Favorite May Tackle
Favorite May Tackle
May is a great time to get out on the water to chase your favorite species of fish. May is also a great month to fish if you do not own a boat, as most species can be caught from the shoreline easily. The cooler water temperatures keep fish coming shallow throughout the day, making them an easier target for shoreline anglers. Depending on which part of the state you live in, several species may be spawning. Bluegills, crappies and bass all will have notions of spawning during May and early June. When fish are involved in the spawning ritual they can become more easily caught. It is a great time to get outside and wet a line, let’s take a look at my favorite baits for these popular Iowa fish.
Bluegills & Crappies
Bluegills and crappies are two species that will have the spawn on their mind. This ramps up their metabolism and in turn they must eat more. Crappies will spawn when the water temperatures are a steady sixty degrees. This can vary of course with moon phases and current weather systems. Male crappies will begin to make beds and await a companion for the annual routine. When shallow they will feed heavily and once the eggs are dropped, they will do anything to protect them. My favorite lure for May crappies is a 1/16th jig head with a paddle tail plastic added to it. This bait is perfect for casting long distances and slowly bringing the bait along the shoreline. The paddle tail creates movement that slows the jig down, allowing you to reel it ever so slowly. My favorite colors are pink and white for crappies in May. If I am targeting Bluegills during May, I will go to the all-time favorite bait, the redworm on a bobber. It doesn’t get much better than floating a worm under a bobber for bluegills. Bluegills won’t quite be full on spawn yet, so casting out a bit deeper will find you some hungry bluegills.
Walleyes
Walleyes are a species that you don’t hear much about in May. They have completed the spawn in rivers and lakes and are now moving to about feeding on anything they can find. Crawdads are a popular food for walleyes as are young game fish. I have found perch, bluegills, crappies and catfish in walleyes while cleaning them. They are feeders and most of the time are not really picky on what they eat. If you are fishing rivers a crankbait is an ideal bait to have tied on for the month of May for walleyes. These can cover a lot of water while fishing from shore and/or trolling from a boat. Keep covering water with those crankbaits to find active walleyes in your area of the state. Once you find them you may want to drop some quarter ounce jigs with minnows on them as well. If they are grouped up this tactic will get you a few more bites on rivers and lakes.
Spinnerbaits
If you love to cast and cover a lot of water quickly, the best bait to be throwing is a spinnerbait. This versatile bait is great around wood, rocks and any early growing weeds in the month of May. This bait is my top lure for Northern Pike this time of year. I use white and chartreuse colors mostly this time of year while casting for pike. If you live around a lake with muskie, Iowa Muskie Guide Matt Eyman-Vavroch says there is one bait to focus on during this time of year. “Swimbaits are great options to give muskies a different look and trick finicky fish into biting. Both Chaos Tackle and Musky Innovations offer excellent 8-inch swimbaits that I lean on heavily throughout the season, especially in May.”
Bass
Finally, my favorite, the largemouth and smallmouth bass. Both of these species will spawn when the water temperature is in the low sixties. This seems to occur in May each year. My favorite bait for largemouth bass in May has to be the jig and chunk combination. This large presentation gives you the opportunity to place the jig alongside wood or drag it along some rocks. This bait emulates a crawdad, which is a favorite food of the bass. When chasing smallmouth bass in May I rely on crankbaits. Smallmouth will be around current this time of year and crankbaits are fantastic to cover the water needed to find a group of hungry smallmouth bass. I prefer natural crawdad colors when the water is clean, chartreuse when the water is dirtier. These two colors will do you well in any situation for bass.
There you have it, the most common species in Iowa for the month of May. As you can see you do not need a boat full of lures to go catch some fish this time of year. A few selections is all you need to have a great month of May chasing down your favorite fish species.
By Todd Reed
May 2025
