Ive been very busy recently with work but glad to see the site is doing well and I'm excited about the information sharing potential especially among my fellow northeast anglers. It can help to point each other in the right direction when you only have a few hrs. to get out on the water



I've managed to get out almost every day  for the last 10 days and let me tell you the action has gone from very steady to flat out on fire as the week progressed.

 

Water seems to be around that magical 60 degree mark in almost every pond or lake Ive hit.
 

Vegetation is still present and healthy but has thinned out enough that every spot can be worked properly with any type of bait. Bass are slamming anything with a vengence as long as it moves quickly.


 

Ive nailed less than a handful of bass on slow presentations but well over two hundred on faster search baits or coverage lures.Even though these faster baits have allowed me to cover the entire ponds or lakes in short order the bass are beginning to bunch up and seem to be a few weeks ahead of schedule as far as schooling up in large numbers in small areas goes


I've been catching almost all my bass in 2 or 3 distinct spots on each body of water from small side of the road bank fishing ponds to lakes like Noxontown, Canal pond and Lums the bass have been bunched up.

While the cover available varies from pond to pond each spot generally consists of the edge of a flat that meets deep water on a ledge or where the creek channel swings up tight to the bank with deep water close by.

Remember deep is a relative term to the lake you're fishing. On some it may be 4 or 5 ft. while others 20 or 30.


Mix in grass wood, rock or pads and you've found the spot. All of these ponds have plenty of cover but there's generally only a few spots that offer this type of structure with it. Generally these spots aren't to far away from where you catch your winter bass in the deepest parts of the pond or lake. So those are good starting points to start your search and just look for these structures within a few hundred yards of those deep winter holes because these bass will stay on these drops until the water finally gets to cold  and drives them to the deep holes but they don't want to go far, so look close to were you catch em in the winter baits.The schools have been laying out off the drop and it seems like all day they move in and out  sometimes just a couple at a time and other times 5,10 and even 20 at a time.


 

 

They feed for a couple minutes AGRESSIVELY and then move back out.


This is Delaware's version of schooling bass .I've thrown slower baits like jigs, senkos, beavers shaky heads and drop shots but the bass have shown no where near the interest towards those as they have to Chatterbaits burnt erratictally through wood, pads and grass on the bank or spinnerbaits in tandem burnt and twitched in the same areas.Square bill cranks rooted and bounced off the bottom an cover have produced viscious strikes and traps speed reeled with pumps and rips have scored as well.  Mix in a buzzbait to show the bass something different and to sometimes pick up a larger fish at times, and it doesn't have to be low light or cloud cover as they slam it in the bright sun. The past week truly has been junk fishing catch 4 or 5 on a bait and then when the fish get wary to the bait and the action slows change baits and it starts again.


Over time the numbers dwindle as you run out of new baits to show them and then you go hit the other 1 or 2 spots just like it you've found around the lake, and when you come back a fresh school has pulled up, and  the fun begins all over again.


I was able to catch a few nicer bass working cranks that run in the 6 to 8 ft range off the ledge out in the deep water where the unagressive bass are holding. I had to do this on 1 of the ponds because I was only able to find one of these "grouping areas" on that lake so I had to figure out how to catch em when the school died down, but if you simply wait them out a new wolfpack moves up.

Enjoy this fun while it lasts because in about 2 to 3 weeks it will end and then it will be time to catch some of the biggest fish of the year on a whole new pattern.


 
But for pure numbers and fun to me this is the best time of the year. So enjoy. Find yourself a grouping area with a school of bass and remember they'll slam almost anything right now as long as its fast and erratic.This pattern will last from sun up to sun down. I've sat a whole day before on one or two spots this time of year and caught fish all day long sometimes as many as 100 between 3 of us in the boat.

 More info at Northeast Bass Fishing For Trophy Bass

Northeast Bass Fishing For Trophy Bass