*** Post Spawn Blues...

 HOW TO BEAT Bassin' Post-Spawn Blues

Speaking of great illustrators, Tom Seward was another one of the best. As a former art teacher from IL, he drew all his own article diagrams. He was also a taxidermist and lure designer (Crankbait Corp., Natural Ike, Luhr Jensen, Yakima, etc.) and helped pioneer in the “natural” color patterns on crankbaits in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Here are his thoughts on post-spawn bass movements from a 1985 Fishing Facts article.

> Knowing what to look for and choice of lakes are critical to good post-spawn bass action. Fish can be tracked from creek arms and coves right into the main lake. Many apparently attractive spots hold no fish or just yearlings. 

🔑 Productive spots have been marked with a large dot. 

> Timbered coves without spawning flats or proper bottom content are eliminated by fish, as are areas without clear lead-ins from well-formed creeks. 

> Points with no surface area and far from feeder creeks are often poor choices. But notice how flats near deep water or creek edges hold fish on corners, cups or fingers, while slow-tapering flats distances from deep water are poor. 

> Areas shown…are also enhanced by cover in the form of stumps, brush cut to clear lake, or thicket edges at the ends of farm fields. 

> Fish especially concentrate on sharper projections that taper out into deep water or "cupped" areas near deep water. Fish may be a long way from shore, but the contours and edges of holding areas must be in the warmer 13 to 15-foot areas where the bass can be tempted with lures. 

> A study of this map section should give an idea of the selection process needed to find numbers of concentrated fish during the so-called tough post-spawn period.