Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Truth be told, February and March are the best two months (if you can stand the cold) for catching a trophy largemouth bass in North Carolina.

But if an angler prefers milder weather, plus the opportunity to hear wild turkeys gobbling and quail whistling — and the chance to fish shallow for largemouth bass — then mid-April through May is the time to be on the water.

Spring is to Tar Heel bass chasers as October and November are to deer hunters. Neither group of sportsmen has to travel far to find plenty of action. During late fall white-tailed bucks are on the move, looking for love in all the wrong places. For largemouth bass, it’s the same in spring because the water temperature is prime everywhere, hovering near the magical 68- to 72-degree marks, depending on where your favorite bass hole is situated, and that pulls largemouths toward shorelines to spawn.

There’s little doubt after all these years of daily Internet fishing reports and tournaments that Bass Central in the old North State is inside the Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, with apologies to Portfolio.com/bizjournals’ claim that Durham and Chapel Hill were suburbs of Raleigh).

The three premier bass lake of North Carolina — Falls of the Neuse, Jordan and Shearon Harris — are within an eighth of a tank of gasoline of one another inside the Triangle. Or so says a bass pro who lives just south of the Capitol City.

So who better to rate the state’s best bassin’ lakes than Jeff Thomas?

The Broadway bass fanatic has an expert’s credentials, having learned at the knee of now semi-retired Holly Springs lunker thumper Phil Cable.

Now 46 with a wife, Wanda, and two daughters, Thomas is host and producer of the Carolina Outdoors show (www.carolinaoutdoors.com), has fished the FLW Tour Pro trail, the BASS Elite Trail, has qualified four times for the Stren Series championship, won five tournaments, had 19 top-10 finishes and qualified for the BFL All-American three times.

“I don’t even deer hunt any more,” he said. “If I can get on the water, I’m bass fishing somewhere.”

If he didn’t live near the state’s best lunker factories, Thomas probably would move. But as it is, his location is perfect.

“I like being able to fish Jordan, Falls or Harris (lakes),” he said. “But if you’re talking about fishing during mid April through May, I think I know where I’d like to go and it may surprise some people.”

While Harris has the reputation of having the most bass of any lake in North Carolina (electro-shocking rates of 100 fish per hour), Thomas said he’d choose another lake during April and May.

“You’re gonna use the same technique this time of year, April and May, at all three lakes — chunking a buzzbait — but for my money, I’d rather be at Falls of the Neuse,” he said, “especially if the water (level) is up.”

Spring is when Triangle lakes are likely to have medium to high levels because of rain.

So why does Thomas prefer Falls of the Neuse, a 12,500-acre impoundment, over Harris or Jordan?

“The shoreline,” he said. “It’s got so much more cover than Harris (mostly ringed by elodea and primrose aquatic plants) and Jordan, which doesn’t have much woody cover now.

“Falls has got plenty of wood, especially willows along the shoreline and in the backs of pockets and coves, and that’s where bass will be.”

Thomas said bass in the post-spawn look to rebuilt body mass, but some still will be spawning, in particular females laying eggs. And buck (male) bass will be near beds, ready to fertilize those eggs.

“You’ll also have bass guarding fry, and the early spawners will be coming back (to the shore) to feed (on minnows that stick close to woody structure for protection),” he said.

Willows are plentiful at shallow spawning flats in the upper reaches west of the I-85 Bridge toward Butner, in the back of Ledge Creek and across the lake at Lick and Little Lick creeks’ spawning flats.

“I’m basically going to be throwing a spinnerbait or buzzbait in order to cover a lot of water this time of year,” Thomas said. “But if conditions are right, I’ll pick up and jig-and-pig and flip on a calm day with a bright sky.”

His favorite blade is a 1/2-ounce double-willowleaf Hawg Caller model in white and chartreuse. His buzzbait will be a 3/8-ounce model “but the color doesn’t matter much.”

They’ll be either white or black in hopes of eliciting an aggressive reaction strike.

“I throw both where I think bass may be bedding, in little pockets in the backs of creeks, (and) where (bass) are relating to some (structure), such as a twig or a big willow,” Thomas said.

He also flips and pitches jig-and-pig lures into willows and log laydowns.

“I like a black and blue 1/2-ounce Lunker Lure (jig) with a triple rattle back,” Thomas said. “That’s why I like Falls because it’s got so much more cover where you can use a jig-and-pig.”

His best Falls bass, 8 pounds, hit a buzzbait and sparked Thomas to a National Bass Circuit win.

“You won’t catch many 10-pounders at Falls, but it’s loaded with 6-, 7- and 8-pounders,” he said.