Let's talk spring to summer transition period 2024
5bass reply :
I'm just about to take my annual summer transition 'break' from bass fishing. I dont really want to but this time of year has been hard on me for years upon years on my home lake. It's a deep reservoir, no grass to speak of, lots of rock, upper end usually has some color, lower end is usually very clear.
I can catch them on the way in to spawn but the fish apparently take a detour on their way back out deep. The spots I catch them in prespawn are void of any fish activity after the spawn. I generally do a lot of crankin' during this period, basically just to cover water and the jig, along with the crank will get me some good fish from time to time but it's not a stable bite at all. It's very random at best. Nothing I can duplicate elsewhere and never catch more than one in a certain spot and I throw the book at 'em on these spots.
I know exactly where the fish are going to hang out for the summer months but this period before they arrive there is very tough. I'm talking quality fish here, I can catch 14 and 15" fish 'til I'm blue in the face but the bigger ones have done a disappearing act. This is my weakest time of year as an angler. I just cant locate the bigger fish once they have spawned and left the shallows.
I guess I'd like some feedback on what you guys look for or do to catch better fish during this period. I'm very comfortable fishing deep, probably more so than fishing shallow....I just need to find 'em in between so I can shake this slump.
Dad_Golf_Fish reply :
To be honest, I've had a really bad start this year. The one thing I can do to do better is to keep trying!!!. I would rather learn from my mistakes of the previous outing than to not go again. If nothing else, I will use the time to spend with my family away from televisions and x-boxes and all the other crap, try something different from last time and continue to learn. If I fail again, so be it.
cabullwinkle reply :
Your situation is very similar to the lake I fish out. Little vegetation with rocks and deep water providing most of the cover there. My best advice here is to work on your weaknesses. If your original pattern is not bringing any fish, then changing your game up is the next logical thing to do. This way, you are still out there and honing your skills. I like to start out with my weaknesses, then fall back into my strengths if I'm not catching fish and then finally finish up with a few cast from my weaker techniques. This way I am forcing myself to work on those weaknesses. With this being your weak season, this should be a time that you are out there. If I don't catch any fish, hey, I know that I at least became a better angler. Try this out. Also another point to consider in this phase is to analyze what is controlling the bass. Food source is one of them. Learn the lifecycles of what they are eating and you will have a bettern understanding of the bass you are targeting. Tight Lines!
Big Phish reply :
I'm glad to see this thread as i was about to start one similar. As far as where i fish in this transition, i usually look for steeper shelves and drop offs for obvious reasons. The fish can start to move deep or can remain shallow.
My question would be, what changes in tackle can be helpful? What seems to always work this time of year? (besides the standards, ie. senkos, lipless cranks yada yada yada)
CJ reply :
I think we all have hit this spot more than once. It's evident that the fish's needs change. They get hungry once they come off the beds! What I key in on the most is the bait. Not just any bait though. The fish are hungry yet I don't think there is ever a time a big momma becomes more effecient. I was a firm believer that the bass would take their time about going out deep. I thought as long as the temps allowed them to stay in shallower water, they would stay. Large schools of a larger class shad will trump all of the factors once they become hungry. Chasing shore minnows and gills will no longer do. Electronics come into play searching for those schools that relate to the right structure. Before I knew it last week, I was catching quality fish 15 ft. deep that still had bloody tails. All of them coming off rockpiles, not brush.
Paul Roberts reply :
There is a strong pattern that develops in my neck of the woods. And it appears it's more widespread than I first realized at least in the north. In a nutshell, it involves the concentration of bass on isolated cover as fish transition to summer locations.
Now, my waters are bluegill based, heavily vegetated (milfoil mostly), and farther north than you. But I have a friend that fishes relatively weed free, shad and bluegill based reservoirs (also in the north) and sees a similar pattern.
As the bass leave the shallows they aggregate in large numbers on certain key spots. In my vegetated waters the milfoil is just developing and it's prominent isolated plants or clumps that attract large numbers of bass. Many are average fish but there are large ones mixed in. It seems the females (large fish anyway) don't re-group like they will in winter in my waters. And in my waters (large ponds and small res), this holds for the summer.
