Lake Blackshear Fishing Report May 2010

Blackshear: Level: 0.1 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: Clear for this time of year, with 1 1/2 feet of visibility.

Bass: Good. Brian Davis said there were still a few fish on the beds in late April, but the spawn was over for the most part. He said the best bites right now are on postpawn patterns. “The fish are guarding fry all over the lake,” he said. Catch them by throwing a weightless fluke or Trick Worm to shallow trees, and twitch it through the fry. Also, a bunch of fish have moved out to the deeper trees and deeper grass on the edges of the channels in 4 or 5 feet of water. Early morning, a topwater bait will get bit. Brian’s favorite topwater this time of year is a Baby Torpedo. Once the sun gets up, he’ll switch to a jig and either pitch it to or swim it by these same root balls. A 3/8-oz. jig in a shad pattern is good for this. Brian fishes one made by Custom Bass Tackle. Shad spawns should start showing up any day now, and the bite should last through the month. Brian said to look for flickering shad around any shallow grass or trees. Throw a spinnerbait at them.

Bream: Good. The shellcrackers are starting to bed. Brian likes to run the banks on his trolling motor looking at the trees for root balls that have been brushed clean by the bream. “They look like they’re spray painted gold,” he said. “Don’t worry about fishing much until you find those beds.” Once you locate a bed, throw a pond worm weighted down with a little split-shot, and pull it through the bed. Rusty Parker also said the shellcracker beds are starting to show up. He likes to look for the beds in about 2 feet of water near heavy grass. Rusty fishes pond worms for shellcrackers, and said they’re called jumpers at a lot of the local bait shops. The bluegill beds should be popping up at any time. Look for them right up on the banks. There should be some heavy grass nearby. Fish with crickets.

Crappie: Pretty good. The numbers have been down a little, but the size of fish is still good, said Rusty. Fish are in all stages of the spawn, but most of the bigger fish have already spawned out, and they are moving off the banks. A good way to catch them right now is tightline trolling very slowly with minnows or minnow-tipped jigs. There are some fish in 5 to 8 feet of water off the railroad trestle rip-rap, and in the same depths over trash in Pecan Slough. Rusty also likes to longline troll for postspawn fish in 10 to 14 feet around the fish-attractor buoy on the east side of the lake between the railroad trestle and the Highway 280 bridge. Pitching to the pylons at the 280 bridge should also catch some fish. The best jigs right now are a jig made by Micro Spoons called Old Reliable. The best color is black/chartreuse. Also, a triple-tail jig in black/orange has been working well.