Carters Lake Fishing Report – May 2023

Carters: Level: Full at 1074. Temp: 63-67 degrees. Clarity: Clear at 3 feet.

Bass: Guide Louie Bartenfield, of Carters Lake Guide Service, “May is my favorite spring month. Fish will be in all phases of the spawn most of the month. We also will have both herring and threadfin shad spawning, with gizzard shad spawning sporadically throughout the month, as well. Take your pick between shallow dragging and run-and-gun flukes and topwater throughout the day. My go-to moving bait in May is a weightless fluke or using an extremely light, 1/32-oz. weight. Pick windy points, clay banks, anything flat. These areas are high-percentage shad and herring spawn areas. My go-to, slow-down bite is an unpainted, 3/16-oz. SpotSticker jig-head rig with a Big Bite Baits Skinny Stick in Vegas flash or green pumpkin.”

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Walleye: Eric Crowley, of Lake and Stream Guide Service, reports, “The walleye bite has been good the last few weeks. The fish are back on the main lake and feeding mainly at night on shallow points. In the daytime, the fish seem to be holding near the same shorelines but in 22 to 28 feet of water waiting for the bait to show up. The bait spawning will keep the fish a bit shallower then normal. Live baits, spoons or a jig is the way to go right now, and purple seems to be the hot color.”

Stripers: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “April was an absolute blast on Carters for striper fishing with lots of big fish feeding shallow early in the morning. Our best bite last month was big live alewives on light leaders pulled on boards right on the banks. This was producing a few big bites every morning with our big fish last month going 30 pounds. This pattern should hold true this month. The baitfish spawn is a little behind schedule. Look for schools of bait up shallow near steep, rocky shorelines. After the sun gets up, I prefer to pull u-rigs around the creek mouths and main-lake points 160 to 185 feet back with the Captain Mack’s rigs.”