April in North Carolina means one thing: the full-fledged bass spawn. Whether you like it or not, if you’re fishing shallow in April, you’re catching spawning bass.
It could be a wet spring and high water, and with high water comes flooded bushes and great fishing. Bass flood the banks and spawn in the freshly flooded cover, making it prime time to pull out the flipping rod and have a ball.
The main things you should be concerned about are the water level and the stage of the spawn. Depending on the weather and moon phase — bass tend to spawn around the time of a full moon — and what you see on the water determines your attack plan. There could very well still be a strong prespawn bite in addition to the spawn, so keep your options open.
Rising water after bass have started nesting means they will likely stay put, thus not going further into the newly flooded bushes. You will have to fish deeper for non-visable fish, and that can be quite deep. At Kerr Lake, I’ve fished as much as 10 feet deep for bass that had locked on to a bed and were unwilling to abandon it for fresh bushes. A friend of mine from Oklahoma said he has seen this happen with a massive flood of 20 feet — he was catch the spawning fish in 22 feet of water!
On the other hand, if bass are still in prespawn with the water rising, they will make their beds well up into the newly flooded cover when the time comes, so it is important to know what the moon phase is and to keep up with what stage of the spawn it is with rising water.
When faced with either of those scenarios, you will still want that flipping stick, weedless plastics or jigs and heavy line. One of my favorite ways to find spawning coves is to look for pine trees on the bank in coves. This often means a sandy bottom where bass prefer to make their beds.
A stout 7½- or 8-foot flipping rod and 20-fluorocarbon should do the trick most of the time. I like Daiwa’s 7-foot-6 LT flipping rod and the 8-foot heavy action Steez. If the cover is tighter, making it difficult to swing that 8-footer, then I go with the 7-foot-6. I love a fast reel, so I really like the new 7.3-to-1 Daiwa Zillion type-R reel on these rods to quickly reel back in and make another short cast.
What to flip? All the standard baits will work. I like to cycle through colors, looking for one that excites them. Sometimes it does not matter, but other times it makes all the difference in the world. I do keep it somewhat simple at first and fine-tune it from there. My standard base colors are black, brown, green pumpkin, and watermelon. I do mix them and throw in others, but those are the main deal.
You will want to try both Texas-rigged soft plastics and jigs, mixing the actions until you find just the right thing. I classify baits as aggressive or subtle. I’m more apt to go with aggressive baits before a front or in a situation where there’s not much fishing pressure, and subtle baits after a weather front or in a situation where fishing pressure is heavy.
If I’m flipping those deep bushes, I usually start with a ¾-ounce OutKast RT jig with Culprit tailgate special. If I’m up shallow, I’ll go with a 3/8ths-ounce jig or plastic with a quarter- to half-ounce weight depending on cover.
One of my favorites has become an out-of-favor bait: a worm. Almost everyone fishes creature baits, and I’ve found fish still really like a worm. While I still fish creatures and keep an open mind, I recently designed a new worm for Culprit called the Fat Max. It is thicker, with the tail oriented up. The thickness makes it easier to cast and easier for bass to see and feel. The tail is a little shorter, with just one hook-in so it does not wrap up in limbs. It fishes really well and gives bass something different to study. My favorite colors are black, cola, green pumpkin and watermelon. I also like junebug if I’m around weeds.
When fishing flooded cover, the base of the bushes are the best. So if you go flipping, you want your bait to bounce right down through all the limbs to the base where the fish most-likely bedding. Make sure you have enough weight on your lure to make it happen. It is a common mistake to fish with too light of a weight when in heavy cover.
So head to the heavy stuff this month and have some fun.
Dustin Wilks is a professional bass fisherman from Rocky Mount. He has fished professionally since 1999 and currently competes on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Wilks has qualified for five Bassmaster Classics and is sponsored by Culprit, Daiwa, OutKast Jigs, Costa Del Mar, RJA Custom Crankbaits, Skeeter, Yamaha, and Keelshield.
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