April is an interesting month for bass fishermen in North Carolina, because there are so many things happening in the water.Depending on the geographic location of your home lake, fish can be in a number of different phases approaching the spawn, and they can even be at the peak of the spawn.
You can be early in the prespawn at a lake such as Buggs Island, or you can have a lot of spawning fish on lakes that are farther south — such as Lake Wylie.
At the first of the month, no matter where you are, you’re gonna have some prespawn fish starting to move up to flats and in pockets real close to where they’re gonna spawn, and normally, by the end of April until maybe the third week of May, you’ll have the peak of the spawn in North Carolina.
Fishermen who can pinpoint where their fish are and what they’re doing should be in for some great fishing. But it can be very frustrating if you have a hard time keeping up with their comings and goings because as the spawn approaches, fish will scatter out, and when the spawn arrives, they become downright tough to catch.
Secondary points are the kinds of places anglers will find a lot of bass before they really move in, and they can make for some really good fishing for the first couple of weeks of the moth. You can fish them with a lipless crankbait, a shallow-running crankbait, a spinnerbait or a plastic worm.
I’m not a fan of sight-fishing for bedding fish, so I do everything I can to try and find fish that haven’t gone back into pockets to spawn. All of the fish in a lake won’t spawn at the same time, especially in bigger reservoirs.
If you know where the warmest water is, where there is some stained water, and how the spawn progresses on a lake, you can likely pinpoint areas where fish are going to spawn later.
All of the books you read about bass fishing will tell you fish will spawn at the upper end of a lake first, but I know that’s not correct. For one thing, the water is generally cooler at the upper end of a lake. And I know they spawn first in the clearer waters at the lower ends of lakes because that’s where I first find them moving out to deeper water when the spawn is over.
What I like to do is go to the upper end of a lake, find some stained water and look for secondary points where fish may be staging before they move up on the flats of back in the pockets. I especially like to fish gravelly banks.
You can expect fish to be near cover when they move shallow.
At Buggs Island, you’ll be fishing bushes that are in the water. At Lake Wylie, you’ll probably be fishing at boat docks, but in general, you just find shallow cover and fish it.
One of the baits I really like to fish when bass start to move shallow is a Zoom trick worm. I think you can catch slightly better fish with one than with other baits, and you can Texas-rig it or fish it wacky style — with the hook pushed through the egg sack right in the middle of the worm’s body.
I just think it’s hard to beat a trick worm when fish are really moving up.
If I’m fishing at brush or stickups, I’ll usually Texas-rig it with a 4/0 VMC hook. I try to use the biggest hook I can get away with because it will add weight to the worm and make it easier to cast.
When I’m fishing at docks, I usually rig it wacky-style.
As far as colors are concerned, I know a lot of fishermen like to fish trick worms in really bright colors they can see.
I’m the same way, but the colors I pick are dictated by how I’m fishing. If I’m fishing a dock, I want it to sink to the bottom out of sight, then work it back to the boat,
I try to throw the good colors I use the rest of the year — watermelon, green pumpkin or black. If the water’s clear and I can see the bottom where I’m fishing it, it’s pretty hard to beat yellow or another bright color.
Almost 30 years ago, Jetty Tuttle, who was a really good fisherman around the High Rock Lake area, showed me one of the real keys to fishing a trick worm at cover — a very short rod. When you’re fishing a bait like this, you need a medium-action rod. You also need a shorter rod so you can cast underhanded more easily and put your bait way back under a dock or back in a bush.
A couple of years ago American Rodsmiths came out with exactly that kind of rod, a little 4 1/2-foot baitcaster they called the “Dock Skipper” rod. You can cast underhanded and keep your bait low to the water, skip it back up under docks like you’re fishing a spinning rod, but you get the control of a bait-caster.
And a little short rod like that also puts into play little crankbaits like Fat Raps, which are really good in extremely shallow water. You can throw a little fat bait that doesn’t dive very deep back up under a dock and work it out and really catch some fish that way.
Later, the bass are going to start spawning, and you’re going to face a couple of weeks when the fishing can be really tough. That’s why you need to enjoy those last few weeks of the prespawn as much as you can.
Editor’s note: David Fritts is a 49-year-old professional bass fisherman from Lexington. He was the 1993 BASS Masters Classic champion, the 1993-94 BASS Angler of the Year and the 1997 FLW Tour Champion. His sponsors include: Bass Pro Shops, Evinrude Motors, Ranger Boats, Chevy Trucks, Minn-Kota trolling motors, American Rodsmith, Rapala crankbaits and fishing line, Zoom plastics, Solar Bat sun glasses, Mountain Dew, Gripper (ECS Anchor Supply), VMC hooks, Pro Pocket and Blue Fox.
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