Carters Lake Fishing Report – May 2006

Carters: Level: .5 feet below full pool. Temp: 65-68 with some 70-degree water late in the day. Clarity: Stained upriver, relatively clear on the main lake.

Bass: Buddy Callahan of Bart’s Bait & Tackle said, “as predicted, the bass fishing is strong right now.” Buddy says anglers are catching lots of bass, with a significant percentage of them being in the 4- to 6-lb. range. Effective lures cover a broad spectrum, but to simplify, Buddy says stick with topwater baits early, and fish a little deeper midday. “Topwater lures on mainlake points or right in the middle of creek channels will be good until the sun gets on the water,” Buddy said. Buddy said many plugs will work, such as Pop Rs, Zara Spooks, Sammys or Chug Bugs. Buddy said if you throw your topwater lures around shallow banks, all you are likely to attract are small buck bass, not the bigger fish you want. In the middle of the day, Buddy says bass fishermen should switch up their tactics, get on the trolling motor, and run the bank with tubes, jigs or worms. “You can catch great numbers of fish doing this, though they’ll usually be smaller,” Buddy said. In the evening, for the last hour or so of daylight, switch back to the topwater plugs, or even run a buzzbait right along the banks.

Linesides: Start in the main creek arms and fish down to the main lake. The stripers can be anywhere in that range, though Buddy says the big ones are going to be caught more readily in the main lake. “There will still be a little bit of a topwater bite for stripers during May, and you can catch them on live bait pulled on planer boards and balloons,” Buddy said. “When we get on toward June, the bite is going to change over to downlines and umbrella rigs.”
Crappie: The fishing has been good lately. Look for the crappie to start moving back to deep-water haunts this month, and adjust your fishing accordingly.

Bream: Bream seem to be a forgotten species for many reservoir fishermen, but if you like hard-fighting panfish, there are still some big bream to be had. “They will bed on the May full moon,” Buddy said. “If you want to catch some bream, May will be the time.”