Scott McGlinchey

In this report I am going to focus on fishing offshore for bass and bluegill and red ear during the spawn.

The largemouth spawn usually ends around mid May and during this time there will be some early arrival largemouth that have made their way out to the ledges that are closer to the shore or creek channel ledges. These locations can be a hump, creek channel, an underwater point, roadbed, or a long bar or ridge. The bigger the area the more they may move. On or about the beginning of June the bass will have made it out to the main river channel. In 2024 the annual summer migration went according to plan. This year the plan got held up. There were the typical early arrival summer bass, but not as many as in 2024, and the fish that were to make it out to the river channel in early June were late. Basically the early ledge fishing was better in 2024 than this year. The variables that held the fish back were; to many days of cloudy and rainy weather, tournament pressure, and possibly a record shad spawn. The bass are all the way out to the river channel now. I have my rods rigged with a 10 inch plum zoom worm, scrounger head, deep crankbait, 1 ounce single bladed spinnerbait, a football head with a finesse worm, and a Carolina rig. If you're live scoping then use a soft plastic minnow. No doubt that a few anglers out of every 100 are unbelievably better than the rest at caching large bass using the Garmin live scope or other forward facing brands. You do not have to have forward facing sonar to effectively catch bass on ledges. I watched a kid live scoping last year on several different days and when he left I moved in and caught more fish quicker than he did. Every good hole has a best casting angle and when you hit that angle just right it triggers the bite. Right now is a great time to get out and experience catching bass offshore!

Bluegill and Red Ear fishing has been phenomenal this year. You can use forward facing sonar and side imaging to locate the beds and once you find them they are easy to catch. I focused on water depths of 5 feet and as shallow as 1.5 feet. Sometimes you can find beds of all red ear. Sometimes the red ear will be as shallow as 1 foot. I keep it simple and use a small bobber, small hook, and a red worm for bait. If the worm is large I cut it in half and thread the hook in to the open end. I always leave a large tail of the worm to dangle.

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 five years of ledge fishing experience and have spent 4000 hours diving underwater in various bodies of water observing fish in their home. If you want to book a trip with me please try to call me as 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 and Shelldiversguide.com. I will have additional pictures posted and there some are underwater photos of fish and shellbeds.