Bass, crappie enter post-spawn period and bream start bedding
As the calendar page turns over from April to May, Toledo Bend’s fishing simplifies for bass, crappie and bream.
May is my easy month as bass and crappie enter the post-spawn period and bream start bedding up in the shallows from mid-May into June. The middle or tail end of the shad spawn should add to the bass catching scheme of things in late spring.
Depending on the region’s rainfall amount in the latter half of April, Toledo Bend’s pool stage should be in the low 170s by the time you read this. The vast majority of spawning bass probably will have left the shallows, although you might see several buck bass guarding nests.
Where to focus your fishing
Sometimes the best bassin’ is just before and around sunrise as spawning shad crowd around bulkheads, buckbrush and any type of grass in 1- to 5-foot depths. Plastic frogs, other topwaters, swimbaits and spinnerbaits trigger bites from those bass often in a feeding frenzy gulping up shad.
Once the sun gets up over the horizon, we ease off and out of the shallows to target bass on ledges and humps in 12- to 20-foot depths. I like to throw them a soft plastic, either Texas-rigged or Carolina-rigged, or a 3/8- to ½-ounce green pumpkin football jig, or a shad-colored (Tennessee or gizzard) Strike King 6XD crankbait. For the C-rigged soft plastics, I catch on watermelon/red and plum apple plastic lizards, trick worms, Zoom Baby Brush Hogs and Zoom Super Flukes.
Where to go? This time of year I prefer the midlake areas on both the Texas and Louisiana sides, depending on the wind. On the Louisiana side this time of year try San Miguel Creek and Negreet Creek. Patroon Bayou is my go-to place on the Texas side. In those areas, look for hotspots such as the end of ledges and humps.
If you want to catch bass in the grass, try below the bridge on the Texas side and fish Housen Creek and Six Mile Creek.
Targeting crappie
It’s crappie catching time, too, this month on Toledo Bend. Typically, the panfish move from shallows back out to brush piles in 15- to 22-foot depths and, basically, you can catch them any way you want, including dropping a minnow straight down off the side of the boat or fishing with a soft plastic, minnow-type crappie jig.
Target natural laydowns, planted brushtops off main lake points, ridges and creek bends close to deeper water.
Bream usually start heading to the shallows this month and into May, mostly hanging around cypress trees and grass beds. They can be caught on crickets or nightcrawlers (I prefer crickets) under a cork fished 2- to 3-feet deep. You can get on a good bream bite and catch 60-100 a trip. Target the shady side of cypress trees or the back of coves and have fun.
I’ve been guiding on this lake for six years and you’re welcome in my boat. Give me a call at (318) 602-9686.
