This has been my best spring since 2010 (when the lake was full). Even with the lake down 4-5 feet, the spawn has been awesome. I've found about 3 times as many big fish as I did last season - and I only have one explanation why. This year, we had a cold front every week (mostly Thursdays). So, the water temp stayed around 60 degrees for almost 2 months. When the water is cooler, the females will sometimes stay on the beds for a few days. But once it gets up in the 70s, the females are rarely around the next day. Since the cooler temps kept the females around the nests for 3 times as long, I was able to find 3 times as many big fish.
That's the best explanation I can think of for why I'm finding more big fish on the beds. But I think most fishermen have had a much better year this year than the previous couple of years. I think we're about 3 weeks behind a normal year. I'm finding grass in a lot of places. But some of the places where I normally find a lot of bedding bass only have sprouting grass. So, I think we still have a decent amount of spawning bass that still haven't moved up.
Right now, I'm fishing several different patterns. Sight fishing is my specialty. So, I will fish for spawning bass as long as I can find them. This is still my best pattern. However, the topwater bite is hard to resist in May. I can usually put some fish in the boat between first light and sunup on a topwater. Then, once the sun comes up I'll look for bedding bass. Right now, there's a lot of fish that are guarding fry. Being able to recognize this is key. If you think a bass is protecting eggs in a nest, when in reality they are guarding baby bass that have already hatched, you will not likely catch that fish. You must be able to read those fish (or see the fry) in order to take advantage of the protective instincts.
May is a month where you can catch a fish on any bait in your box. I may have a dozen different rigs and catch one or 2 fish on each and not catch 3 fish on any.
This is a time to be prepared to let the fish tell you what they want. There are plenty of fish shallow and plenty of fish deep. I'm catching most of my fish in 2-4 feet. But I'm also running some deep divers in 20 feet and getting white bass most every cast - and a bass every once in a while.
I have 2 clients with boats for sale. One is a 2008 Ranger Z-19 with a Mercury Pro XS 225 and only 6 hours on the rig. See http://www.bassfishing.org/ranger/
The other is a New 2013 Triton 20XS that was won in the McDonalds tournament at Sam Raburn last Month. See http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/8865656/NEW_2013_Triton_20XS_with_225_#Post8865656
See my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LakeForkFishingGuide
If you are interested in a guided trip, you can book online at http://www.fishingguidenow.com/bookonline.cfm?guideID=2
I'm booking now for summer night trips. June and July are my best months. We fish from 8:30PM until sunup (if you can last). I have more trips with 20 bass averaging 4 pounds on summer night trips than any other time of the year. Book yours now!
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Good fishing and good luck. You can't catch them if you don't go.