My friend's situation involves vegetation but also substrate transitions. These can be really minor in appearance, like silt to gravel or rubble, but are found as bottom hardness changes with sonar. As the bass distribute to summer quarters they seem to collect at prominent (to them) spots. It my case it's developing vegetation individual standout clumps in his case it's often substrate transitions.
Two things are shared between our waters: One is that these waters are relatively sparse in prominent structure (dishpan-ish') so bass seem to be looking for something to relate to. The other is the concentrations of bass that can be present. His waters produce more fish and he may take 20 or more from a single spot. For me it's more like 8 to 15. These aren't all big fish though, but as I said, there are large ones mixed in. Find a few of these spots and your day is made.
These concentrations last in my waters until vegetation develops enough that the spots are not isolated. My friend says his lasts about 3 weeks from what I remember. It may be water temperature and the new crop of YOY gizzard shad coming into the scene that breaks it up.
CODbasser reply :
ive picked up a few 3lb plus fish on a jerkbait this week...not something most consider a post spawn bait but it works from time to time..
RoLo reply :
What you described sounds like a pretty tough lake, more like smallmouth water than bigmouth water.
Although the bass may be using the same route for both the pre and post spawn, the post-spawn would probably lack the staging delay.
If the slump doesn't last more than say a week or 10 days, I'm wondering if it could be the normal recouping period for the cows.
I realize this is asking a lot Scott, but is it possible to post a contour map of your lake?
Ideally, a map that also included any stumps fields and woody cover.
Roger
5bass reply :
Good stuff here guys. Keep it coming.
Rolo, I'll try to post a contour map sometime tomorrow or maybe my buddy Burley has one he can flash up here in the mean time.
There is a shad spawn pattern going on now but that's mainly a night thing. The shad get shallow around 10-11pm and the bass just suck shad all night. They are fairly easy to catch at night but the bigger fish are GONE during the day. Like CJ said, the shad are key now and I know that....I fish around shad religiously no matter what season it is. But in the transition it seems as though the bass dont care what the shad do during the day.
The shad here will move out a little deeper into 12 - 15' during the day after they run the banks all night. The smaller keeper bass are still shallow though. I'm constantly fishing the 10 - 15' zone with topwaters, crankbaits, jigs, senko's, spinnerbaits, you name it, I throw it all. Like last weekends tournament, after fishing all the likely spots where they should be, when we went back to the weigh in I had 12 rods on deck and never caught a fish over 3#. That was my sign that the transition was in full effect and my annual hiatus was looming.
I've got tons of brushpiles around the lake in water from 10' - 30' deep and I've been real selective about where I drop my brushpiles. Still, they are not much help during this transition. The shallower piles hold fish from time to time (during the transition) but usually during my daily rounds, I may get one fish from a pile even though I hit it and a bunch of other piles several times during the day. But once the fish commit to summer, the brushpiles are loaded with fish and everything is a lot better.
On my home lake, right after the females drop eggs, they will move to the nearest docks and hang out close by the nest for a day or two and relax in the shade. They're hard to catch then too but it can be done. Once they recuperate and leave the docks, they leave for real and other than a few strays here and there, the biguns dont reappear until they go deep to stay. It's a tough time, no doubt.
Paul Roberts reply :
I wonder if they are simply digesting the shad they ate at night?
So in these T's -Are others finding the bigger fish?
RoLo reply :
You're sure on top of this lake Scott, I think it's just a matter of time before you crack the case.
This one is tough for me because the ecosystems here in Florida are so completely different, but now you've piqued my curiosity.
If there's any size to your lake it may be charted on my GPS cartography, I use both Garmin and Navionics:
Well, I see that Muddy and I are the only ones still online in this thread.
It's after 1AM, I'm going to Kissimmee tomorrow, so I'm outta here
Roger
senko_77 reply :
Rolo, I believe Scott is talking about Smith Mountain Lake. It should be on your Navionics
CODbasser reply :
are you fishing up in the beaver dam area or have spent some time past the hells ford bridge fbl?
