Scott McGlinchey

April has come and is almost gone. April is a big spawning month. The smallmouth should be done with spawning and the largemouth bass and crappie started their spawning cycles two weeks ago.

On Kentucky and Barkley Lakes when fish spawn that activity can come in waves, meaning there will be fish on shallow flats spawning and other fish will be staged out in deeper water. You can catch crappie in 14 feet and as shallow as two feet and that goes for largemouth bass, too.

I prefer to catch the spawning largemouth in super shallow spawning water and for crappies I prefer the deeper water staging fish.

We still have a few weeks left of the largemouth bass spawn. This is a great time to learn about the how and where bass spawn. When they move into the shallow spawning areas their behavior changes and they become real spooky.

Big, loud, and fast-moving bulky baits don’t work as well. Stealth and finesse fishing is required to catch them. Flipping and pitching jigs and creature baits is what many anglers go to. I prefer the weightless trick worm as it is very quiet bait and the slow left right action will entice largemouth bass like nothing else. You event don’t need forward facing sonar. My favorite colors are black, white, and pink.

When I am teaching this technique to others I have them use pink or white so they can see the bait to work it correctly. The technique I developed for using a weightless trick worm is deadly on all largemouth waters and is a tournament winner on many bodies of water.

I’ve been doing more crappie fishing this year using forward facing sonar and targeting fish in 10 to 14 feet of water. I'm casting jigs, long pole, and even using minnows putting the bait right in front of them as they hold in submerged brush piles and steak beds. Jigs with color combinations of green, silver flake, pink, white, blue, and silver work well. I’ve caught some crappie that were literally glued to the bottom and did not show up on Livescope.

I have already seen a couple groups of big redears on their beds spawning in 2 to 3 feet of water. Catfish will be spawning in a week or two and likely places to catch them are around rocky banks with chunk rock, rip rap, and boulders on the bank or better yet off shore.

For more detailed information regarding the largemouth bass spawn check my Shelldivers Guide Service Facebook page as I just posted an article there. If you’re in town fishing for fun or here preparing for a tournament I am sure I can help you in either department. If you just want to enjoy a day of catching quality bass, panfish, catfish or are wanting to learn how to effectively fish offshore I am as good as it gets!

I had excellent results in my career as a baseball and wrestling coach and use the same skills to help my clients learn bass fishing. I have over thirty years of ledge fishing experience and have spent 4000 hours diving underwater on various bodies of water observing fish in their home. If you want to book a trip with me please try to call me as the communication over the phone is much more effective and consumes less time than emails. I do respond to all forms of communication as quick as I can.

Please check out and like/follow my Shelldivers Guide Service Facebook page. I will have additional pictures posted there some are underwater photos of fish and shellbeds.