05/07/2013
Toledo Bend - TX,Huxley
May Fishing Forecast

I know you are going to think that I am just blowing smoke about how great one of my sponsors is just because they are one of my sponsors. But let me tell you, whether they were a sponsor or not, they have the most advanced technology in the industry when it comes to trolling motors, sonars, and GPS mapping.

Last year at this time, I reported on putting a new toy on my boat, the Minn Kota Terrova I-Pilot trolling motor with remote control and GPS tracking. I have just gone nuts over the past year sitting back and letting my trolling motor do all the work for me. I can walk around the boat, take my customers fish off their hook, re-tie their bait and not worry about the boat moving off our spot. Literally, I have sat in one spot all day with the wind blowing 10 to 15mph and never touched the trolling motor.

Well, when you thought you’ve seen everything, you find out Minn Kota has a new Terrova I-Pilot with link capabilities that will communicate with their Hummingbird unit and Lakemaster chip. I can’t wait to see what this baby can do.

With the heavy rains in April, we’re going into May with plenty of water if SRA doesn’t start pulling the lake. The first part of May felt more like January than typical spring weather. We shattered the low record two days in a row; recording temp in the upper 30s.

Some black bass will still be in transition moving from the shallow spawning flats following the creeks and bunching up on the secondary points heading back to deep water.

Early morning and late evening we’ll work the shallow flats close to deep water and main and secondary points with buzz baits, stick baits, swimming frogs, spinner baits, top water plugs, shallow diving cranks, finesse and soft plastics until the sun gets over head. Once the sun gets overhead and the shallow bite slows down, we'll back out to deeper water and concentrate in the bends of the creeks with crank baits and Texas or Carolina rigged soft plastics. Later in the month as the water continues warming and the lake is usually falling, the main lake points, river channel ledges, ridges and humps will become more productive. If you can find the structure and cover holding bait -fish you will usually find the bass. Schooling activity will start increasing as the water continues warming so keep a shallow diving crank bait, lipless crank bait and top water plug handy for schooling bass.

It’s time for the bream to be moving into the shallows to spawn. An ultra lite spinning rig, jigging pole, fly rod or just a bamboo pole you can cut off the side of the road can be used to catch these feisty fish. You can use a clip on cork, slip cork, or straight line casting a small insect type lure (beetle spin, in- line spinner or small jigs) but the most popular baits are live baits - crickets, or worms (red wigglers, catalpa, or meal worms).

The simplest way to locate the beds is to look for honey cone circles along the bank. The beds will extend out from the shore- line in a semi circle. Some say they can locate a bed by the strong “fishy” odor emitted from the bed. Usually, if you find one bed there will be more beds relatively close. However, some bream will bed up in deeper water as much as 10ft. Dragging a small beetle spin on the bottom will help you locate the deeper beds.

When you start fishing the bed, target the outside edges of the bed first and work inward. If you pick off the shallow fish first the hooked bream will run through the bed scattering the other fish. If your catch starts slowing up, move onto another bed and let that one rest. The bream will move back onto the bed if not disturbed. Bream fishing will definitely get a kid “Hooked on Fishing”- plenty of action, a lot of fun and “Good Eats”!

With the increase in the lake level, the Whites have been on the move. We’re already starting to see a lot of schooling action and catching them off major points from 8ft. to 20ft. of water with slab spoons, Rat-L-Traps and shallow diving crank baits.

The Crappie are moving back into deeper water. Early in the month, work the deep creeks focusing on the points and the bends. Also work shiners and jigs over cover in 15 to 25ft of water at the mouth of the creeks and pockets leading to the main lake.