War Party reply :
It has been my experience that the 4+ pounders are still with the smaller 1-3 pounders after spawn. They may not bite the same lures though. They sit tighter and feed on ready to ****** stuff like crawdads and smaller bedding bream. Fish in water less than 10 feet deep. Just because the spawn has wound down doesn't put the fish in deep water. They are feeding in the shallows still. I've been seeing the big ol bass in less than 5ft of water, and the spawn is for sure over where I'm at. I lost a whopper last night at 7pm on a Mann's Baby 1-Minus in 3ft of water. Looked like she was a bonafide 5 pounder.
RoLo reply :
Thanks Ryan.
I just walked in the door (spent a slow day on the water).
I've got a few new waypoints I need to interpolate on the Kissimmee chart,
but I'd much rather work on Scott's lake. I'll get back to ya'll.
Roger
WRB reply :
Deep clear highland class reservoirs go through a similar post spawn to early summer transition. The bait is almost always threadfin shad in these reservoirs and they become the primary food source.
Threadfin shad hide in cover during darkness and move out into deep water as the sun activates the plankton they feed. This is key to finding the larger bass as they will stay close to this prey.
Early morning and late evening smaller shad profile top water and mid water column lures work well; Basstrix baitfry fly lined, flashtrix drop shotted are very effective, Splash-Its, Tiny Torpedos and Zip N Ziggy's are also good choices. During the 8A to 10A transition period when the sun is starting to bring up the plankton; Pointers and Diawa hard jerk baits work well. Once the shad school up and move into deep water; the compression areas like points and humps become the areas to fish with feathered structure spoons and drop shotted Flashtrix soft plastics that look like shad.
Shad swimbaits worked over the same compression areas should get the bigger bass during the afternoon time period.
WRB
RoLo reply :
I checked my Navionics software, but since I live in Florida, my SD card is "Hotmaps Premium South. This card covers 9 southern states, but nothing as high as Virginia. Garmin on the other hand, does it differently. Instead of using those nasty SD cards, Garmins sells you the CD-ROM, which is far more computer friendly, and doesn't require card shuttle (unit to card reader). In any case, Garmin US Inland Lakes and Garmin US Recreational Lakes both provide a contour map for Smith Mountain Lake.
On the downside though, Smith Mountain is very big and very deep, and the featured contour lines lack definition. The depth lines are 15-ft, 35-ft, 55-ft, etc. Unfortunately 20-foot increments conceal a tremendous amount of detail and are not very useful for chart analysis. One-foot increments would be ideal (Hi-Def), and even 5-foot increments would be workable, but 20-foot increments can hide a small mountain :
By the way, she's a big water...which lake section are you dealing with?
Roger
5bass reply :
WRB- It is a highland reservoir, threadfins and alewives galore. Lower end is very clear, upper end clear but not as clean as the lower end.
Rolo, yeah, its big and deep. I havent seen any maps of SML that are in one ft increments, ever.
I spend most of my time on the upper end (above Halesford Bridge, mid lake). There are several major feeder creeks up that way.... Stoney, Indian, Grimes, Beaverdam, Lynville and of course the Roanoke River (main channel).
The upper end is narrow and 'river looking', with steep banks, bluffs and more vertical, fast dropping type contours. The lower end is surrounded by flatter land and the bottom contours are more horizontal with slow tapers. For example, some places up the lake you can be sitting 30 ft off the bank and be over 40 ft of water while 30 ft off the bank on the lower end you might be in 20 ft of water.
Catt reply :
Ah yes the dreaded post spawn blues 
The problem you will encounter is that the deeper summer structure is still too cold and the food source has not moved to deeper water either. Some fish will go deep anyway just to recuperate and will become very difficult to catch. Most of the bass will be in the zone between the shallows and the deeper water.
Transitioning means the bass are moving, sometimes that means the bass are moving all of the time.
