Guides Joel Munday loves 4,100-acre Shearon Harris Reservoir just southwest of Raleigh, N.C., to spoon-feed bass with magnum-sized spoons. Largemouth bass are very bait-oriented, following prolific schools of threadfin and gizzard shad — as well as white perch — from point to point.
“They can be on any main-lake point and some of the deeper creek-channel bends near the mouth of the creeks,” Munday said. “I like a point to have deep water adjacent to it, and I like for it to be a long sloping point. Harris also has a lot of hidden points that aren’t obvious if you’re looking at the shoreline.
“They’re generally going to be anywhere from the 12- to 18-foot range. I’ve literally thrown the spoon from one end of the lake to the other. I’m not necessarily looking for the fish to be hugging the bottom, but close to it, not suspended. If I’m not seeing them on the graph, I just move off and go to the next one.”
Phillips also prefers points that drop off into the meandering creek channels off the main lake. While he checks areas from 12 to 16 feet, he has also found them from 20 to 22 feet. But he keeps his eyes peeled for sharp drops on those points.
“There are a lot of points near Holleman’s boat ramp that I like, but those fish really like contour breaks. You might have a break going from 12 to 14 feet, and they’ll be sitting right on the 14-foot mark. You can catch a few, and the school will move 50 yards down the break and still be at the same water depth.”
Harris is managed as a trophy lake, with a 5-fish daily creel limit and a slot limit from 16 to 20 inches in which no fish may be kept. Two fish per day smaller than 14 inches can be kept. Magnum spoons catch a lot of the over-slot fish that are key for tournament anglers.
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