by Steve McCorcle 
The redbuds, dogwoods and Bradford pears are in full bloom, and that usually means the fish are moving shallow. Spring weather this year really started in late January and February. The water temps are still in the high 50’s and now moving into the lower 60’s. The baitfish and fish have been moving into shallow water but they have not moved as I would have expected with the unseasonably warm weather. This may be due to the fact that the lake was down for so long this year, or it could simply be the fish are confused by the warmer winter.
Bass have started to move shallow, but most all of the fish I am catching are smaller bass, mostly buck bass. I have not found the larger females moving to the normal bedding areas, but I expect bass to move to shallow water within a week or so. This past weekend there was a good size tournament and the largest 5 fish limit was only a little over 10 Lbs. Most fishermen I talked to struggled to catch keeper bass and claimed most fish came off secondary points, and fish were not caught in shallow water. The best bait was a shallow to medium depth crankbait such as a Shad Rap, SPRO medium depth, etc. Additionally, fish were caught using plastic worms in either June bug or watermelon. In the next few weeks I expect that bass will be able to be caught shallow with spinnerbaits, trick worms, Texas rig worm or shallow crankbaits.
I would have thought the crappie bite would be exploding right now, but that has not been the case for me. I have caught crappie trolling in the middle of coves using minnows and jigs, but I have not found the crappie to be in shallow water bedding as I would expect. This should change, and I expect the fish to be around shallow brush piles and structure and should be able to be caught in good numbers. Crappie can still be caught under the bridges and around docks with good trash piles using minnows.
Striped bass have already run now for the most part but can still be caught in good numbers. Target flats near deeper water, rocky points or rocky humps, and even upriver near the shoals. The stripers are moving up on the flats feeding on the baitfish. You may even be able to catch stripers in the back of pockets using minnows or shad, lipless crankbaits, Redfish Magic spinnerbaits and rubber minnow baits on a jig head.
As for other species, I have already seen bream moving back into shallow water and around docks and the bite should pick up as the water warms up and as we have a full moon. The catfish bite is good, and they can even be caught shallow. I caught two very nice 5-6 pound catfish on lures while fishing for bass, so that tells me that they are getting aggressive. Have fun fishing and stay safe on the water.