If you find yourself fishing for post-spawn bass on a windy day, spinnerbaiting windblown banks can be productive. The natural motion of wind-spawn chop will often push baitfish into those banks, and that can turn even sluggish post-spawn bass on. Spinnerbaits are great choices under these conditions.

Save the topwater lures for early and late in the day. They really come into their own during the first and last hours of daylight -- even sooner in the afternoon, based on personal experience.

Earlier I mentioned that the best post-spawn bass outing that I’ve ever enjoyed occurred on a strip pit. That day involved two very basic techniques that produced more than a hundred bass between 12 and 14 inches. It was a spectacular day of fishing.

The pit I fished was crystal-clear, so I opted for a “finesse” Carolina rig. Using a spinning outfit spooled with 8-pound line, I crimped on a couple of split shot about 18 inches above my worm hook and then rigged a 4-inch straight worm on that hook. I caught a bass on my first cast -- and things picked up from there!

Throughout the day, this rig and technique produced bass on every single style and color of soft plastic I had on the trip. Natural colors, fluorescent colors, weird colors -- even bubble gum -- produced dozens and dozens of largemouths.

Then, a little after 5 that afternoon, I looked up just in time to see a swirl in the surface film along the far shoreline. I caught one more bass on the Carolina rig, which I then retired in favor of a topwater popper -- specifically, the smallest-sized Pop-R, in fire-tiger. Shadows were growing long as the late-spring sun sank closer to the western horizon. I figured that the bright pattern would work -- and, boy, did it!

The last couple of hours of that trip were more memorable than any other bass trip I’ve ever made, because the fish just plain cooperated. Every spot that I thought would produce a bite did! Dozens more largemouths fell to the topwater, which I fished until it was too dark to see.

I like to fish all the way around a point with a worm or crawdad imitation, starting at the back on one side and working out to the tip of the point and back down the other side.

This was all shoreline fishing. At larger reservoirs, flooded timber offers the prospect of outstanding morning and afternoon/evening topwater action. “Walking” baits like the venerable Zara Spook are very effective fished in and around flooded trees and brush, and also along the edges of docks. Poppers will catch bass in places like these, but my experience has been that walking a topwater in these spots is more effective than fishing a popping one.

What about buzzbaits, you ask? Oh, yeah: They’re good when post-spawn bass are hitting topwaters, and may be the best baits to choose when there’s more than a little chop on the water. Conditions like this seem to reduce the appeal of walking or popping baits, but buzzbaits make enough racket to attract consistent attention.

For a more subtle approach, try a soft-plastic jerkbait fished just under the surface. You’ll encounter bass that will come up from their suspended hideouts to strike. And if the fish are still really feeling the effects of the spawn -- in other words, they’re sluggish -- you can fish a soft jerkbait slowly enough to improve your chances.