HOT SPOTS
MILLWOOD LAKE Bass are schooling lake-wide in almost any area you choose. Catches of 40-60 bass per day are common this week. The bass in the 2- to 4-pound range are schooling on flats in the lily pads and in Little River chasing huge shad schools. They are hitting topwaters all day. Best baits are Rat-L-Traps, Bass Assassin Shads, buzzbaits and Jitterbugs near vegetation and lily pads. Best color of buzzbaits over the past couple of weeks were Firecracker/ chartreuse around pads and vegetation adjacent to deeper sections of the creek channels or in the river.
BEAVER LAKE Beaver Lake stripers are feeding aggressively and are being caught over points, humps, pockets or tree lines where stripers can corner bait. Anglers have reported stripers feeding on the surface and have been catching them with spoons, jigs and topwater plugs. You can catch stripers by trolling umbrella rigs with white or chartreuse jigs/grubs or plugs like Rapala No. 14 husky jerks in black back or purple back colors, or a 5-6 inch Smithwick Rogues. Use downriggers or snap weights and planer boards to get some depth and stagger your presentation. Live bait working well for trophy stripers.
LAKE MAUMELLE Bass fishing is good on crankbaits, drop-shot, jigs, buzzbaits, wacky rig worms and spinnerbaits in the weeds and off the edge line. They’re shallow during dusk and dawn. Drop 12-18 feet in deep water, just below fast-moving schools of shad. Spotted bass are running with largemouths and are being caught on hair and finesse worm jigs, spoons and minnows in deep water.