Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – May 2022

Blue Ridge: Level: 1 foot below full pool. Temp: 61-65 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Guide Eric Welch reports, “The bite has been good. The lake has come up fast the past month, and the fish have been trying to spawn. It’s been a strange spring this year with all the rain and cold weather, with a mix of warm weather. But most of the spawn should be over by the first week in May, and then the fish will be protecting the fry around docks, brush and laydowns. I like targeting these areas with a Zoom Fluke or swimbaits. Once the bass leave the fry, they will start back feeding up to gain the weight back they lost during the spawn. When this happens, you should start seeing some topwater action on a Whopper Plopper and a Pop-R. The bass will start moving back to areas where they will spend the summer—around brush, laydowns and offshore structure. I will target these fish with a Ned rig, shaky head, drop shot and a Texas rig. If you have a day when there is some wind, throw a spinnerbait. Good luck.”

Guide Eric Crowley reports, “I’m still looking for the smallmouth to show up. This is usually our best month for them. We don’t see many true smallies anymore, so it’s nice when it happens. If you’re looking for them, the break of dawn on the main lake or in Star Creek is your best bet. Look for busting fish and throw a topwater or a 4-inch spoon at them from as far as you can. As for the rest of the bass, we are always catching spots. Seems like if I’m fishing a spoon, we catch spots. If we are jigging with a minnow, we catch spots. We catch them trolling Rapalas. At times I can’t get away from them. With the super clear water and competition for food, I believe you can catch them just about anyway you like some days. Most of the bass hold at the same depth as the bait or just below it. Right now that’s about 20 to 30 feet. Look for groups of fish on your sonar just off the bottom around that bait ball.” 

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Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “The walleye bite has been really good the last few weeks. We have seen some really nice upper 20-inch fish. The biggest was a 27-inch postspawn female. The spawning is over and the fish are chasing bait on the main lake and feeding up for summer. We are catching fish a number of different ways from trolling to jigging depending on the day and weather. Look for fish to be more active during the day if it’s cloudy or raining. Bright, sunny days make for a tough bite. The fish are scattered in 20 to 30 feet on rockpiles and drop-offs in the daytime, and the bite has been best early in the morning and right after dark. After dark, they move up a little shallower. So if you’re catching them and then you’re not, you may need to adjust to a little shallower water. I’m mainly fishing the river mouth area, Point 5 and the islands in that general area right now as that’s the best concentration of catchable fish, but there’s certainly fish all over the pond. The herring spawn and the full moon are both big events this month. Finding the big females after dark is what we will be focused on when both of these happen. This is a great time for big fish.”

Trout: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “The trout bite is picking up and should be in full swing by mid-month around the full moon. There is a seasonal population of rainbow trout in the lake that are typically catchable from May until July.”