(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Whether they know it or not, any bass angler who has fished during the spring or early summer has caught fish that were keyed in on some sort of baitfish spawn. Ott DeFoe knows that shad, bluegills and herring (on lakes that have them) don’t all spawn at the same time, or in the same places, and understanding those differences helps him to key in on the most aggressive fish on any lake.
When the shad are spawning, it’s not uncommon “to catch a limit in minutes,” he said, but you better act fast because it rarely lasts more than an hour or so. Actually, he believes that it’s best on sunny days when the window of opportunity is the shortest, because that’s when the bite is most intense. They like to spawn on hard cover, including docks (especially floating docks) as well as rip-rap, grass, brush and green cover like treetops.
Oftentimes he’ll use a spinnerbait as a search tool. If you feel like you’re getting bit constantly, that’s shad bumping into the blades and it’s the easiest way to know that it’s going on. It’s a good way to catch them, too, as evidenced by the 30-pound bag he caught during a shad spawn on Falcon a few years ago. His most trusted tool, however, is a swim jig, specifically a Terminator Pro’s Jig, the same bait he flips, except in white. Nine times out of 10 he’ll use a half-ounce model paired with a BPS Swimming Chunk. A topwater, vibrating jig, swimbait and
crankbait also get some time on the deck of his Nitro.
Bluegills and other panfish typically spawn later than the shad, and they do so in protected areas that look like clusters of moon craters. When that bite is going on, DeFoe will spend his practice time looking for areas not only with a lot of beds, but also with a lot of bass patrolling them.
At this time, he said, “topwater is always best,” and unlike during the shad spawn when he might favor a walking bait moved quickly, now he prefers a popper or especially a prop bait, which he can twitch and then let it sit. “The middle of the day is best,” he advised.
The herring bite is a regional one, concentrated in Georgia and the Carolinas, and they may be the fastest moving baitfish a bass ever sees. A fluke is a popular lure, but “you don’t even twitch it…it’s like burning a spinnerbait.” If it’s allowed, the double fluke rig can be even better. Either way, DeFoe fishes it on a spinning rod with braid and a short leader tied to a swivel. Not only does the swivel add weight, but it provides a bit of flash to fire the bass up even more, like his lure is chasing a smaller baitfish. No matter what, he fishes the fluke on a regular round-bend 3/0 VMC worm hook, not an EWG model.
Like shad, the herring relate mostly to hard cover, but in addition to docks and rocks they are especially fond of clay points. In addition to the fluke, DeFoe typically has a topwater and a swimbait tied on, ready to make long casts and hop on the outboard when he sees the fish busting on the next point over.
If you want to learn some of DeFoe's other strategies for pursuing bass chasing a baitfish spawn – including the frog that paid off for him during a fathead minnow frenzy at Toledo Bend -- check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
