Carters Lake Fishing Report May 2011

Carters: Level: Full pool. Temp: 65 to 69 degrees. Clarity: Clear on main lake; stained up the river.

Bass: Good. Louie Bartenfield reports, “The bite here is good and improving. There’s been a huge wave of fish move up this month and will soon complete their spawn. The next month will be a great time to catch numbers of fish. Jig-head worms, finesse jigs and drop shots will be great numbers baits during May. Fish these baits slowly from 5 to 20 feet deep. I like to stick with bluegill colors during May — colors such as green pumpkins with orange or blue. The bluegills come up to spawn in May and cause havoc on the bass while they are spawning. Bass hate bluegills. To target bigger fish during May, I like to use topwater baits like Spooks and Pop-Rs in shallow-water coves and spawning areas. Postspawn fish will often stay in these areas and stage on laydown trees, secondary points and steep shade in the same areas. Work these areas slowly with the topwaters and finesse baits. May is also a great month for surface schooling on Carters, so always have your eyes open looking for birds and surface activity.”

Linesides: Good. Louie reports, “I’ve been on a good striper bite for a couple of weeks now. This bite will be here for a while. It’s mostly been big Spro McStick jerkbaits and swimbaits the last couple of hours of daylight and after dark. This is hand-to-hand combat with the meanest fish in freshwater — lots of fun and anyone can do it.”