by Dan Kibler

The hotter it gets, the warmer the water gets at the surface of most ponds and reservoirs, and that would seem to make fishing for bass with topwater plugs a losing proposition.

Not so, say a handful of guides who fish regularly along the Catawba River and Yadkin River systems in North Carolina. In fact, June is among the best months of the year to catch bass on topwater baits.

“June is a very good topwater month,” said Maynard Edwards of Lexington’s Yadkin Lakes Guide Service. “Most of the time they’ll pull up on points, and you can catch ‘em on a Pop-R or a buzzbait.

“It seems like the shad going to the bank to spawn triggers that topwater bite,” he said. “I’ll fish it until 8:30 or 9 every morning, but if you have a real clear, bright day, it might end earlier.”

Chris Nichols of Carolinas Fishing Guide Service in Belmont agreed that the shad spawn probably drives the topwater bite in June, but as it gets hotter, the bream spawn takes over.

“In June, especially in lakes that have a lot of threadfin shad, you can pull up on any rocky or rip-rap bank and catch ‘em on a topwater plug,” he said. “That’s why the topwater bite is so good in May and June – because the shad are spawning and the bass are in there on them.”

The bream spawn has been a driving force in a great June-July topwater bite on Lake Wylie, Nichols said.

“It was kind of a secret for a couple of years before the word got out. The last couple of years, the bream-bed pattern has been as good as any other pattern during the summer.”

Bream, a name that covers a variety of sunfish (bluegill, green sunfish, shellcracker, pumpkinseed) move into the shallows on the summer full moons, fanning out dish-shaped spawning depressions over wide areas. There are often dozens of bream beds on a sandy, shallow flat. The bream and their fry draw predators – white perch to eat their eggs and bass to eat them.

Nichols said careful fishermen can often see a handful of bass below the surface in deeper water, just outside the bream beds. Occasionally, one of them will dart into the shallows for a quick meal. That may get a feeding frenzy started.

“I like to catch ‘em on a prop bait, because that really stirs things up for the bass,” he said. “You’ve even got some manufacturers who are making baits that are in bluegill colors now, to take advantage of it.”

Eric Weir of Big E’s Guide Service said the topwater bite at Lake Wateree is driven by the shad spawn, which usually ends in early June. But he’s not so sure this year.

“This has been such a weird (late) spring; it might last on to the end of June this year,” he said. “Pretty much any stretch of rocky bank, you’ll see the shad up there. You can catch ‘em on a topwater or a spinnerbait.”

Pop-Rs, Chug Bugs, Tiny Torpedos, Brian’s Bs prop baits, Bang-O-Lures, buzzbaits and floating worms can all be very productive lures. Except for buzzbaits, they’re fished with an erratic motion that’s caused by a fishermen twitching his rod tip in short jerks.

Striped bass, which hate hot water even more than largemouth bass, are even subject to attack baitfish on the surface when the weather is hot.

Jerry Hill of Jerry’s Striper Guide Service in Lexington, said that topwater action on stripers is great on Badin Lake from the middle of June through July. “They’ll get schooled up, and the first hour after daylight, they’ll tear ‘em up. They’ll run ‘em up and trap ‘em in coves or on points,” he said. “We’ll stop trolling if we see ‘em breaking and cast bucktails into ‘em.”