We’re in East Texas and the big bass are biting! Our 3rd stop on this bass fishing adventure is Lake Fork! It only takes a few minutes to discover the shad are spawning on shallow points and the bass are ambushing the baitfish. We put our electronics to work and located a big school with BIG fish in the mix. Out came the crankbaits and the pattern unfolded from there.
May is an awesome time to fish large bodies of water. If there is deep water access you’ll almost always find bass in all 3 stages of the spawn. In this case we found a secondary point leading out to main lake structure that had a large school of fish. Some of the bass were heading in to spawn, others were already done and headed back out, but all of them were making a stop to ambush Threadfin and Gizzard Shad as they spawned along the wind blown point.
We’ve explained in recent videos that the shad spawn is an amazing time to catch big fish that are aggressively feeding in shallow water. Today we put that video to work and caught them on squarebill crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and paddle tail swimbaits. Below is a breakdown of the gear we used to catch these fish.
The baits…
-Biggie Squarebill: http://bit.ly/2ahCzvo
(Gizzard Shad, Abalone Shad, Horizon Shad all have the necessary flash)
-Bling Spinnerbait 1/2 oz: http://bit.ly/2diSwqq
(I Know It, Abalone Shad)
-4.8″ Keitech Swimbait: http://bit.ly/2ab7s8v
-Owner Flashy Swimmer 5/0 Hook: http://bit.ly/2e8O4Y7
Upgraded Treble Hooks…
-Owner ST-36 Size 2: http://bit.ly/2cWpeyw
-Hyperwire Split Rings Size 3: http://bit.ly/2v8ArBX
Matt’s Crankbait Combo…
Rod- Zodias 7’2″ Medium Heavy Glass: http://bit.ly/2cgmMAe
Reel- Shimano Bantam MGL XG: http://bit.ly/2H44yjG
Line- 20 lb Power Pro Maxcuatro: http://bit.ly/2clBRiQ
Leader- 12 lb Maxima Ultragreen: http://bit.ly/2ae97J9
CC’s Crankbait Combo…
Rod- Dobyns Champion 805CB: http://bit.ly/29OVD4V
Reel- Shimano Curado HG: http://bit.ly/2tHewEh
Line- 15 lb Sunline Assassin: http://bit.ly/2h4LNjm
Electronics…
Humminbird Solix 15: http://bit.ly/2Hazsej
Humminbird Solix 12: http://bit.ly/2AE2YDB
