There's Always Time To Fish
 
Topwater Time!

 Part 3

As for where to fish top waters, that’s a huge question. Basically anywhere there is water you can fish it. Really it’s that simple but also more complex. First you have to understand that for three of the four seasons there are fish shallow. Anytime there are shallow fish a top water can work very well. Fish in shallow water typically orient themselves on a piece of cover and sit and wait for food to swim past. With little water under them they must look up first to feed. The fish can also move horizontally a long way to are feed. 

Brian Bees prop bait

Deep water fish use the surface as an edge to trap forage fish against. The bass will follow below the schools of forage fish and slowly get closer until the school is on the surface. This effectively creates an edge that bass use. The forage can’t go up so they are trapped between the bass and the surface.

When spring arrives in WNC, the first places I look for top water fish is the ends of long points close to deep water, holding areas. These points allow fish to move shallower by moving vertically, as the sun warms the water. When the fish have moved up you can tempt them with a prop bait or Spook if you work it very slowly and subtly.

Dead sticking a jerk bait can work well too. Cast it out and let it sit there, that’s all. Watch your bait because the bite will not always be a big splash. Bass will often suck a bait under like a trout does a dry fly. You won’t catch a lot of fish like this but can catch some nice ones.

As the water warms into the pre-spawn, the fish follow secondary points toward spawning flats near the back of coves and pockets. Move from point to point and cast prop and walking baits to isolated 

Rebel Pop-R

pieces of cover, docks and laydowns. Also look for the first emerging vegetation in a cave or pocket. These areas can hold several fish so remember to make several casts and return later in the day to fish again.

During the spawn top water takes a back seat to other tactics but will still catch fish. One trick I use is to dance a prop bait or popper slowly around spawning flats. Play close attention to the outside edge, isolated cover and along deep water access areas. Another trick is to dance a jerk bait on the surface above spawning nests. When you break the bill on a small to medium sized jerk bait save it and file down the bill until it’s very close to the body. These baits will not work like a normal jerk bait, but will sit and quiver on the surface. A number 7 or 9 Rapala is perfect for this. This can drive bass crazy and draw vicious strikes.

Rapala F9

During the post-spawn bass need to recuperate from spawning and will settle deep for a few days. After they get back on track they’re hungry and will crush walking baits and poppers. Reverse the path you took into the spawning areas to find post spawn bass. Also look for humps, bars and around islands.  

H2Xpress TWS

When you find them use a quick retrieve to draw strikes. The post spawn often coincides with the Shad or Herring spawn and creates an early morning frenzy of top water action. Both Shad and Herring spawn on at or near the surface creating a buffet of forage for bass. Bigger walking baits and Pencil Poppers work very well.

I tend to fish top waters early or late in the day during the heat of summer. Most of the fish are deep and will not rise to hit a top water consistently. The fish that stay shallower will roam more during the lower light of morning and evening. Look for isolated cover near points and along feeding flats and ditches. Poppers fished fast works very well during this time. Another dynamite presentation is to fish a jointed black Jitterbug over the edges of flats, ends of drops offs and along bluff banks after dark. The strikes are loud, violent and make you have scared feeling in your stomach. Perfect way to end a day!



Shad

We’ve talked in an earlier entry about where to fish in the fall, so I’ll be brief here. Follow the forage on your lake!

You will read about how you should go to backs of creeks and deep coves where the bait is, and that’s true to a point. Remember you must follow the bait on your lake or river. The lakes I fish the majority of the time don’t have Shad, so I don’t run to the backs of creeks with the shad.

Blueback Herring

The bass in the Tuckasegee chain of lakes feed on Crawfish first and young of the year Bass and Sunfish second. I fish rocky, hard bottom areas and along any vegetation I can find. You need to think like a crawfish or bream. Laydowns, brush piles, docks and stumps are key areas.

 

choked it

Final thoughts on location. I find that the line where the bottom seems to disappear into deep water is a great place to start fishing a top water. I know it seems strange but I put together this pattern years ago and holds up every year. I don’t know if the fish use that line of shade or color change as an edge, but it works for me. Another place to never overlook is dark spots. Dark spots are often deeper than the surrounding water and can often have an isolated piece of cover in them that hold fish. Dam faces are excellent from early spring to late fall. The large rocks hold heat, and provide thousands of places for both forage and Bass to hide.

Find the fish during the season your fishing, fish your top water the right speed and hold on! Top water fishing can help you load the boat and often works when nothing else will.

If want to fish and need some advice or a guide then contact my good buddy Austin Neary. He is a serious stick on Glenville Lake and all WNC Mountain lakes. Austin fishes the BASS College Series, and after a third place finish at the Eastern Regional at Watts Bar, Tennessee he competed in the National Championship Tournament on Lake Chatuge. Reach him at Dream Catcher Guides



Save Wildlife for your kids































 

Real Sportsmen buy their Licenses



 

 



NCANGLER