Fishing for prespawn bass

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Now is the time of year that the lakes have reached summer pool and the waters in the shallows have reached the temps that the bass will start moving in and out of shallow areas looking for a spot to spawn. Bass fishing is broken down into three separate times of the year. First is the prespawn which is what most lakes are in now. Then you have the spawn where the bass go on the nest and lay their eggs and have their baby's called fry. During this time the male bass called a buck bass will protect the nest from fish like panfish that try to eat the eggs. You can tell the male bass they are the smaller then the female. She is the big hog bass that you see on the nest. Then you have the post spawn time this is after the bass are through with the spawn and they will scatter all over the lake to hold during the summer months. What each of these times have in common is that each one has its own pattern that the bass will use during that time period. And right now is the prespawn period. Fish in the shallow parts of the lake that receives the most sunlight during the day. These areas will warm the quickest. After you have spotted these types of areas look for bass on the nest or moving in and out of the area. If you don't see much action going on this probably means that the bass are in a holding stage holding on what is called secondary drop offs. This is places like creek or river channels or a edge of a flat where it drops off into deeper water. This types of places are known as staging or holding areas that bass will use till the water temps and the water levels are right to move in and spawn. When you are looking for drop off areas watch your fish finder and look for the area of the bottom that comes out off the flats, and look for a drop off in to deeper water. The drop may only be a few feet or several feet. This is all a bass will need to hold in this area. Once you find a area like this back off some and make long cast on light line in the 8 to12 pound test range. A Carolina rigged lizard is very hard to beat. A lot of anglers like to throw a 4 or 6 inch zoom lizard in a watermelon color. Also a shad colored crankbait is a real good bait to use. Make long cast on light line and try to make your cast parallel to the banks. What this does by making your cast parallel to the cover you will have your bait in the strike zone of the bass during most of your retrieve. This is a much higher precetage chance way of hooking up with a bass than by just tossing your lure to the target area then pulling it out into open water and away from the cover. As for cover on the drop offs look for things like weed beds, stumps or standing timber or old road beds or the end of points and rock ledges. And what you want to key in on are the edges of this cover. Bass will cruise these edges looking for a meal. Other good baits to fish in more confined target areas are worms and jigs. These are big bass baits. During low light or cloudy overcast conditions the bass will move upon the flats and feed more aggressive. Fish the same baits or try small top waters like poppers, chuggers or jerk baits or buzz baits. You can also throw a soft plastic bait like a zoom fluke or floating worm. Give some of these tips a try and good fishing. If you have any type of fishing question or story or picture to share please send it to me at gabbysfishingfever@yahoo.com

                                 Fishing for the battling bluegill

If there was ever a fish that had no fear and would fight to the very end it would be the bluegill. The bluegill might be the smallest
 fish in the lake or pond but it is by far the most aggressive fish for its size. In a lot of small ponds you will see so many bluegill that the pond will be over run by small or runt bluegill.  When this happens a pond can quickly be ruined. Some of the options to correct this is to drain the pond and restock it with better size bluegill and then use a better plan of pond managment to keep the pond in balance. The fish and wildlife folks can help you with these types of problems if you contact them. Also you can put larger game fish like bass in the pond to eat the smaller bluegill and keep the pond right. What happens when a pond is over run by smaller runt size bluegill is that there are more fish than the pond has food to support. Or there are not enough bigger fish like the bass or catfish to eat the smaller fish. But on the other hand a pond that has been took care of in the right way. Can produce some of the largest bluegills you will ever see. I have a very good friend of mine that I used to work with. His family has a good size pond that gets its water supply from the run off of very rich fertile soil. This makes for idea conditions to raise giant bluegills. I was invited to fish in this pond and I must say I caught some of the biggest bluegill I have ever caught in my life. This is what you can get out of a well managed farm pond if you do it right. A pond like this will bring enjoyment to young and old alike for several generations. Now if the big lakes are more your style of fishing then you are in luck also. Because the bluegill is found in almost every lake I know of. The bluegill is most active during the daytime hours and will feed during most of the day. I have seen times during the hottest times of summer when the bluegills would just suspend in shallow water next to cover and would not feed. When you see times like this try to find wood or rock cover in deeper cooler water.You can fish with a bobber or straight down. Try baits like minnows, nightcrawlers, red worms, crickets or meal worms. All these baits will do good. Also look for bluegill hanging out close to boat docks  or any kind of floating structure. The bluegill is a member of the panfish family or also called the sunfish. The bluegill is also known as a sun granny in some places. There is a strain of a hybred bluegill called a shell cracker bluegill. This is the largest and most aggresive member of the bluegill family. These fish are more darker colored than a regular bluegill.You can check the ky fish and wildlife internet site for locations of the best bluegill fishing in your area. If you want to contact me with any type of fishing question of for more info drop me a line at gabbysfishingfever@yahoo.com