1 reply to this topic

[kwilf]

Im going fishing at my lake house in Island creek and I was wondering what people have been having luck with on the lake.

[jrotureau]

The bass seem to be in various stages of the spawn right now. Most males are still up shallow either fanning beds or protecting any fry that have already hatched. Use a shaky head finesse worm or lizard to catch them. The females are a little more sporadic right now. I caught a few this weekend already in post-spawn routines (suspended on vertical structure or points). I was throwing a weightless whitle yum dinger for these. Let it sink about 5-10 seconds then jerk it a few times, repeat back to boat. You may not feel the bite, but you will feel tension. Don't hesitate, SET! I would be fishing in 20ft of water and knowing a weightless worm wont go that far down in 5 seconds, its obvious that a bass has grabbed it. Other good baits for suspending fish are jerk baits and spinner baits.

Some females are still on bed but down on the south end of the lake, most of the first wave have pushed off. The next full moon should bring more up. Texas and carolina rigs work should work well. My favorite bed baits are any soft plastics that are short and thick. Ex. Zoom Super Hog. Down there in Island creek, I would start looking in backs of creeks and pockets with a hard bottom, looking for any fish on bed. If no luck with that, start moving out to points looking for suspended fish. Also don't be afraid to throw topwater. It's not too early for it with the warm weather we've been having for the last month and a half. Good luck.