May 1 Fishing Report

The weather around our regions has started to warm up, and the fishing on Neely Henry Lake has followed suit. We were fortunate to take part in a Lew’s and Strike King Media event on the lake last week that featured outdoor media members from all over the country working with Lew’s and Strike King pros Mark Menendez, Andy Montgomery and Billy McDonald and Lew’s pro David Fritts.

The Bass Bite

The fish at Neely Henry have been in all stages of their spawning cycle with some in prespawn, spawn and postspawn phases. The best bites for the largemouth have been in the openings of pockets and all the way to the backs of them. 

For the largemouth, the bite could be any of a number of things. For the week of the media event, and the filming of their Outdoor Channel show Pro Team Journal; quality largemouth were caught on 3/8-ounce Strike King Thunder Cricket bladed jigs with Blade Minnows as trailers. There were also a few fish taken on KVD Sexy Frogs (hollow bodied frogs) in black and white color patterns.

The best bite for big largemouth has been Flippin’ creature baits around grass midway in and into the backs of the pockets. Several fish in the five to six-pound category were taken by rigging a 5/16 to 3/8-ounce tungsten bullet sinker on a straight shank Flippin’ Hook and 20 to 25-pound-test Fluorocarbon on a high speed 7.1:1 to 8.3:1 reel and a Flippin’ Stick. The lures of choice have been Reaction Innovations Sweet Beavers, Big Bite Baits Fighting Frogs and Strike King Rage Bugs; the best colors have been green pumpkins, Sun Perch and black and blue shades.

The spotted bass have started to bite really well on main lake points with current seams washing against them. Fritts developed a bite on a soft plastic stickbait Texas Rigged weightless and presented into the eddies in the current behind points and obstructions.

For this pattern, it is important to have current, and we recommend using Strike King Ochos or Yamamoto Senkos and a 4/0 to 5/0 offset round bend TroKar or Gamakatsu worm hook rigged Texas Style, and let it wash in the current. If the current slacks of a little, then scaling down with a Shaky Head or a Drop Shot fished on the bottom may still get some quality bites.

Some of our employees went out on the lake after work yesterday and caught a few fish on white swim jigs around the grass, so that bite may be picking up as well.

Expect to start seeing shad spawns happening during the early morning low light conditions any time. If you’re out early, and see shad roiling the surface, capitalize with spinnerbaits, Jackhammers and even shad colored crankbaits. You won’t have much time to capitalize on this, but if you move quickly, you could catch a bunch of fish in a hurry.

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The Crappie Bite

The crappie have finished spawning and have moved to the docks on Neely Henry. That means that jigging brush around the fronts of the docks will catch a few, but for the most part – it’s shootin’ time.

Shootin’ Docks is a really fun way to catch a bunch of slabs, with a few big ones mixed in right now. Grab one of our Lew’s Wally Marshall Crappie Shooter combos and some Bobby Garland Baby Shads or Dock Shooters with some 1/24 and 1/32 heads and go to town. The Mr Crappie baits from Strike King, and our Crappie’s Last Bite and Bass Assassin Crappie lineup will also serve you well. For colors, it’s time to start turning to the pearls, Monkey Milks and Ice Blue type colors, as they are starting to produce.

The bream shouldn’t be too far from their spawn, so being able to put a bunch of bream in a bucket for a good fish fry is bound to be on the horizon.

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to stop by The Loft and check in with us, we’re happy to help. And, we’re always here 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday for any tackle needs you may have.

Catch a bunch and have a great time for us! From all of us at Buck’s Island.

Click to check out what we have online so far!

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