Wylie bass heading toward bedding

Largemouths filling up shallows as spawn approaches

Guide Eric Weir expects a tremendous move by largemouth bass into Lake wylie’s shallows this week as the peak of the spawn approaches.

“There are waves of fish fixin’ to come up on the bank,” said Weir, who operate’s Big E’s Guide Service. “Some of them had come up before the cold front, and some did spawn, but most of them backed off. The first wave of fish that got in and spawned is already out on the humps, but by the end of the month, there will be a lot of fish spawning.”

Weir said that a floating worm in natural colors — green/black or watermelon — will be very effective. He typically rigs a Zoom trick worm wacky-style, with the hook through the middle of the worm, around the egg sack.

“If a fish comes up and flashes on a bait you’re throwing, or if you’ve got a floating worm rigged straight, if you’ll switch to wacky-style, you’ll improve your catch by 10 to 1,” said Weir (704-825-2827). “The other lures I really like to fish are a buzzbait first thing in the morning or a No. 13 Rapala.”

Weir looks in the backs of small pockets and in the backs of creeks for spawning fish. Wylie, formerly a lake that stayed stained much of the year, has become much clearer over the past five years, allowing for much better sight-fishing to spawning bass.

“You will have a few stragglers spawning through May, but most of them will be spawning in the next week or so,” he said. “I like to fish docks and laydowns, but they’ll spawn on most any dark spot you can see on the bottom. I really like to fish the scaly-barked birch trees. They grow out in the water, and the fish will get right on the base of them.”

As May progresses, a good topwater bite should emerge, said Weir, who believes that the clearer water conditions have allowed the lake’s bigger bass to remain shallow for much of the year. A lot of smaller bass can still be caught out on humps and points, but the better-quality bass will be caught in five feet of water or less.