Pay attention to the water temperature to find the bass
When water temperatures get higher than 65 degrees, it’s my “magic” time to put more and more bass in the boat at Toledo Bend. I’m a Zwolle native who has grown up catching bass and sac-a-lait on the lake just about all my life. I enjoy it, especially now as a guide with my family’s Tightline Guide Service.
I want to dedicate my first-ever Toledo Bend report to Mr. John Dean, who became seriously ill in early March. Dean, who had this column in Louisiana Sportsman magazine for many years, has been a highly regarded outdoorsman and bass fishing guide around here for several decades. We’re all hopeful for a complete recovery for our friend.
I can’t wait to get out on our lake and fish for bass and crappie the rest of this spring. Tightline Guide Service was formed a few years ago by myself and my grandfather, Jerry Cartinez, after we had guided for several years with another guide service. We are gung-ho about what we do and make every effort possible to ensure our clients have a good time.
With the majority of the bass spawn in the rearview mirror (although you still find some late spawners and buck bass guarding the nest), it’s probably time to target post-spawn bass in deeper water around main lake points, humps and ledges. It depends on the weather, to be honest. If it’s a warm spring, the spawn won’t drag out as long. Otherwise, more cool spells will keep the spawning period for bass going. Like I tell everybody, fish don’t know the months, they just know the water temperature.
The shad spawn
What keeps so many bass shallow in late spring on this lake is the annual shad spawn. Typically, in April and, especially, early May, if you have enough water you can start out fishing shallow because the shad spawn should be on by then.
Depending on the weather, it could be over quickly if it dawns bright and sunny (perhaps no more than 20-30 minutes) or prolonged for a couple hours by heavily overcast skies. I’ll fish 6 feet to dirt, as they say, in and around grass beds with swim jigs and soft plastic frogs. For the former, I like to throw 3/8- or ¼-ounce white swim jigs with the addition of a white Strike King Menace soft plastic trailer. As for frogs, I lean to mostly a white (sometimes a black) Boo-yah model.
Spinnerbaits also take a toll during the shad spawn. Again, I like a 3/8- or ¼-ounce white Stanley spinnerbait. And a shad-colored jerkbait worked around seawalls and boat docks is deadly during this period.
If the water is up high enough, those same artificials pull bass trying to gorge on the shad in and around flooded buckbrush. Or anglers can flip soft plastics and catch ’em consistently there, too.
After the shad spawn bite, head to 12- to 18-foot depths and cast a Carolina-rigged soft plastic, crankbait, football jig or Texas-rigged soft plastic. That C-rig is hard to beat. Usually, I add a Baby Brush Hog, soft plastic lizard, Zoom Super Fluke or a Trick Worm to the C-rig. The best colors always seem to be watermelon/red or green pumpkin/red.
April crappie
Crappie fishing should be at its best away from the shallows around standing timber and deadfalls in 12- to 15-foot depths. Planted brush piles in the same depths can produce just as many or more slabs as the other habitats. To get the fish in the boat, no matter which structure an angler targets, use either a live minnow or a soft plastic lure like the Natural Forage Baits Phat Shads and T-Shads. Our top three colors are DC Special, Monkey Milk and Highlighter.
When using the soft plastics, we have so much success on 1/32-ounce jigheads with a small split shot sinker approximately 2 feet above the jighead.
As for live minnows, it’s hard to beat a gold No. 2 Aberdeen hook with a split shot crimped 2 feet above the hook. We drop that particular setup right over the side of the pontoon boat to about 12 feet.
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.
