(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs five times per week on Sportsman Channel – 2 p.m. ET Sunday, 4:30 a.m. Monday, 6 a.m. Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and 5:30 a.m. Saturday. The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier provides BassFans with additional insight about each episode in these submissions.)
This weeks’ show highlighted catching bass in clear water during the postspawn.
Many things are happening during this period. There could be a few late spawners and fry-guarders, but most have begun feeding. Lucky for the feeders is that the shad are coming to them. Once a year there is a shad spawn and it nearly always coincides with the postspawn of largemouth bass. So just when they need to eat the most, the food comes to them right on the bank.
In this show, I arrived at the lake just a touch late and without any pre-fishing or knowledge of what was happening, as I do with nearly all the shows to keep them authentic. I started fishing in a creek and caught a few decent fish on topwater, but they were well off the bank, so nothing told me shad spawn with that. I thought maybe we were too late both in the day and a couple weeks late for the shad spawn based on time of year, which was mid-May.
After fishing for a couple hours, it dawned on me that the places I was catching fish were the exact places that shad like to spawn, but I was catching those fish after the frenzy that would have occurred early in the morning. Shad really like clay banks, steeper channel swings, even floating docks to lay their eggs. All of these places, I was catching a lot of fish.
We had to edit out a lot of catching for this show to fit into the 22 minutes of programing, but my primary two weapons after the early morning Yo-Zuri Popper Fish were an Eco-Pro spinnerbait and a Yo-Zuri 3DB 110 Jerkbait. These are all great shad imitators and can be fished quickly in the clear water.
Fishing as many places near where the shad are spawning as fast as you can is key to catching a lot of fish postspawn, but perhaps not the best tactic for catching big ones. For taht I’ve found you need to be on the lake before sunrise and really be dialed in to where the shad are spawning before the day starts. That is the best way to catch a big one early.
Once the sun comes up, some lakes can get really tough. Luckily the lake I was on fished pretty good all day. Reaction baits are great for catching the numbers.
If I had the day to do over I would have taken a couple hours to fish a big football jig and a 10- or 12-inch worm off some long points. If you are fishing a lake with heavy cover, flipping is dominant. The bass will literally just sit in shallow cover, not feeding until the next morning. The only way to get them is to drop something on their nose right in the heavy cover.
Often the biggest fish will begin to explore their summer haunts and are first to show up on spots like these and can be caught with a slow-moving bait. My unfamiliarity with what was going on made me keep going fast having fun with the jerkbait and spinnerbait, and having fun is what this sport is all about!
