[dropcap]M[/dropcap]ay presents a broad spectrum of freshwater fishing opportunities in southeastern North Carolina.
Most of the bass are finished with the spawning ritual, but a few are still on beds and others are guarding fry. The crappie are mostly done and the bream are just getting started.
Where you decide to fish can make a big difference in the number of bites you can expect to get on a good day. Shallow lakes and ponds that warmed quickly over the last few weeks will generally produce better fishing in May than the river, due to the fact that they are farther along in the annual spring spawn/post spawn transition. The pads are starting to pop up in Lake Waccamaw and the bass are starting to feed up as they recuperate from the rigors of bedding.
Topwaters, buzz baits and double willow leaf spinner baits will produce early and late in the day and weightless soft stick baits like the Berkley heavyweight sinkworm draw a lot of strikes as the sun gets higher. Area ponds and small lakes should be approached similarly with water clarity dictating bait selection. Choose flashy high action lures with more water displacement in dirty water and more subtle, natural presentations in clear water.
Sutton Lake is producing decent numbers, although the lunkers from the last couple of years are all but gone. Lure selection is wide open this month depending on the weather, wind and generation schedules. Topwater poppers, soft jerk baits, weightless stick worms and Texas rigs usually generate the most bites this month, but crank baits and jigs will oftentimes produce the bigger bites.
After fishing the Cape Fear and its tributaries extensively for the past 30 years, I have found that May can be a trying month to catch a good limit of bass unless you are willing to be patient and fish methodically, or fish really fast, covering a lot of water. The post-spawn blues are in full force and feeding usually occurs in brief windows at the time of low tide.
Covering lots of water with a fast moving bait will work some days this month, but slow and easy is still the way to go most days. Twitching a topwater or slowly working a floating worm or Senko-style bait will be the most productive as a general rule. Nevertheless, the weather is near perfect this month and it is an excellent time to take a kid fishing.