Post spawn is junk fishing at its best, cover a lot of water throwing a lot of different lures.
cart7t reply :
Our area lakes also experience that shad spawn. Usually a couple weeks after the bass spawn has ended. Usually, the lakes are still off colored from May rains and the fish will be along the banks ambushing the shad making them easier to catch. If they're not there they'll be close by in whatever cover there's available.
Unfortunately, in your case, the bass are feasting at night and can rest during the day. I'd still focus on any cover close to the areas where the shad spawns are occurring.
Paul Roberts reply :
I really like the post spawn in my small waters, for the facts that the females are hungry, and the concentrations of bass on prominent cover/structure that develops.
There is another pattern happening then too, and that is the concentrations of mature bass around bluegill spawning colonies.
But, I don't have threadfin nor alewife in my waters. Gizzard shad at this time are often too large or too small yet for bass.
So the key appears to be threadfin behavior. Outta my range of experience here, except that I've fished the gizzard shad spawn for walleyes in several places. The night fishing FAR exceeds the daytime in effectiveness -especially for larger fish.
Check this out:
http://www.bigindianabass.typepad.com/
Scroll down to:
Shad Spawn Bite
Matt Fly reply :
I have always found the transition period to be tougher for the big girls.
I key in on the brim, perch and bluegill for bigger girls. Big girls know they'll be on the beds and are easy prey. Big post spawners are lazy. Bass know their food chains, they know what the easiest meals are and where to find them at different times of the year.
I think the majority of larger bass feed at night and move off to deeper water and suspend during the day. Electronics will pinpoint better fish. Find large concentrations of blue gill beds and look towards deep water for the larger bass. A good graph is a must.
Matt Fly reply :
As you can see, those bass were on top of hump at 22 ft. Those bass in that school were 7lb + class bass and were hitting C rigs.
Use your electronics to take the guessing game out of it. No reason to fish a hump that doesn't show you any promise or signs of fish present.
WRB reply :
Where I fish the majority of the time the deep clear highland class reservoirs are used for water storge; drinking water and irrigation.
These lake are small so the bass can easily migrate a few miles and go from spawning nurseries to deep water sanctuaries and set up their summer location where prey and safety is nearby.
Big higland reservoirs need to be broken down into 1/3 sections or even large creek arms as separate ecosystems and fished accordingly.
The bass in the upper 1/3 could be in post spawn and the bass down by the dam in colder water could be just staging into pre spawn/spawn period.
I would fish the bass that are the most catchable; pre spawn given the choice.
I rarely offer specific lures choices,however I did for one reason; to get you out of your comfort zone and target shad eating bass with high % lures that have worked for me during the post spawn to summer transition period. Good luck.
Tim Ford reply :
Sounds like Tims Ford Lake. This time of year, my most productive areas for post spawn large mouths is off main lake points and ledges that lead into shallower spawning areas. I try to match the shad patterns. Usually I'm fishing in 10-20 feet of water. I like to get there right at sunrise, and fish until about 10 am. It is almost impossible to fish on Tims Ford during the mid-day in these areas because of all the pleasure boaters, jet skis, and wake boarders. I'm always fishing on the side of the lake with the most wind or current. I hit the ledge on all angles, and be very patient with each one, because they turn on and turn off like a switch, but when you find the right spot, and right approach angle you can have some magical days this time of year.
champlain-champ reply :
for some reason i find that at this specific time of the year when the fish are done bedding and are not yet in my summer spots that it is better to fish later in the evening in the shallow spots that they once were bedding. i usually have a tough time finding a morning/mid afternoon bite on the lakes near my house at this specific time of year (dont get me wrong there is an occasional day where you can really pound them this time of year) but 90% of time its a tough slow bite all day that can really make your confidence level drop before your first tournament.
but like i said if i go fishing when i get done work i seem to have more success just before and right after night fall. during the day the fish scatter from the shallows and seem to move a little deeper but not yet concentrated on deep structure such as ledges and submerged brush/rocks. however when the sun goes down they seem to move back up to the shallows where the sun beat down on the rocks and brush at night and wherever there is something holding the heat that seems to be where you can catch 5 fish very quickly.
is there a tree you think should have a bass on it but you cant seem to catch her? try fishing it right at dusk and she will probably be there this time of the year.
good luck and i hope the advice pays off.
