Shallow Power Fishing For May Bartletts Ferry Bass

While many anglers these days stare at a sonar screen, Adam Byrd fishes fast and shallow—and it pays off for him on Bartletts Ferry, especially for postspawn bass in May.

In May, hungry postspawn female bass—both spots and largemouth—feed heavily in shallow water at Bartletts Ferry, and anglers can have a lot of fun catching them. Head to Bartletts this month and go to the mouths of spawning pockets to land numbers of bass, as well as quality fish.

Bartletts Ferry is an old Georgia Power Co. lake on the Chattahoochee River between the West Point Lake dam and the city of Columbus. The water level at Bartletts changes quickly, going up from generation at West Point dam but dropping almost as fast from generation at its dam. And current can be strong from either action—or both at the same time.

The Bartletts Ferry shoreline is lined with docks along with many grassbeds and rocks, both rip-rap and natural rock. There’s plenty of good shallow cover that attracts both spotted bass and largemouth. And the largemouth population seems to be making a comeback, possibly due to hydrilla spreading in the lake and up the river.

Adam Byrd lives in Smith Station, Ala. a few minutes from the Long Bridge Boat ramp in Halawakee Creek. He started fishing the lake with his father for crappie when very young, and when he was a teenager, his friends talked him into trying bass tournament fishing. Adam now fishes most tournaments on Bartletts and does well, and he is often on the lake four to five days a week.

In the final Tuesday night tournament in March, a three-hour tournament, Adam and his partner Tyler Morgan won with five bass weighing 22-lbs., 5-ozs. Those fish were moving in to spawn. By now the bass are in a postspawn mode and feeding heavily.

 Adam is a shallow-water fisherman—he does not have any kind of sonar up front on his boat. He says he does not need it. And his catches prove it. When we fished the first week of April, he picked up a rod rigged with a frog and said, “I’m probably pushing the frog bite,” thinking it was still early in the spring for it.

Then his second cast with the frog produced a 2.5-lb. largemouth. In the next three hours, even though the water dropped more than a foot while we fished, he landed about a dozen keepers on the frog. His casts never hit more than a couple of inches from the edge of the shoreline.

“Bass are starting to spawn now,” Adam said when we fished the first week of April.

We saw the backs of several quality bass in water too shallow since it was dropping so fast. Most of what he caught looked like males, and he did not try to catch anything off the bed on purpose in the stained water.

“I think the shad spawn may be late this year, near the end of April and in early May. So right now bass are up there eating shad first thing in the morning and then looking for bream and crawfish.

“It seems female largemouth here spawn, then move out just a short distance to recover for a week or so, then they move right back shallow,” Adam said.

He expects to catch them on frogs, buzzbaits, squarebill crankbaits and a jig. Most of the time he moves fast with a frog or a buzzbait to find active feeding fish.

Rip-rap banks around docks are Adam’s primary targets. Any other cover on it like overhanging bushes, brush, dock posts and grassbeds just sweeten a location. And Adam has honed his casting to expertly put his bait into any tiny space that might hold a bass.

The first week of April, I met Adam at Long Bridge ramp, and he quickly fished around nine of the following 10 spots before dark. There were only one or two where he did not catch a fish. Those prespawn fish are now in the same places and on a feeding, postspawn pattern.

No. 1: N 32º 41.325 – W 85º 08.845 — Bass live on the rip-rap at Long Bridge in Halawakee Creek year-round. Many of them move into the pockets on either side of the bridge to spawn, then move back to the rip-rap. And the bridge rip-rap is a big shad spawn area, so it is a great place to try.

If you’re on the water at first light, look for shad flickering on the rocks and bass swirling on them. Cast a shad or red-colored squarebill crankbait like a Strike King KVD 1.0 or 1.5, and run it parallel to the rocks as close to the bank up as shallow as you can. Bass chasing shad will also hit a frog or buzzbait.

Start at the downstream bank corner (on your left going upstream), and work all the way around the rip-rap into the pocket on the upstream side. Also watch for bass hitting shad that might be spawning on the bridge pilings.

No. 2: N 32º 40.923 – W 85º 09.290 — Going upstream in Halawakee Creek, watch for a split cove on your left. Stop on the downstream point of the first pocket. It has a wooden seawall behind the docks. Stop at the small wooden dock with a metal ladder that is just past a gray-roofed boat house.

Fish down this side of the cove, casting a frog or buzzbait right against the seawall and fishing your bait out at an angle. Adam likes a black Spro popping frog and fishes it right out of the pack. He does not trim the legs or glue anything.

Adam works his frog with quick twitches that make the frog walk from side to side as well as pop. He fishes it on an Ark 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy fast-action rod that gives him the castability needed and lets him work the frog, yet still has the backbone to land bass from cover. Twitch the frog a couple of feet and then make another cast.

Fish into the small pockets, too. Adam had a solid 4-lb. bass grab his frog here and run toward the boat. Although it looked like he did everything right, the bass came to the top and came off. Some are just meant to get away.

No. 3: N 32º 40.991 – W 85º 09.467 — Go around the point to the next cove with the yellow A-frame cabin behind a rock wall. The cement seawall turns to a rip-rap seawall near it, and both types of seawall draw spawning shad and feeding bass. They hold bream and crawfish year-round, too.

