At lakes with marinas, Pete Ponds knows where he’s going to begin his search for post-spawn bass. That’s because these on-the-water facilities not only present spawning shad the hard surfaces to spawn against, but they also provide lots of shade pockets for bass fry.
“You kind of get the best of both worlds right there in a little confined area,” Ponds explained. “Marina usually have some riprap banks or concrete seawalls somewhere around, and leave the shad pockets created by the boat slips and even the boats themselves.”
For a tournament angler like Ponds, having so many options in a small area means he’s able to maximize his time on the water without running around looking for other spots that might hold fish.
“We were fishing Guntersville Lake a few years ago, and Chad Brauer had a top-5 finish fishing marinas at a time when nobody else was fishing them,” Ponds said. “He knew the bass were there. He just had to figure out how to catch them.”
Ponds approaches marinas the same way during the post-spawn. He knows that not only are the bass there, but everything they need is there, too.
“That means you can start early, fishing the riprap and concrete stuff with a spinnerbait or crankbait early in the morning to catch some bigger female bass if you see shad flipping around those spots,” Pond explained. “Then, when that quits, all you’ve got to do is pull back to the shad under the slips with a spinnerbait, crankbait or floating worm to catch male bass guarding fry.”
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