Weedless lures are a must for mining Tuckertown Lake’s bass

Invasion of black-mat algae hasn’t hurt fishing but has forced change in tactics

Bryan Shinn of Garner loves to fish and for years competed in bass tournaments on the reservoirs around the Raleigh-Durham area, but now he keys on Tuckertown Lake, where he recently caught an 8-pound bass.

A few years ago, he purchased a vacation home on the shores of Tuckertown Lake, a 2,600-acre impoundment on the Yadkin River, tucked between Badin and High Rock Lakes, and he knows how good the fishing can be, particularly the bass fishing.

“I’ve been coming here for seven years,” he said recently. “I like the lake a lot, and I’m trying to learn it as much as possible.”

Shinn was on one of his “learning” trips a week or so ago with guide Maynard Edwards of Lexington’s Yadkin Lake Guide Service when he landed a bass that pushed the 8-point mark on a white Zoom Fluke.

Shinn, a Kannapolis native, likes to fish a Fluke or Sluggo in watermelon or natural shad colors in the fall at Tuckertown, and Edwards agreed that they are effective baits.

“I like 12-pound fluorocarbon line,” Shinn said. “I think it’s harder for a bass to see, and it’s so limber it adds a lot of natural movement to baits when I’m retrieving them. I might lose a fish now and then using light line, but I’m fishing for fun now, so the advantages outweigh the risks. I just think I catch more fish with lighter line.”

Flukes and Sluggos – along with other baits that can be fished weedless – have come into vogue at Tuckertown since 2005 when the lake was infested with black-mat algae, which covers much of the lake’s shallow vegetative and wooden cover and is apt to foul any bass lure that is worked through it.

“You just have to throw stuff that doesn’t get fouled — such as Flukes and topwater lures like Zara Spooks or Pop-Rs,” Edwards said.

“Maynard likes to use a spinnerbait,” said Shinn, who noted that Edwards had landed several smaller bass on a blade before he caught his lunker.

“That’s a good Tuckertown bass,” Shinn said.

“It sure is,” Edwards said. “I’ve seen one 11-pounder come out of Tuckertown, but I’d be proud of this one.”