DOUGLAS LAKE FROM A BASS BOAT
Major league tournament angler Ricky Shepherd has practically made a living fishing Cherokee and Douglas lakes. It’s hard to determine which he would call his home water. Regardless, Shepherd knows as much or more about bass fishing on Douglas as anyone.

In May, Shepherd said there will be two key target areas for catching the lake’s largemouth bass. This time of year, there will still be some pre-spawn largemouths, some which are spawning, and some post-spawn fish. The lake’s limited but healthy smallmouth population will have already spawned and aren’t much of a secondary option in May.

“I’ve done awful well in the river upstream in early May,” Shepherd said. “But keep in mind that they move up on main creek points, too.” The veteran anger really likes his options on the upper end of the lake where the headwaters are formed after the French Broad is merged with the Nolichucky River.

“It’s a shallow bite,” Shepherd added. He said it’s a power fishing deal for him up around the bushes and brush with spinnerbaits and flippin’ jigs dominating what he’s doing for the largemouths, which will be holding in 2 to 3 feet of water.

Again, Shepherd said during May and especially as the month goes on, you’ll find bass on all sides of the spawn. Early, they’ll be in the pre-spawn staging areas, then shallows for the spawn itself, and finally backed off to deeper water in the post-spawn -- all in the merry month of May. This month is one of transition.

During the pre-spawn, you can find a little Rat-L-Trap action on flats. Then Shepherd will switch to a Carolina-rigged lizard as a search tool as they get shallower. Once the majority of bass are shallow, the spinnerbait and jig take over. You can also find largemouths staging on a few secondary points as well as they move shallow. From mid-month on, most of Shepherd’s bass will come on jigs as they back away from shallow water and return to the pre-spawn staging areas and even deeper.

While they’re shallow, Shepherd said you’re going to catch plenty of numbers with a Carolina rig. The only problem is that most are on the small side. Even in the post-spawn, he said you can stay shallow and catch all the male bass you want. As they back off, you change with them.

Unlike Cherokee Lake, Douglas is void of any significant structure after the bass move away from the limited shallow cover. He said good electronics aboard your boat play an integral role after the spawn. Douglas’ main lake proper is made up of many slick banks, and you have to find the bass with your depthfinder. Believe it or not, after the spawn is when Shepherd is going to target his bigger bass off points with a jig, and they can quickly get as deep as 30 feet.

As he said, Shepherd prefers the upper end in the first days of May, but turns to the mid-lake section on down to the dam from mid-month to the end. The major points on the main lake and in major creeks like Muddy Creek are where you’ll find him and the majority of the largemouths.

In comparison, Shepherd said that Douglas Lake isn’t the topwater lake that Cherokee is in May, but then again, Cherokee isn’t the Carolina rig lake that Douglas is, either. There’s a little topwater opportunity that starts in May on Douglas, but Shepherd said it’s not a primary method as it can be at Cherokee.