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In the last couple of weeks Clarks Hill water temperatures have skyrocketed, and as a result Buckeye Lures in Augusta reports that significant numbers of male fish have started moving up onto points and getting ready for the spawn.  The next stage for these fish will be moving into pockets, and if the water temperatures stay as warm as weather reports indicate they should then bigger females will be right behind them.  They will follow males onto points and then on the next full moon they should head to the pockets for a massive round of spawning.  Right now Buckeye does not report having seen any fish on beds.

Right now it’s pretty easy to catch a good limit of smaller, male bass fishing off points, and Spot Removers fished out to 10 or 15 feet of water will catch these fish.  Another prime pattern has been fishing The Sled off points, and Tyler Matthews with Buckeye said that when he made the switch from fishing The Sled with green pumpkin Zoom Speed Craws to a larger NetBait Magnum black and blue Paca Craw he started catching more and bigger fish. In the stained water a darker bait and a bigger profile seems to help.

While male bass seem to be hanging around off points in 5-15 feet of water, it seems that the bigger female bass are holding a bit deeper.  With recent tournaments taking 24 or 25 pounds to win targeting bigger females seems to be important, and from what Buckeye has seen the key to catching these larger fish has been to fish the deeper parts of points in the 15-20 foot range.  The same baits will work.  At this stage of the season positioning the boat shallower and casting from shallow to deep can be an advantage over more traditional positioning, as it provides a different presentation to the fish.  But there is no doubt that in the coming days if you position your boat shallow you will be on top of the fish.

Finally, Buckeye reports that some schooling bass have been caught in the afternoons on Pearl-colored flukes.  Most of these fish have been in the 13-14 inch range, but look for more and bigger fish to be in this pattern soon.

Clarks Hill is at 328.96.