Mapping Out Lake Russell May Bass

“The clear water at Russell lets you see bedding and cruising fish in early May and catch them. I would much rather fish where I know a bass is seeing my bait, rather than just casting to a place hoping one will see it,” Bobby Stanfill told me as we discussed plans for fishing for May bass at Lake Russell.

Lake Russell is an excellent choice for a May trip. About 15 percent of the bass will still be bedding early in the month, and you can sight fish for them. If the weather changes and the wind blows too hard to see the bedding fish, the postspawn fish will hit a spinnerbait. And from the middle of the month on, schooling fish will eat topwater plugs and lizards during the blueback herring spawn. You might want to stay all month!

Russell is our most undeveloped U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake, with most of the shoreline wooded and natural. It does not get heavy fishing pressure although some national tournaments have brought it more attention in the last few years. Most of the lake has very clear water, and trees are above and below the surface all over it.

Stringers of Russell bass averaging three to four pounds are common. It often takes a five-fish limit weighing well over 20 pounds to win a May tournament. There are always several patterns for catching bass during the month, and you can find just about any kind of fishing you like.

Bobby Stanfill knows the lake well. He grew up nearby on the Carolina side of the lake, attended Clemson University and now lives in Greenwood, S.C., only a 30-minute drive from Russell — a drive he makes several days each week. He competes on many local and national trails, and the Savannah chain has been good to him, with a 13th-place finish at the BASS Invitational at Hartwell.

Last May, Bobby and his wife Missy won the Guys and Dolls tournament on Russell with a five-fish limit weighing 15.42 pounds. That catch came on a day Bobby says was poor fishing due to the wind. He was on bedding bass and expected to bring in five weighing close to 25 pounds, but the wind made it impossible for him to see them on tournament day. His knowledge of the lake and its patterns allowed him and Missy to switch to spinnerbaits and still win, beating second place by 1 1/2 pounds.

Bobby Stanfillʼs first choice for early May bassinʼ on Lake Russell is to fish for spawning bass. The clear water makes spotting beds easier, and fish in the four-pounds-and-better class are plentiful.

Fishing for bedding bass is Bobby’s first choice for early May. He says about 15 percent of the bass in the lake will bed during the first two weeks of the month, giving you a tremendous number of fish in the shallows to catch. Finding bedding bass is easy, according to Bobby. Ride the back end of any cove and you will see little fish on the beds. The ones he seeks to win tournaments are a little harder to find, though. The 4-lb.-plus bass tend to bed farther out in the coves and in deeper water. Many fishermen ride right by them without seeing them.

Look carefully on any flat “nothing” point halfway back in the coves. Watch water three to five feet deep. Look hard and you are likely to see these bigger bass guarding their nest. Males are usually two pounds or better and the females much bigger on these beds, compared to the 12- to 14-inch males in more shallow water.

When you spot a bed, get only close enough to make an accurate cast. Bobby says you will often see the male run the female off the bed when you approach. He seems to sense danger and then moves to protect her. You can probably catch him, but finding both fish hard on the bed is better, and you are more likely to get the bigger female.

Toss a tube jig rigged Texas style on a 3/16-oz. lead and sharp hook, tied to 10-lb. green line, into the bed and let it lay there. Shake and twitch it without moving it away, then watch the fish. They will often leave and make a circle, coming back to the bed. The circles will get smaller and smaller until they are just turning around.

When the fish “addresses” the bait by tilting down and looking at it, you have it! Watch for the flare of the gills as the bass sucks in the tube bait, and set the hook. If you wait to feel the bite you will miss the fish. Unless you are fishing a tournament, release the bass immediately and it will almost always go right back to the bed.

If you see bigger bass cruising in the shallow water but not staying on a bed, switch to a Trick Worm or soft jerk bait. Work the same flat points and banks from halfway back to the end of the coves and you will catch the bass looking for a bedding site. This is not quite as effective as fishing for a bass you can see, but it produces a lot of fish in May.

The wind often creates a problem in early May, ruffling the water and making it impossible to see the bedding fish, and making it hard to effectively fish a floating worm. If that is the case, tie on a white spinnerbait with nickel or silver sparkle blades and slow-roll it on the banks where you saw bedding and cruising fish.

This is exactly what happened to Bobby and Missy in the Guys and Dolls tournament last May. By being adaptable and switching to a Nichols spinnerbait, they caught the winning string of fish. Bobby says they knew the fish were in the same areas, they had seen them there the day before. It was a “no brainer” to cover lots of the same water with the spinnerbait, and it paid off!

By the middle of May most of the bass will have spawned out and will be headed to their summer pattern. The timber and the blueback herring play key roles in this movement. Bobby says big Russell bass are schooling bass. They will come off the beds, move to the tops of the timber that is present in every cove, and recover for a couple of days. Then they look for something to eat.

Their favorite something-to-eat is blueback herring. The herring spawn in May, and the bass will move around, schooling near herring spawning areas, but not staying in one place. You can set up on a hump or point and catch lots of big bass, then the bass leave.

