Fishing Report for Largemouth Bass using Bladed Jigs in Spring (Post-Spawn)

T-White

Blue Ambassador

4/21/24

Lake Fork

• Species

  Largemouth Bass

• Season

  Spring (Post-Spawn)

• Technique

  Bladed Jigs

• Structure

  Stumps

• Forage

  Shad

• Water Temperature

  62°

My tournament partner Iain and I fished a yearly vendor tournament on the lake on Sunday 04/21/24. The day before was supposed to be our practice day, but we did not get to practice at all due to extreme rain and storms occurring basically all day. The week leading up to the tournament it was sunny and hot, and then the day before a major front blows in (of course) and dropped the lake's water temperatures from the low to mid 70's down to 59-63 degrees, which made the bite on the lake very tough. The water temperature on the lake this day ranged from about half a foot of visibility to around 3 feet of visibility, and finding the cleaner water was key to our success. We only ended up catching 2 under sized keepers to go towards the tournament, but we also caught 3 nice slot fish all between 3 and 5 pounds. We caught all of our fish on a chatterbait or wacky rig up shallow on sandy spawning flats with isolated stumps spread out throughout the spawning flats in 2-4 feet of water. The new Shimano Mastiff FC Fluorocarbon line in the 16 lb strength is what I chose to use for my chatterbait, and I was super impressed! Super smooth casting and held up well, definitely give it a try if you haven't already! Unfortunately, we did not get to weigh in our fish due to us being 20 seconds late to weigh in because Iain hooked me in the head with his Jackhammer. However, the bite was super tough that day, and we had 3 pounds in the livewell, which would have been enough to cash us a check, as it only took 2.46 pounds to get a check! The bite on Fork was tough that weekend, but with the warming weather, its only going to get better!

Hotbait
Z-Man Jack Hammer Chatterbait 3/8 oz / Spot Remover
$15.99
Add to Cart