During an early morning outing on Lake Tom Bailey Ken Murphy quickly formulated a plan of action. The seasoned pro broke out his trusty watermelon colored fluke and began pitching to cover along the shoreline.

Pitching the fluke several feet under an overhanging limb, Murphy hesitated for just a second before laying the hammer down on a nice bass. Murphy’s first bass of the day exploded out of the water beneath the overhanging limb and danced across the surface.

As Murphy continued working the shoreline he carved up the structure much like a skilled surgeon. The accomplished angler didn’t miss a beat as he continued to probe the shallow structure. Occasionally he would hesitate for a second and then set the hook again. Like clockwork another bass would appear from the murky shoreline cover and fight for its life. His second bass of the day came a few minutes after the first and fell victim to the fluke as well.

“I like to fish a watermelon colored fluke when they are in the shallows,” said Murphy. “If you fish them right they can be deadly on any body of water.” Murphy likes to pitch the fluke, teamed with a 4/0 hook, around grass, cover, or shad and just let it glide down. “As the fluke glides down it imitates a dying or injured shad, and the bass just can’t stand it,” Murphy said.

Early Bite



During the summer Murphy concentrates on shoreline areas for the first hour after daylight looking for a lunker bass on a topwater bite.

If no vegetation is present and there are shad or bream in the area Murphy will switch to a Pop R, or Rattlin’ Chug Bug. “I like to fish popping type baits this time of year,” Murphy said. “I like to retrieve the Chug Bugs in a side to side motion.”

Once the topwater bite slows, Murphy changes tactics. With abundant wood structure and some vegetation as well, Murphy has plenty of wood cover to focus on. “After the topwater bite is over I like to get out my flipping stick,” continued Murphy. “I’ll flip the wood structure and grass vegetation with a Baby Brush Hog and continue fishing it as long as I’m getting bit.

As we continued working down a shoreline Murphy spotted a telltale swirl in a patch of grass and quickly flipped the Zoom Brush Hog onto the spot. Almost as soon as the lure disappeared into the vegetation Murphy reared back and hammered yet another bass. Everything Murphy tried was working on this day.

If the flipping bite stays constant Murphy has been known to catch unbelievable strings of bass. When the bite slows, however, Murphy is quick to change tactics once again.

Tom Bailey has a good population of shad and that is usually the key to catching numbers of bass this time of year. “Find the shad and you’ll find the bass,” said Murphy. “It works anywhere you have a lake that has shade in it this time of year. ”



Surface Feeding



As we stopped at yet another spot we encountered bass busting the surface at random along a shallow water ledge. The water just off of the ledge was eight feet deep and the edge of the ledge was about four feet.

Murphy pulled out his small crankbait rod teamed with 12 pound line and an RC 1 crankbait. When a bass blew up on a school of shad the talented angler pitched it just past the kill zone, cranked it a few turns and bowed up on a feisty 2 1/2 pounder!

“When they’re chasing shad and won’t hit a topwater this time of year, they’ll usually hit this bait, “said Murphy. “I’ll pitch the lure across the ledge or flat and just work it back across the bottom bumping everything that gets in its way,” said Murphy.

Once the action slowed Murphy slows down and fishes real slow along the subtle depth changes in the deepest water in the lake. Though the initial boom is off of the lake, there are still quality bass to be caught when the time is right. And right now the prime times are at dawn and dusk.

If you’re looking for a change of pace and want to try a new lake then head to Lake Tom Bailey and try it yourself.