Stafford Lake is a little slow due to heavy pressure and the typical post spawn malaise. Now not all the bass have spawned – in fact probably only ½ of the fish have spawned at this point. So, you can either fish jigs, swimbaits, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits for pre-spawners in staging areas or you can throw Senkos, lizards, jigs, and beavers in shallow water for spawning fish in the shallows.

You can still find some fish locked on beds and sight fish but these fish are right on the bank and with a slight drop in the water level will probably have been caught at least once already or at least hammered by tons of fisherman. I would skip those fish and try to locate beds that are 6’-30’ off the bank. These deeper beds will have bigger bass on them and in deeper (safer) water the fish are less spooky. The problem is that anyone who has done some kind of bed fishing in the past knows that you have to keep your bait right on the bed and at times you have to keep it on the bed’s sweet spot in order to get a bite. Not a problem in shallow water where you can see both the bed and the fish.

If I can see the bed just a tiny bit, and I can’t see the fish at all, I like to use bright colors like chartreuse, neon orange, white, hot pink, or methiolate. These bright colored baits can be seen easily on beds just out of your depth of vision and as far as the fish goes, just keep working and watching your bright colored bait and the moment it disappears or “blinks” set the hook.

If I’m looking deeper and further out from the bank for beds I can’t see then I like to put my rod down and look around. If  I see a tree I will fish the foot of it like I know there is a bed there. Also, if I see some sparse cover I will try and find any break in that pattern; like if the grass is all no more than 8-10” from the next blade of grass but right in the middle there is one spot where there is no grace in a space the size of a garbage can lid, I will fish that spot like a bed. Never spend more than 15 minutes on a suspended bed unless you are sure it’s a bed with a fish on it.

Your 3rd choice is to fish weightless super fluke or a drop shot worm through the water column of the closest points to the spawning areas.

Looking forward as more and more big females begin to return to active eating after the post spawn malaise - frogs, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and cranks will all nail them. Also, keep in mind that the first to spawn are usually the bigger fish and therefore the first fish to return from the post spawn malaise will also be the bigger fish. If you see bass fry skipping in the shallows like raindrops then throw either frogs, blue gills, or anything else that will threaten these young fry. If and when the bass stop protecting the fry and start eating them, then throw 2-3” swimbaits, 1/16 oz speed traps, or 4 bladed spinnerbaits. Also, I never leave a shallow grassy area during the post span without carefully ticking a floating stick bait like an original floating Rapala in either Gold w/Black Back, Silver w/ Black Back, or baitfish colors like perch, mudler minnow or rainbow trout.