June begins crankbait season

During January when I first get my boat and tackle ready for the tournament season, I’m already counting the minutes until June arrives.

I love fishing in June and don’t make any bones about it. I love to catch bass with crankbaits, and this is probably the best month for a crankbait fisherman.

Bass have finished spawning at most reservoirs across North Carolina; they’ve recovered; and now they’re hungry. They’re actively searching for baitfish, looking for something to eat. And the baitfish are in relatively shallow water, at least at the first part of the month.

So you’re not looking to fish the deepest water in the lake; you’re fishing more at mid-depths where it’s a lot easier to get a fish to bite.

I like to fish three baits in June — I think any fisherman in North Carolina should have them in their tackle boxes because, for the most part, they’ll do the job.

You may be able to catch a few bass with spinnerbaits at the first of the month, and because the fishing at Buggs Island is a little later than the rest of the state’s lakes, there’s usually a good topwater bite there.

But the baits I trust the most are Rapala DT-10 and DT-14 crankbaits, and a Zoom Ol’ Monster worm.

You can catch fish at most lakes in North Carolina early in June with a DT-10, because you’ll be fishing in 5 to 10 feet of water. Later in the month, you’ll be looking for fish from 10- to 15-feet deep, and that’s when the DT-14 comes in handy.

The big worm is good anytime, following up your crankbait. As for crankbait colors, any of the shad patterns will work — blueback, greenback, shad. Even firetiger can be good if you’ve got some water with color. But in June, usually the water is as clear as it will be all year.

Bass are pretty easy to find — and then again, they’re not. They’ll get on a certain kind of place, but they won’t be on every place like that you find.

You’ve got to fish a lot of places, but when you finally find one that’s holding fish, you can get well in a hurry.

The places I’m looking at are ones with sharp breaks, usually related to creek channels or main river channels.

In June, fish like to get in places where there’s current, so you try to imagine if the power company is pulling water where the current will be running. Bass will be facing the current, so if you’ve got a point that runs straight out off the bank, the upcurrent side will be the key. That’s where bass will face the current.

When you find a spot like that where bass are feeding, you’re not likely to catch just one because bass will be schooled up at places like that where they’re likely to find baitfish. You’re just as likely to catch four or five fish — or even 10.

In general, long points are better in June than little shorter points. And by the end of the month, you’ll start to find fish at isolated humps. But bass will be moving up and down creek channels or the main river channels, stopping at places like these to feed.

In general, areas close to mouths of creeks and close to main river channels will be better. Fish will get there more quickly; the ones who have spawned way in the back of the creeks will have to work their way out to deeper water.

As far as cover, that’s not as important as finding sharp drops. Brush piles aren’t really great spots in June. Most of the good spots are going to have rock or some other kind of hard bottom.

Rip-rap can be good early in the month. But toward the end of the month, most fish are going to be outside, relating to those good ledges instead of some kind of cover.

You need to make long casts to get your bait down in the strike zone more quickly and keep it down longer. I’ll use my signature series 7-foot American Rodsmiths cranking rod and spool 10-pound Rapala line onto a Bass Pro Shops cranking reel with a 4.7-to-1 retrieve ratio.

You don’t need a reel with a fast retrieve ratio. You just want a nice, steady retrieve until you maybe hit a piece of cover, then you can slow it up.

One thing that will help anglers is to keep an eye on the depth-finder. It’s important to find and regularly fish at least a dozen or so spots that have good ledges. Bass will use spots like this all the time, but since they’re ganged up, you’re not going to find them at every spot all the time.

Anglers need to make a milk run of good drops, fishing all of them with a crankbait first, then a big worm.

If you have enough spots, sooner or later you’ll find bass, and there’ll be a lot of fish there.

And you can have a good time catching them.

David Fritts is a 51-year-old professional fisherman from Lexington. He won the 1993 Bassmasters Classic, was the 1994 BASS Angler of the Year, and won the 1997 FLW Tour Championship. He is sponsored by Ranger Boats, Evinrude Outboards, Rapala, Zoom, VMC hooks, American RodSmiths, Bass Pro Shops and Chevy Trucks.