Bluebacks spawn on hard bottoms in shallow, open water. Humps, long points and “blowthroughs” between islands are excellent. The moving water has scrubbed the silt and soft mud off, and that is what the bluebacks seek. The bass set up in the tops of the timber off places like this, running in to feed on the herring and moving from spot to spot.

Always watch for surface activity and cast a big topwater plug to any surface-feeding fish. A Zara Spook is the classic bait to use.

Bobby also recommends dragging a big worm or lizard on a Carolina rig on the points, humps and blowthroughs. Rig an eight-inch lizard or worm in some green color on a 3-foot leader, and use a 1/2-oz. lead if the wind is not bad. Probe the 12- to 14-foot depths and you will catch good bass on through the end of May.

Bobby shared six spots in Beaverdam Creek, and three more near the dam, as the types of areas he fishes to catch winning May stringers of Lake Russell bass (see map below). Fish these areas and learn the patterns, and you can find many others all over the lake to fish.

1. If you put in at the Hwy 72 Elbert Boat Ramp you can put your trolling motor down and start fishing. Although Bobby says he does not fish here much because it gets a lot of pressure, it is a good example of the type of spawning cove he seeks. And there are a lot of tournaments releasing fish here, restocking it weekly!

As you go around the dock and point into the cove, there is a sandy bank on your right. Past it are a couple of the small, flat points where bigger bass bed at Russell. Remember to look for them three to five feet deep. The flat bank running to the back of the first cove is a good place to throw a floating worm.

The pockets past this bank, in the very back of the cove, are where you are likely to find smaller bass bedding. Sometimes you will find a good one in the back, too, and finding the smaller, easier-to-spot fish is a good way to start and train your eyes for the day.

Fish a floating worm from the back of the cove around the middle point, switching to a spinnerbait if there is wind ruffling the water. Work to the back of the two ditches past the rocky interior point and again watch for smaller bedding bass. Past these two ditches is another flat area with small points, the type place Bobby expects bigger fish. He says he would stop looking for bedding bass when he gets around the next point coming out of the cove, since the water deepens and it is rocky, but it might hold feeding fish.

This cove has timber in the middle of it, just like almost every cove on the lake. The bass will hold in it after spawning, then move out to the riprap on the bridge since herring spawn there. There is also a shallow point/hump and old roadbed just north of the ramp, a perfect example of the kind of place to fish for bass looking for spawning herring.

2. Bobby runs past the coves on the left on the big water, although all hold fish, to this smaller, more narrow cove. Go to the shoal marker about halfway back, just before the cove doglegs to the left. That shoal is the first place post-spawn bass will hold. The pockets and small flat points on the left past the marker are excellent spawning areas.

Behind the standing timber in the back of the cove is another likely bedding area. Be careful here, the trees are often just under the surface. Fish behind the timber looking for beds and cruising fish.

The opposite bank, on your left coming out of the cove, is steep and deep. A smaller pocket branches off to the left past it, across from the shoal marker, and is worth checking. Also note the shoal marker at the mouth of the cove on the north side. It is another good place to find post-spawn fish looking for herring.

3. This area is very similar to No. 2. Check the pockets and points on your left going in, looking for bedding bass from the spot it narrows down all the way to the back. Check all three ditches in the back, and you might work a spinnerbait on the deeper bank on your left coming back out of the cove. The small cove branching to your left is also a place to find spawning fish.

4. A quick glance at the map shows why this is one of Bobby’s favorites. Lots of branches and pockets offer a variety of little points and flats for bass to spawn on. The pockets run in different directions, so some are always out of the wind. You can easily spend a whole day just in this one creek. Look for bedding bass and cruising fish and try the floating worm and spinnerbait if you can’t spot them on the bed.

5. This forked branch is a good bedding area and holds lots of fish. Bobby would start where the forks split and fish around both of them, watching for bedding bass while casting a spinnerbait or floating worm. This is also the kind of place he will run around fast with his trolling motor while practicing for a tournament, watching for big bedding bass and marking them rather than trying to catch them. He can then go back and fish for them in the tournament.

6. Similar to the other spots, the small pockets off the main cove offer protected spawning areas. The bigger bass use the outside flat points and the smaller bass go to the back. While checking out these places a few weeks ago, I spotted a female “bumping and rubbing” a log in the back of the first pocket on the right, past the big cove on the right with the marked fish attractor.

I watched this 3-lb. female bump and rub the log several times, turning sideways as she moved along it, but she would not take my Trick Worm. After she left I caught a 2 1/2 pound male bass in the same area. He was probably getting the bed ready for her!

Bobby likes three creeks on the lower lake, also. The water is clearer here and all contain lots of fish, but are harder to fish due to the wind on the bigger water. All are good places to fish if you want to put in near the dam.

Calhoun Branch (7.) has some good side pockets and is full of bass in May, but the prevailing wind blows right into it, making it hard to fish. Hester Branch (8.) is better since it is more protected and has several pockets and creeks running in different directions. Manor Creek (9.) is one of Bobby’s favorites on the lake, and it is far from most tournament takeoff spots, often making it less crowded.

“There are always bass willing to bite on Russell during May,” Bobby said. Fish these patterns and places and you will find them. It’s hard to go wrong at Russell in May!