Bass fishing picks up in the Albemarle Sound and its tributaries at the same time that a different breed of baitfish plows in from the ocean, and for fishermen wanting to catch a trophy largemouth, the best lures will mimic these ocean intruders.
From small menhaden to large sea-run river herring, top-end predators live well when these anadromous forage species show up in their dining rooms.
For largemouth bass, the spring season couldn’t be better to fill up on a protein-rich diet because the annual spawning run of river herring is timed almost perfectly to match when bass start to move shallow.
Guide Scooter Lilley often sees many river herring spawning when he is looking for a bedding bass.
“There are small bream and shad around for bass to feed on, but the river herring run thick in the early spring, especially back in those small creeks.” Lilley said. “It’s a good time to catch a really big one.”
The river herring run has been going on for so long that the bass expect to see them back in their spawning grounds.
“The herring are everywhere in the early spring, but these small creeks are the places they come to spawn,” Lilley said.
The herring also move into the shallows to spawn around the full moon.
When he starts seeing herring schooling in the back of creeks, he will use lures that mimic these large herring, like a Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogue or a spinnerbait with big willow-leaf blades.
“The bass really get fired up on the river herring when they arrive, and we are after a big fish anyway, so the herring just makes it easier to draw in those big bass,” he said.
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