RoLo reply :
The bottom contour in Smith Mountain Lake is remarkably uniform throughout, but I realize that this is typical for highland reservoirs.
The biggest bugbear of course is the 20-ft increments between contour lines. They conceal an awful lot of valuable bottom detail, like trying to pick up needles with gloves on.
Fool that I am, I noted a few coordinates that might actually prove to be holding sites during the pre-summer period.
For reference sake I fabricated placeholders for the five trial sites:
Grimes Mouth: N37 10.030 W79 42.702
Lynville Gut: N37 11.250 W79 45.171
In a highland reservoir like yours Scott, nothing can substitute for hands-on exploration.
Though I'm sure you know all the stuff below, it does no harm to rehash a few generalities that might serve as food for thought.
Smith Mountain Lake
When largemouth bass are given their choice of cover, they typically choose Weeds first, Wood second and Rock last
(For smallmouth bass, reverse that order). Bass living in manmade impoundments love weeds just as much as bass living in natural lakes, but are forced to adapt to available cover. If your home lake is anything like most highland reservoirs, it probably undergoes annual fluctuations of 15 ft or more. Weed growth doesn't stand much of a chance in pool level fluctuations of that extent. As a result, I'd have to assume that WOOD is the preferred cover of bass in Smith Mountain Lake, but that's just an assumption.
Judging from the latitude of Smith Mountain Lake, the pre-spawn probably takes place around late April/early May but I realize that this can vary according to the hypolimnion budget (depth and temperature of lake's basin). I agree that threadfin shad are the staple diet, followed by crayfish. In highland reservoirs, salamander larvae (waterdogs) are also common fare but since they're known to carry pathogens they've fallen from favor as bait.
Post-Spawn Period
As everyone knows, cow bass spend most of the post-spawn recouping from the rigors of spawning, and are usually conspicuous by their absence. Fortunately their down-time usually doesn't last much longer than a week or 10 days. In sharp contrast to the cows, male bass during the post-spawn are extremely aggressive, easily caught and highly vulnerable to topwater lures. However, there is another short but distinctive seasonal period that few anglers talk about, and I believe it's the seasonal period that you're dealing with.
Pre-Summer Period
Where highland, hill-land and canyon impoundments prevail, the late post-spawn is often referred to as the pre-summer period, a term we rarely hear in Florida (predominantly natural eutrophic lakes). The pre-summer period marks a noticeable separation between the post-spawn and summer period. This interim period typically occurs before water temperatures are comfortable enough for bathing. In fact, water temperatures suitable for swimming usually mark the beginning of the bass's summer season. During the pre-summer period (late post-spawn), the females are back to feeding. However, on reservoirs that lack good weed growth their location is in disarray, almost as bad as the post-turnover. Actually, the pre-summer period on highland and hill-land lakes carries a double-whammy:
1) Bass tend to be scattered laterally (back creeks, creek mouths, main lake)
2) Bass tend to be scattered vertically throughout different depth levels because the lake is still unstratified (pre-thermocline).
Onsite Keys
Apart from bottom contour (structure) that's visible on the contour map, there are three Wild Cards to pre-summer location. The wild cards can only be pinpointed on-the-water during an onsite search, and any one of them can make a huge impact on location:
> WOODY COVER Standing timber, stumps, brush, stickups, laydowns ~ ~
> WATER CURRENT Tributary streams - island thoroughfares shoreline bottlenecks
> DISCOLORED WATER Dingy water over sedimentary bottoms,
mudlines from rainwater or stream flow
Hope this might help Scottbest of luck ;-)
Roger
5bass reply :
Good stuff Roger. The water is mid 70's now and although I didnt get on Smith this weekend I did get a report from a good friend that he was able to catch a couple real good ones yesterday on one of my brushpiles and thats the best news I've heard in a couple weeks. This may be the week that they all arrive on their summer spots.
I'll send you a pm to further the conversation about those GPS positions you listed, that are now mysteriously missing.
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