Flats Patterns For Clarks Hill April Bass

Springtime is just a beautiful time ti be in the Peach State. The dogwoods are blooming, the turkeys are gobbling an< on Clarks Hill the blueback-herring spawn is just days away. What this translate; into for the bass angler is that big, aggressive largemouth bass will be following these delectable little baitfish to the spawning grounds — the flats and blow throughs — and the fishing is red-hot.

The anticipation of the blueback spawn is kind of like being a kid waiting for Christmas day. The expectation slowly grows day after day and once it arrives you’re ripping off wrapping paper with a vengeance until all your gifts have been opened.

When the bluebacks spawn on Clarks Hill lunker bass get amazingly aggressive, hitting everything from Spooks and Flukes to shallow-running crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Once the blueback spawn hits, this action-packed fishing will hold for five or six weeks.

On March 15, along with GON-TV cameraman Eric Thornton, I met Larry Gilpin at Fort Gordon. I knew Larry would be the right fishermen to tell me what to expect in April on Clarks Hill. Larry is president of the Clarks Hill Committee, representing 28 east-Georgia bass-fishing clubs. In 1986 he won the “Mr. Clarks Hill” bass tournament, and he lives about a mile from the Fort Gordon boat ramp. Larry spends a large majority of his time fishing^ and is associated with some of darks Hill’s top-notch bass-fishing anglers.

Not only is April a special time on Clarks Hill, but this year in particular will be a special one. On April 17-18 Clarks Hill is hosting the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Top Six tournament. Larry is not fishing in the tournament and had no problem sharing some of his April bassing secrets with GON.

“The main thing is where the bait Is at,” said Larry.

He couldn’t preach these words enough as we started out the morning just after daylight fishing the big, shallow flat right out from the Fort Gordon boat ramp.

“The bass were schooling right here this morning at daylight,” he said. “In fact, this time of year 90% of the bass in this lake relate to bait.”

The long, tapering flat had patches of hydrilla on it, and this allows the largemouth to hide, waiting for a school of ready-to-spawn bluebacks to cruise by. The hydrilla grows in columns, and it’s easily recognizable on your graph—it looks just like a tree with no branches.

We were throwing a new crankbait made by Lucky Strike called The Pointer Minnow. It only took me about a half-dozen casts in front of Fort Gordon before I made a personal decision—in the very near future I would find a tackle shop and buy some Pointer Minnows! These things are awesome!

The small lipped jerkbaits are shallow-running—they go about 3 feet below the surface. These new baits are perfect for Clarks Hill bass because you can jerk them right over the tops of the hydrilla patches. It’s going to be hard for a lurking bass laying in the grass to pass up this bait because it looks so much like a blueback herring.

“I’ve never seen a lure look more like a blueback,” said Larry.

Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who’s been fishing this lake for about three decades.

If you purchase one of these new baits and head to the flats, hope for a nice, breezy day.

“The breeze blows them (the bluebacks) up in there, and you don’t spook the bass nearly as bad when there’s a ripple on the water as you do when the water is slick,” Larry said.

Larry also mentioned that when the water is choppy it’s much harder for the bass to distinguish between what’s real—blueback herring—and what’s the imitation—The Pointer Minnow.

This will be the first year these jerkbaits have been around during a blow-through cycle, and Larry believes it will be putting fish in the boat not only during the Top Six tournament, but for the next five or six weeks as the bluebacks move up to the flats and blow-throughs to spawn.

“The bluebacks usually spawn in early April to April 15th or 20th, depending on the weather. And it seems like we got an early spring,” said Larry.

Clarks Hill expert Larry Gilpin with a Pointer Minnow jerkbait bass caught during a March, 2000 trip with GON.

When we fished, the largemouth had already been up cruising on the flats. They are not only there in anticipation for the blueback spawn, but they will hold in these areas in prespawn and postspawn stages. Also, when they are ready to go on the beds, which will happen this month, they’ll just right up in the shallowest part of the flat and do their thing.

We had hit several flats, some big and some rather small, before we picked up our first largemouth of the day. We were fishing in a cove just below Mosley Creek on the western side of the Bussey Point hunting area. The local anglers refer to this spot as the Double Roadbed area, because there is an old roadbed that juts out three-quarters of the way back and an island separates the underwater portions. On the Bussey Point side you can distinctively see the old road coming off a hardwood hill.

We had a slight breeze blowing toward the back of the cove and it paid off when a 2-1b. chunky largemouth smacked Larry’s shallow-running crankbait. “He just couldn’t stand it,” Larry said as he tossed the bass in the boat.

For the next six weeks you can expect to catch bass on these flats because bluebacks will spawn on them, but traditionally, blow-throughs are what these bluebacks will look for when they spawn. If you’ve never seen one of these blow-throughs they’re not hard to spot. These are areas that act as an underwater saddle in the lake and are as shallow as a foot or two. You can recognize these areas when you find an island or an exposed hump near the shoreline that is no farther out than about 100 yards.

“In my opinion, the bluebacks prefer a cleaner area to move up on,” said Larry. “These blow-throughs are cleaner for the herring to move up on, but they’ll get on these long, flat points too.

“When I’m fishing a blow-through I’ll throw a Spook and a Fluke and fish it real quick,” said Larry. “I’ll pull up and make 15 casts, and I’ll be able to tell if the fish are there. If you throw your bait up there and he’s there, he’s going to nail it. The lake’s about four feet down so a lot of the blow-throughs are out of water, and the bluebacks will do the same thing on these long-running tapered flats. They’ll just move right up on them. These”kind of places will be good for the next six or eight weeks.”

We didn’t hang around much Iong in the “Double Roadbed” area before heading to an area the locals call “Bass Alley.” From the confluence of the Savannah and the Little rivers, head north up the Savannah—Bass Alley is your first big cove on the western side and sits on the eastern banks of Bussey Point.

One of the things Larry says will put some fish in the boat in April, or a limit for all you Top Sixers, is to keep running and gunning. There are thousands of different flats on Clarks Hill and there won’t be feeding fish on every one of them. You really have to keep moving.

“Sometimes you’ll hit 10 or 12 before you find fish,” said Larry. “The main thing is where the bait is at. Look for the birds and shallow flats close to deep water and start running from one to another, and eventually you’ll hit one with fish on it.”

The map marks a few Clarks Hill flats to get you started. The lake has thousands, but this will give you a general idea of what to look for. Larry and I both picked up a bass in “Bass Alley,” but we had to really work for them. The mid-day sun made things hot and there was no wind back on these flats and we had to resort to soft plastics. I went with a motor-oil-colored Texas-rigged worm and Larry went with the Carolina-rigged in a gourd-green color. There was no special pattern—we just kept throwing up on the shallow flats. My fish was only about a pound, but Larry brought in the big fish for the day — a nice 4-pounder.

Another tactic to try this month is to key on any rocky points. Larry will fish these with the lizard or a jig ‘n pig. On real windy days with some cloud cover he’ll key in more on the pockets and throw a spinnerbait with a white bionic frog trailer. You can also fish boat docks. We fished a few in Chigoe Creek, and I missed a fish on a worm. Larry says the best boat docks will be the darker ones that sit on a flat but have deep water nearby.

When the blueback spawn occurs, it should be an incredible sight. My recommendation is to hook up the boat now, before it’s too late.