Switching it Up During the Post Spawn Funk

    Everyone has had those days when the bass are  in the post spawn stage and fish can go into short period of rest and cruising around.  Occasionally feeding, but mainly recovering from the rigors of the spawn.  I recently floated a section of river that a few male bass still guarding nest, with some females spotted hanging around wood a little deeper.  The males that were off the bed were feeding some while the big females were just seen cruising out off the banks.  Sometimes you have to switch it up through out the day when faced with these conditions. 
     I started the afternoon with a small largemouth bass on a KVD 1.5 square bill, that hit on my first cast down some rip rap rock.  The rocks on most of this float were covered in grass so I switched up to a 1/2oz, white spinner bait. This seemed to be a ticket to several buck bass through out the day.  The fish, like often happens after the spawn, were tight to wood in shallow water.  I began catching fish as I ran the spinner bait beside, over or into the wood.  It had to be tight to the wood though.  I saw several of my strikes and caught many of them on the trailer hook because of the finicky bite.  I managed four or five fish on that bait, with a few missed strikes.  I was determined to find a big fish that I could maybe get a reaction strike out of.

 

 

 

 

 

    The evening wore on and the spinner bait bite began to slow down.  May can be one of the best months for topwater so I tied on a black and red buzz bait with two blades stacked one on top of the other.  As we neared the end of the day and the sun set low, I began hooking up on fish with my buzz bait.  Two of my last fish, including my biggest of the day, came in the shoals and no where near wood. When the light gets low, the fish move into the shoals and feed.  I caught a nice spotted bass on the current seam below the shoal.  I then did what is only natural in my excitement after catching a fish, and back lashed my reel pretty bad.  I picked out the mess and reeled up the slack to feel, what I thought was my buzz bait hung up on a rock until it began pulling back. Of course, I really meant to do that so I would catch that fish.  I mean, who hasn't fished a buzz bait on the bottom like a jig? 

 

 

 

   As you can see, I caught fish on a few different lures this day, and was willing to try something new when the technique I was using stopped producing.  You have to be a versatile angler to catch fish, especially in the post spawn.  So don't be afraid to change it up when the bite slows down.  It just might boat you a few  more fish.