Start on the cement seawall and fish into the cove, hitting right against the bank. Fish around the cove working as far back as the silted-in bottom will let you. Pay attention to where you get bites the first few coves you fish.

Adam says in May he expects most bass to be on the outer one-third of the coves. Let the bass tell you for sure. Try the whole cove, and even watch for late bedding bass all the way back in the coves. Most will be done but a few may still spawn in May.

No. 4: N 32º 41.159 – W 85º 09.941 — Run upstream past the long point off the left bank until you see the old railroad bridge. The small creek just upstream of the point is a good spawning cove, and shad spawn in it, too. The downstream point has a wooden seawall and drops off fast.

Stop just inside the downstream point and fish around the cove, targeting the areas where you are getting bit. The bite is usually consistent from one cove to another in May, so use your time efficiently casting to the areas where you have the highest odds of getting hit.

Adam is an expert at skipping his frog under overhanging bushes and docks. It takes a lot of practice, but unless you can get your bait right against the seawall or rock, under bushes and behind brush, you lower your odds of getting a bite.

No. 5: N 32º 41.410 – W 85º 10.328 — Go across Halawakee Creek to the last small creek before the old railroad bridge. Go back to where it narrows, and start fishing at the red-topped dock that is in front of a wooden seawall at a small secondary point. Start there—this is really the mouth of the pocket based on its shape. Fish all the way around the pocket.

Cast a frog or a buzzbait right to the seawall. Adam likes a 3/8-oz. translucent shad color Strike King buzzbait. He does not put a trailer or trailer hook on it. He reels it as fast as the water temperature allows, slowing down in cooler water and speeding up in warmer water. Let the fish tell you the speed they want.

Sometimes bass hold off the bank on a small piece of cover deep enough you can’t see it. If you are getting hits reeling your frog back to the boat, switch to a buzzbait and fish it all the way to the boat.

No. 6: N 32º 41.768 – W 85º 09.807 — Going back downstream, there are some condos on your left on the downstream side of a creek. Go to the no-wake buoys, and start fishing the docks and seawalls on your left just past the back buoy.

This is a big creek that has lots of spawning flats, so you can spend a lot of time in here. Hit all the cover—from seawalls to dock posts—with your frog and buzzbait. If it is one of those days when the fish just seem to ignore fast-moving baits, or if they slap at them without taking them, try a 3/8-oz. jig in the cover.

Adam seldom slows down, and that works for him, but if you like dragging and fishing slowly, try a black-and-blue jig with a matching trailer in stained water or a brown jig in clear water. Fish different speeds, hopping and dragging your jig until you find the right combination.

No. 7: N 32º 40.948 – W 85º 06.781 — Go back down to the bridge and head into the first creek above it on your right. There is a small island near the mouth. The creek runs way back and doglegs right. Go to the reddish dock in front of a cement seawall and a dark gray house. It is about even with the upstream point of this creek. Start there and fish into the creek.

Along this bank there are several secondary points with spawning pockets between them. The largemouth that spawn in the pockets can move to deeper water on these secondary points and rest and recover. Then they have a short distance to move to seawalls where shad might be spawning on them and where bream and crawfish live year-round.

Fish each dock and seawall, but also hit the wood in the little pockets. Bream always live in these pockets, and bass know they are prime feeding spots. You may even find a late bedding bass in these pockets, too.

No. 8: N 32º 40.845 – W 85º 08.848 — Go on back into the creek to the next-to-last secondary point on your left. This location is far back in a creek for May postspawn bass, but it is always best to check this kind of area until you find where the fish might be holding.

Fish your frog and buzzbait here like in all the other places, and also try a 1.0 squarebill crankbait on the shallow rocks. Try red if the water is still stained, but go to shad colors in clearer water. Also pitch your jig to wood and rock cover, giving bass time to hit it.

Sometimes a big bass will be in surprisingly skinny water. Never hesitate to cast to cover in even 6 inches of water.

No. 9: N 32º 41.614 – W 85º 08.729 — The cove at Long Bridge boat ramp is a good place to catch bass. Multiple tournaments every week bring fish from all over the lake and release them here. Many of the largemouth don’t go far, and some spotted bass hang around, too.

Stop at the little pocket just downstream from the ramp and hit the grass and rock in it. Work the ramp itself, the rip-rap around the dock and on down the bank to the big blowdown. Work a jig slowly in the blowdown, as bass holding there may be very spooky and take multiple casts to be enticed into biting.

Fish around the cove, including the center point and the shallow pocket on the opposite side from the ramp.

No. 10: N 32º 44.424 – W 85º 06.817 — For a complete change of pace, run up the river to Blanton Creek. Stop on the upstream point and fish the grassbeds on the left bank going in. Fish all the way back to even with the campground on the other side of the creek.

The river is usually a little cooler than the lake, and this grass may hold some late spawners, and lots of shad spawn in it, too. A frog works well—cast it all the way to the bank and fish it through the grassbed to the outer edge. If the grass is thin enough, a buzzbait running through the grass can draw a hard hit.

These places were holding prespawn bass in April. Right now the Bartletts Ferry bass will be feeding on shad that are spawning, or the bass will be chasing bream and crawfish at these locations.