May: Time to cover lots of water for bass fishing

The biggest bass are the first ones to make a big move as spawning patterns turn to post-spawn or even summertime.

End of spawn means challenge of scattered fish

Many bass fisherman do not like the month of May. Many fish are in a post-spawn funk, and fish tend to be scattered.

May is actually one of my favorite months, as the challenge of figuring them out becomes more difficult, thus creating a bigger reward. It is often the month of singles — not like singles night, but catching just one fish in an area. They can start schooling later in the month, but often, scattered is the name of the game.

So what do you do? Knowing fish are scattered, you have a couple of options depending on the lake you are fishing.

• First, cover always attracts bass, so you can concentrate on shallow cover targets or key on one type of structure and run around fishing that. Hopping points or running the first dock in every cove are just a couple of examples. Of course, you need to figure out where most of your bites are coming from before you commit to that style of fishing, but it can be deadly and really fun as the anticipation of a bite greets you at each new spot. Before you can do that however, you need to determine where the fish are, and that takes me to my second way of catching fish.

• Second, my best advice is to just put the trolling motor down and on at least 75-percent power and cover water. Don’t worry about hitting every little target, but rather try to gather the big picture of where the fish are and how they are set up. Something like a buzzbait or swimbait is fantastic for covering water. Once you figure out where the fish are, you may want to change, but sometimes those two baits will get the job done without changes.

Often, the swimbait — I fish a Culprit Incredi-swim — is so effective that I keep that bait going most of the time and mix in a topwater popper on isolated pieces of cover that I want to fish more thoroughly. I use the swimbait on a belly-weighted swimbait hook with a little screw on the eye that secures the bait. One comes in the package with the Culprit Incredi-swim.

You don’t have to worry about the weather too much, because you can usually put on a pair of shorts and go fishing; the cold fronts of April are behind us. So with consistent weather and scattered bass, the topwater/swimbait bite can last nearly the whole month. There will be various other fish spawning in May, particularly a late shad spawn or the beginning of bluegills bedding, and these create feeding opportunities you can take advantage of. It’s just like going through the Bojangles drive through on the way to the lake; you’ve got to take advantage of those feeding opportunities. You have to cover water to find these fish, so if there was ever a month to fish fast, May is it.

• There are some special cases, like spawning. On some lakes and rivers, a large number of bass will still be spawning. Some eastern rivers warm up more slowly, so the spawn often gets put off until May. In this situation, topwater lures still work in places where you think they are spawning, or flip jigs and plastics. The water is often black or off-color, so sight-fishing is off the table many times. Northern and western lakes can be cooler, too, so you may still get spawn fishing — Gaston and Kerr are good for May spawning fish as well as many lakes in the western third of the state. Be aware; a good percentage will still be postspawn, so keep an open mind.

Fishing offshore is another case. If April and the first part of May are really warm, a good number of fish might set up offshore. For the draggers and crankers out there, this can be exciting, because the biggest fish are always the ones to move first to new habitats. While there are less fish out than there will be in June, if you want to tie on that big 10- or 12-inch worm and explore a little offshore, you can be rewarded with big fish.

Flooding from heavy rains — I’m starting to sound like an insurance policy — can also change things. High water will put bass up in the bushes, where flipping and fishing a spinnerbait can be great, and a swimbait will dominate if the water is clear.

All in all, May is really fun if you are willing to fish fast and keep an open mind. Have fun and enjoy the beautiful May weather.