Best places to catch bass on bream beds in the summer?

[Fish the Moment]

Hey guys. I went out to Beaver Lake in Arkansas today for the first time in the summer and tried fishing bream beds with a prop bait and frog. I caught a few decent ones up the river in a creek, but with a full moon this week, there should be a lot of good bass up shallow feeding on spawning bream.

I've caught them on bream beds before on dirty water lakes, but I've never had the chance to try it on a clear water lake like Beaver. I know the FLW guys catch them on bream beds in August on Lake Ouachita during the Forrest Wood cup and that lake sets up very similar to Beaver this time of year.

So my question: What are the best areas of the lake to find bass on bream beds and are there any keys to narrowing down the best banks or pockets?

Thanks,

[DrewFlu33]

MN and Arkansas are two very different places, but it seems like I usually catch bass around the beds that are closer to the main lake as opposed to the ones that are in the same places bass may spawn. My line of thinking is this allows the bass to be in their summer areas then just slide up and pick off an easy meal. As such, if there's depth nearby, even better, though finding beds if there's too much depth nearby becomes a challenge.

The best types of places around here seem to be the backsides of sandy or gravel points that jut out and protect the area leading into what we would normally consider a bass spawning area. I'm assuming that'd be creek mouths for you, though around here that's usually just a shallower, weedy section of lake that doesn't get the wind and boat traffic wave action.

Swim jigs far and away are the best producers in that situation since I've started throwing them. I used to have luck with weightless flukes, but have since gone to the swim jig and won't be going back. I'll take a 1/4 oz green pumpkin swim jig with a 5 inch green pumpkin grub as a trailer and just get a little bit of chartreuse in it. I've been using the Spike-It Worm 'N Chunk Paint to put a couple specs on the "belly" section of the jig's skirt (the side opposite the weed guard) but I'm sure some dye or just using a skirt with a little chartreuse in it would work well.

Topwater works sometimes, but not as much as the "experts" say for me personally. Fish are different everywhere, so you know how that goes.

I don't have side imaging, so I'll usually find the beds by winding up right on top of them. It's basically worthless at this point. So I'll come back later and fish them. The vast majority of bass I catch around them seem to be out away from the beds, not right in them...say like 20 feet out from the furthest bed out. This is really key - I would always try and fish right in the beds and wouldn't ever do anything. I just figured catching bass off bluegill beds didn't happen here. I think I read an article on Wired2Fish or Bassmaster at one point that clued me in on this, and it's an incredible difference. Swimming that jig out away from the beds has resulted in some of my biggest swim jig fish. I've also caught quite a few that have come from working the shore side of the closest bed, especially early in the morning. We have a lot of reeds here and the bass will get up into the reeds and ambush stuff early in the morning before moving out once the sun hits the water. Banging that swim jig off everything you can by steering it with the rod tip and pausing it for a split second after each collision will get them to bite. If it hangs, jiggle it before getting it free. I caught at least a dozen bass this year that plucked a swim jig off the side of a reed it got hung on. Only after working all the water around the beds will I work something through the beds themselves.

if there's a breeze and you've found some beds, I've had luck with a chatterbait worked in the same way.

[Buggs247]

I know this is an old thread but I thought Id bring it back up and see if anyone else has any tips on finding bream beds?!?!

[vascott]

I usually find them in the backs of the flattest main lake pockets in the mid lake region. Same as looking for bass just put TM on high and check as many as possible. They usually come back to the same areas year after year as well.