Every year in the winter months our female fish begin to grow their eggs and then to get ready to lay them in the spring. This first part when they begin to put on eggs and gain weight is called pre-spawn and their next step will be the spawn and this is when the water temps move up into the 60 degree mark the females will then be pushed in by the male bass to the nest he has made for her and this is when the process of the spawn begins.
Next is post spawn and this is when the big females have finished laying their eggs and then the eggs have hatched into fry and mother bass has left them to be on their own. The females then will move out from their spawning grounds into deeper waters.
The female bass will move to the deeper waters and suspend off the ledges of a point or out in a creek. They will not be in a feeding mode but if you locate these bass you can make them bite and normally when you find one female out like this you can catch several big bass.
Now let’s go out on Lake Palestine one the two lakes I guide on and talk about things I will do this month to catch these big giant female bass.
First I will take my lake map and try to locate areas on the map that look good to me, places where I feel a post spawn fish might go to when she finishes up her spawn. The places I look for will be a creek channel or a point that may be a short distance from where I found bass during the spawn. After I locate these spots on my map I will then go out on the lake with my map and use my Lowrance fish locator to find some of these big bass suspended out on the points or out over the deeper areas of a creek.
After I locate these bass I will fish for them in a few different ways. First I will rig up a seven foot medium action rod with a big crank bait such as the new deep diver made by Rapala or the big BD7 by the fine makers of Bomber lures.
Both these crank baits will dive to about 18 feet and both come in a blue/chart color which I feel is a very good color for cranking in May. My next lure choice will be rigged up on a 6/12 foot medium heavy rod. The lure will be the new Mister Twister – Mr. Minnow in a 4 inch size. The new Mister Twister – Mr. Minnow will be rigged on a Salt water jig head in 1/4 oz. size. You will rig the Mr. Minnow by inserting the new Mister Twister Salt Water Jig head into the nose of the minnow and bringing the hook out through the back of the Mr. Minnow. The Mister Twister Mr. Minnow comes in several colors so you will need to experiment with the colors on the lakes you fish. Here on Lake Palestine I like three colors, the rainbow trout, baby bass and the shad color all three works very well for me.
I will rig up the next rod with a Carolina rig. My Carolina rig will have at least a 2 foot leader and sometimes I will even make it up with a five foot leader. The Carolina rig will have a 3/4 to a one ounce weight to carry the lure to the bottom and with this weight pulling my lures to the bottom I can then start a process I call dragging.
Dragging is when you make a very long cast with your lure and then point your rod in a downward position and give your rod a small tug to the side making your weight drag along the bottom stirring up the sand on the bottom making a disturbance to get the fishes attention. The Bass will see the bottom sand or dust kicking up and then all a sudden he will see the lure moving up above the lake bottom and this is what makes him/her come down and eat the bait.
Now for my lure choices for the Carolina rig, above I mentioned the new Mr. Minnow by Mister Twister. The Mr. Minnow comes in three sizes a 2inch crappie lure and two bass catching sizes, the 4 inch and the 6 inch. I will rig these two sizes, the 4 and 6 inch up on my Carolina rig and then drag them through the schools of bass. First I will use the 2 foot leader with the 4inch model and the giant 6 inch on my 5 foot leader. Both work well when it comes to landing big trophy bass.
My next choice will be to use the watermelon 6inch lizard by Mister Twister and their newest lure the Tubo lure, it’s an over sized tube jig that falls very slow and on the 5 foot leader it all most suspends on it’s own making it a great choice on the 5 foot rig. The Tubo lure comes in several colors so try them all.
I will swim theses lures through the areas where I find the bass suspended and fish every angle of the spot and I will cast in the same places many times before I give up on catching a bass. If I catch one I will sit on the spot for at least an hour or two giving others a chance to see my lures and bite.
Do you like fishing for the stripe bass? Well give the jig head and Mr. Minnow a try when they are up schooling on the surface. Crappie fishing will also be very good. The crappie will be finished up with their spawn and be moved out on brush piles in about 14 to 16 foot. The Crappie will hold all around the brush and with the right lure you can sit and catch your limit every day.
My choice of lure will be to use a 1/16th oz. jig head and team it up with the Mister Twister – Mr. Minnow. As everyone knows crappie don’t always hit the same color jig so do as I do get every color they make and when they stop biting on one color switch to another this will normally help you catch more fish.
Lake Fork is the other lake I guide on and you will find that fishing for post spawn bass there is no different than fishing the way I do on Lake Palestine.
I will find the deep ridges, creeks and points and fish the same lures in the same manner I do on Lake Palestine. The only difference I do if any is that I will fish the jig head and the Mr. Minnow more on the deep ridges than I do on Palestine due to Lake Fork having a fish we call the bar fish or yellow bass and this small fish is loved by the Lake Fork Bass. We don’t have them on Lake Palestine so we tend to fish the other lures a lot more.
No matter where you fish these lures will land you many great trophy bass when presented right.
If you have a hard time finding any of the lures I have told you about please feel free to call or email me and I can tell you where and how you can find each of the fine baits mentioned.
Until next month keep your baits in the water and as always remember to keep only the fish you can use and release the rest so our children can enjoy the great sport we call fishing.
For guide fishing trips call me or email me and we will try land the fish of your choice.
Ricky Vandergriff
email: [email protected] or call (903)561-7299 or (903)530-2201By: Ricky Vandergriff
