place payback of 50 percent of entry fees. The adult can also pair up with one, two or three youth in the same boat for this weigh-in, with the best five fish for the team weighed.

Youth will keep their fish separate for their weigh-in but their fish can then be combined with adult catch for the team payback. These tournaments are always a lot of fun for those that participate.

Call me at 770-789-6168 or email me at Ronnie@fishing-about.com for more information.

How To Catch Bass On a Fly Rod

Bass On The Long Rod – Catching Bass On A Fly Rod

By Mike Gnatkowski / www.gnatoutdoors.com
from The Fishing Wire

Flyrod bass on eelworm

This largemouth was caught on an Eelworm Streamer, which is the fly-fisher’s alternative to a rubber worm.

Think of fly-fishing and you automatically think of trout. Fly-fishing is ideally suited to presenting tiny flies that imitate a lot of what a trout eats. But fly-fishing can be a challenging technique for targeting bass, too. And most of us have a pond or lake close by that has bass in it so they’re readily available and we don’t have to travel far to find good fishing.

Most anglers pursue bass with a spinning rod or bait-casting gear from the deck of a bass boat like the anglers they see on Saturday mornings. But there are more and more anglers trying the long rod for bass and they’re finding it both challenging and rewarding. With fly gear, you’re certainly not going to hoist a 5-pound bass into the boat and you’re going to have to fight it more than 30 seconds. An extended fight alone might be the real attraction.

New materials mean better flies

The explosion in fly tying materials in recent years has fostered even more realistic flies, many intended for bass.

The real interest in fly-fishing for bass got started in the 1980’s jumpstarted by two legends in the fishing world. Oklahoman Dave Whitlock was one of the first to design flies specifically for warm-water species and extolled the joys of fly-fishing for bass. Whitlock was a master fly tier, artist, author and fly-fishing innovator who eventually transplanted to Arkansas to be close to the White River and its fabulous trout fishing, but he never forgot about bass.

Whitlock’s innovative designs included the Eelworm Streamer, which was the fly rodder’s equivalent to the bass fisherman’s plastic worm. With heavy lead dumbbell eyes, the fly exhibited a nose-down attitude that mimicked the classic rubber worm, but with undulating feathers and mottled tones the Eelworm Streamer looked more life-like than any piece of plastic.

Whitlock continued to create bass flies that covered everything from top to bottom. Flies like the Hare Water Pup, Wiggle-Legs Frog, Dragon Flies and Sheep Minnows that look more real than any crankbait. Bass are more opportunistic than trout. Most times there’s no need to match-the-hatch when fly fishing for bass, but Whitlock’s designs opened the eyes of fly fishers who had their sights set on bass and had come from a trout fishing background. Although many of Whitlock’s flies appealed to both largemouth and smallmouth bass, his flies had a particular bucketmouth appeal.

Float tubes are great for fly fishing

Kicking around in a float tube is a great way to target bass with a fly rod.

Larry Dahlberg grew up fishing and guiding on the St. Croix River on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. Dahlberg was so infatuated with fishing that by the time his friends were bagging groceries at the local supermarket, he was guiding anglers on the river for good money, most with a fly rod. Dahlberg, like Whitlock, was an innovator and inventor and went about designing flies that would catch his clients more fish.

One of his creations, the Dahlberg Diver, was fly-fishing’s answer to the bass fishermen’s crankbait. The Dahlberg Diver has a cone-shaped head made of spun deer hair with a stiff collar. The idea was that when stripped hard, the cone-shaped head would act like a lip on a crankbait causing the fly to dive. The harder and more you stripped, the deeper the fly would dive. Stop stripping and the fly would swim back to the surface. It’s a triggering mechanism that most predators can’t stand. The Dahlberg Diver proved to be a killer on not only St. Croix River smallmouths, but also sizable pike and muskies. Dahlberg also tied life-like poppers and sliders that catch plenty of bass even today.

