Pro Tactics for Post-Spawn Success

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IT’S LATE SPRING in Texas. Time for all you Texas bass junkies to shift gears and get into a post spawn frame of mind.

Many of us cut our fishing teeth hearing the old timers whine about bass falling into a sickly funk on the heels of the spawn. Some still regard it as one of bass fishing’s toughest times.

My ol’ friend Jim Tutt of Longview doesn’t buy it. Not anymore. Neither does Wendell Ramsey of San Angelo.

Tutt has chased bass on lakes across Texas and far beyond during all seasons of the year. Fishing during the post spawn — that 30-45 day period sandwiched between the end of the spawn and when the bass settle into their summer patterns — ranks among his favorite times to be on the water.

“I grew up hearing that post spawn fishing is really tough,” Tutt said. “But I’ve since learned that isn’t true. The fish are stressed from the spawn, and they’ve been beaten up on for the better part of two months. But they are hungry, and they need to eat. You just have to make some adjustments to catch them.”

The changes Tutt will make depend entirely on existing conditions on the lake up for discussion.

Grass or No Grass

Whether or not a lake has grass is a vital part of the equation.

“Grass is a huge deal, especially on our East Texas lakes like Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, Lake O’ the Pines and others,” Tutt said. “Some of the fish may leave the grass and group up on offshore structures for a while after the spawn, but many of them won’t. They’ll still be hanging around it (the grass); they may just relocate from the little pockets and other shallow areas where they spawned and move closer to deeper water.”

Tutt says secondary points with grass towards the mouths of spawning pockets are always good places to look. He also likes buck brush and willows, provided they are flooded by at least two feet of water.

The Longview pro says a similar situation occurs on lakes that are light on grass but heavy on boat docks. A few that come to mind are lakes Travis, Texoma, LBJ and Conroe. Both stationary and floating docks are prone to hold fish.

“They’ll leave those shallow spawning coves and move to the next available cover,” Tutt said. “Boat docks are sure to be a player. On stationary docks they’ll relate a lot to the walkway poles, whereas they’ll get right underneath those floating docks and relate a lot to the edges.”

Baits of Choice

Tutt says post spawn bass can be caught using a variety of techniques and baits. Throwing a Rebel Pop-R topwater (chrome/blue back) ranks among his

favorite ways to fool them. Some other good choices include a buzz frog like the Stanley Ribbit, buzz bait, Zoom Fluke, swim jig, wake bait or weightless Senko.

“I also love twitching a floating worm especially around grass, flooded bushes or stick-ups,” he said. “For whatever reason they’ll clobber that thing. What’s really cool is you’ll actually see a lot of them eat it in clear water. It’s pretty exciting when it happens.”

Tutt’s favorite worm is a Zoom Trick worm in pink or bubblegum color. He prefers to throw it on a spinning rod in combination with 3/0 offset Gamakatsu round bend hook. He uses 15-pound test braid for main line and a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.

The lines are connected using a SPRO drop shot barrel swivel. The swivel adds a little casting weight, but its main purpose is to eliminate line twist.

Bream Beds and Shad Spawn

Bass love an easy meal, and the pickings don’t get any easier than when bream and threadfin shad move shallow to spawn in late spring and early summer.

Bream spawn in large colonies in shallow water and post spawners will gravitate to the smorgasbord periodically over the course of the day to munch the tasty panfish. Prop style topwaters have a rich history around bream beds, as do frogs, shallowing diving crank baits, wacky worms and weightless stick baits. Wakes, boils and swirls are good signs bass are present and having their way with bluegills.

Unlike bream, shad don’t build beds for spawning. Instead, pods of the succulent bait fish move shallow at night to broadcast their eggs against grass beds, flooded bushes, rip rap, retaining walls, docks and other objects. The process typically ends shortly after daylight, so it’s best to be on the water at first light to capitalize on the blood bath that happens when bass move in to feed.

A good sign a shad spawn is underway is when shad are visibly popping the surface, blue herons gathered on shore and of course, feeding fish! Reel a spinnerbait, buzz bait, popper, small swim bait or chrome Rat-L-Trap through the frenzy and hang on tight.

Big Out West

It’s no secret that Lake O.H. Ivie has been on a big wintertime roll the last few years, but fishing guide Wendell Ramsey says the 19,000-acre reservoir also produces some whoppers after the spawn winds down. If you like to catch big ones on topwaters, ‘Ivie is worth a look.

“Last May and June was some of the best topwater fishing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “We saw quite a few fish in the 8-10 pound range and even a couple of 12s.”

Ramsey says some of the most explosive big fish action comes winding a Whopper Plopper over 8-12 foot flats bordering the deeper river channel that drops to 25-35 feet in the mid-lake stretch. He says a big 8-10 inch worm also is a good bet when flipped in old hardwoods mixed with salt cedars at the same depth range.

“Just about all of these fish will be suspended in or along the edges of the salt cedars,” Ramsey said. “I think they are in there feeding on bream that are moving shallow to spawn. A lot of the big ones will have bream tails sticking out their throats when we catch them.”