The explosion in fly tying materials in recent years has fostered even more realistic flies, many intended for bass. With a variety of synthetic furs, rabbit strips, Krystal Flash and rubber legs, pinchers and feelers, bass flies look like the real thing. Made from natural materials or synthetics, bass flies not only look real, they feel natural. When a bass chomps on a hair mouse or frog, it feels natural so that fish is less likely to let go. Undulating feathers or quivering rubber legs gives bass flies an added realism that cannot be duplicated with conventional hard baits.

River fly fishing for smallmouth

Many rivers have outstanding smallmouth populations and targeting them in the summer with the long rod can be great fun.

What kind of fly rod you choose for bass fishing depends on which kind of bass you intend to fish for. Largemouths tend to inhabit thick cover where a heavier rod can be an advantage for muscling big bass. The flies that are used to entice largemouth bass are generally larger and bulkier and more easily cast with an 8- or 9-weight fly rod. Smallmouths frequent more open structure where rocks or wood are the main habitat. Nymphs, streamers and bugs that trigger strikes from smallmouths can be easily cast with a 6-weight fly rod. The reel is relatively unimportant and is used mainly for line storage. Bass don’t run so an intricate drag system is not necessary.

Unlike when casting a lure with a spinning or bait-casting rod, when fly-fishing the line carries the lure or fly not the other way around. To throw bulky, wind-resistant frogs or poppers requires a weight-forward or bass-bug tapered line. A line like this is heavier at the forward end and is better suited to driving out-sized bugs that require more power to cast. Match the line weight to the rod. Leaders need to be nothing more than a four-foot length of 20-pound fluorocarbon when fishing largemouths. A tapered leader of no more the 7-1/2 feet is perfect for smallmouths.

Late spring and summer is primetime for fly-fishing for bass. Bass are most susceptible to fly-rod tactics when they are in the shallows. Actively spawning bass are suckers for flies twitched around beds. I’ve caught dozens of largemouths and smallmouths on rubber spiders intended for bluegills. A good pair of polarized glasses will help you spot active beds and spawning bass. This can be done from the front deck of a bass boat or out of a float tube.

Fly-rodding for bass is hot during the heat of summer. Bass take up residence in predictable locations during the summer and fly fishers can capitalize. Working minnow imitations along weed edges can be a great tactic for scoring on summer largemouths.

Use a sponge spider for bass

One of many bass the author has caught on a sponge spider intended for panfish.

Largemouths will also take up residence under mats of floating vegetation to avoid the hot sun and jet skis. Lily pads and largemouths are like peanut butter and jelly. Frogs, Divers and bugs tied with monofilament weed guards can be cast into the thickest junk without fear of getting hung up. Dropping a hair frog into the opening between pads and then causing it to twitch and skitter will bring explosive strikes from resident bass. Many times the best action is during the heat of the day.

Smallmouth thrive in cool, clear lakes and can be targeted by fly fishers with life-like imitations that simulate smallmouth fare like crayfish, minnows and gobies. In large cool bodies of water smallmouths may not spawn until July, so you’ll find them still patrolling the shallows. During the post spawn, you’ll find male bass protecting the beds. Look a little deeper for the rotund females.

Many rivers have outstanding smallmouth populations and targeting them in the summer with the long rod can be great fun. As water levels drop in the summer time bass will be highly concentrated on the pools and deeper runs. Bass will move into riffles to feed or in slack-water areas to root out crayfish.

Fly-fishing for smallmouth in rivers is a lot like fly-fishing for trout. Many of the same nymphs, Wooly Buggers, Muddler Minnows that catch trout will catch smallies. There may even be times when hatches of aquatic insects will bring smallmouths to the surface like trout.

Streams and rivers become tepid during the summer months so wading wet is an option. You can use a canoe to cover water and then get out and fish the best pools and runs. Tangling with a 3 or 4-pound bulldogging smallie on the long rod is a hoot.

(See more of Mike Gnatkowski’s work at www.gnatoutdoors.com. )

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