Lums Pond, located just off Rt. # 71, in Kirkwood Delaware, is a 190 acre state park, with a very shallow launching ramp, and has room for about 25-30 vehicles with trailers in the main lot by the launching ramp. There is a daily fee at sate parks, or a yearly pass can be purchased at any of the park offices.

This is a prime location for bass anglers in the spring and summer, and receives fairly heavy fishing pressure, from weekend anglers and tournament fisherman. Although it has a lot of pressure, there are still quite a few big bass in Lums, along with a decent population of Hybrid Striped Bass. If you follow these steps, you can still connect with a real trophy in Lums Pond this spring.

"Wood Cover"

There is quite a lot of wood, laydowns, and cut off stumps in Lums. Most of the wood is located on the left and right hand sides of the main lake, right after the beach and docks, about 1000 yards up from the launching ramp. The first area to try is the laydowns on the right, as you head up past the beach. This area is overlooked by a lot of anglers, but is a good location for largemouth's in the two to four pound range. This same area also holds quite a few Striped Bass hybrids that run around six pounds on average, but some in the eight and nine pound class have been caught here.

You can't go wrong by flipping a black/blue jig, with either a blue Uncle Josh Pork trailer, or a Sweet Beaver trailer. Both have worked real well flipped into the laydowns along both shores in this area. The North shore receives the most sunlight in the spring, and as a result, warms first. I like to use a seven foot, Falcon graphite rod, with a Shimano Chronarch, spooled with twenty to twenty-five pound test. Flip all the laydowns in this area, working each one of the branches moving from the outside in, right up to the shore. If this area doesn't produce right away, move across the lake to the other laydowns, and work them the same way. When you can't get a hit in this area on the jig, often, you can move off this area a little farther, and rework the same areas with a 3/8 ounce Terminator spinnerbait in Golden Shiner, with tandem blades. Make as much contact with the wood from as many different angles as possible. Keeping a buzzbait rigged for this area is a good idea, and many times, repeated casts to the same areas over and over, at different angles will provoke a reaction strike.

"Points and Drop-offs"

Although it is common knowledge that bass will stage on drop-offs and points this time of year, all drop-offs and points aren't alike. Look for drop-offs and points that are nearest to the main channel, preferably on the North shore, that contain some type of new vegetation growth under the surface. There are several areas that are eight and nine feet deep, but the average depth is four feet, with some of the shoreline much shallower. The water is very stained to muddy, so the bass will go very shallow to feed. Don't be afraid to cast right up against the shore in the very shallow water. At first glance, Lums doesn't seem to have a lot of grass, algae, or emergent weed growth, but there is a wide variety of aquatic vegetation under the surface that hold lots of baitfish, and bass!

One of the best spots to connect with some big largemouth's and hybrids is the sand point and drop-off just across from the dog training area. Work this area well with a white/chartreuse spinnerbait and long shad colored minnow baits, such as a Husky Suspend Jerk, or a Rattlin' Rogue in blue/chrome,or a Lucky Craft "Pointer".

Last year working this point, and the one directly to the north of the cove with a pier, we caught more than eight bass in the three to five pound class, with a couple of nice six pound Hybrids thrown in.

"Buzz the Flats"

Don't forget the buzzbait in the spring. When the water warms to sixty to sixty-five degrees, the buzzbait will draw tremendous topwater explosions on overcast days,and sometimes the whole day. Many times in April, we started with the buzzbait early in the morning, looking for active fish, and never switched baits all day. Some days of twenty to twenty-five fish, are not uncommon at all, with most in the three to four pound class. The best areas for the buzzbait in Lums are located on the flats that are adjacent to deep water. A good fish locator, such as a Lowrance, that is made for shallow water performance, is a great tool to have when you first start to explore Lums, as it is one of the larger Delaware Ponds.

Head straight up the lake from the launching ramp until you get to the upper end of the lake. There will be a cove with a fishing pier all the way up on the right. Work this area with repetitious casts using a double-buzz, in black, and a clacker type buzzbait, such as a Terminator Ball Buster or Charon Klacker buzz, in 1/2 ounce, with a trailer hook. Many times here you will get a lot of short strikes due to the muddy water. A trailer hook will increase your hookups greatly. Stay well off shore here, and make as many as thirty casts, from different directions, before moving on. Make sure to hesitate just a second when the bass strike, and set the hook hard. I like to use a 7 foot Lews Crankin stick, or a G.Loomis Crankin stick with seventeen to twenty pound test for this type of fishing.

"Cover Water"

When all of the above methods fail, start covering water. Sometimes the bass are still a little off shore in the early spring, and covering water quickly, until you get a strike, is a good idea. The best lures for this are 1/2 ounce chrome/blue Rattlin' Rapalas. Position the boat a little off shore, and cast out to the drop-offs and weedlines, retrieving it back with a pumping motion, raising your rod from a 9 to 12 o'clock position. Make sure the hooks are really sharp. When you locate the fish, work the area slowly with the lipless crankbaits, spider grubs, and a 4" Senko."

Follow these tips for Lums Pond this year in the spring, and you will get a quick start to a "trophy year."

Later in the afternoon, the area directly across the lake from here contains a lot of overhanging trees, and a lot of stumps. These stumps can't be seen until it's too late. So make sure you have a breakaway mount on your electric motor, and keep the outboard up out of the water. There is a no-wake policy on Delaware ponds, but you can use the outboards. The bass in these heavily pressured areas become conditioned to sounds more easily, as they can't rely so much on sight, due to the muddy water. So keep the trolling motor on low, and try to avoid any banging around in the boat. I have caught bass with the trolling motor on, but most of the bass above five pounds were caught with the trolling motor off.

Keep these things in mind this year at Lums, and you will connect with the bass you are looking for. Most people get on the water too late. Start in mid to late March, or as soon as the water temperature gets to around forty-eight to fifty degrees.

All the baits discussed in this article are available at www.delawaretackle.com.

Steve vonBrandt Sponsored by: GYCB (Yamamoto),Okuma, TTI-Blakemore, and Ambush Lures.

Steve is the owner of S&K Guide Service in Wilmington, Delaware, Anglers Radio in Delaware and New Jersey, Reeltimeanglers, and Delaware Tackle in Delaware. He also is a tournament angler and freelance outdoor writer. He has over 37 years of fishing experience in the Northeast, 5 years exp. in California. He has fished freshwater and saltwater since 1962, and has devoted to freshwater only since 1989. He has fished tournaments from 1990 to the present, and won the Delaware State Sportfishing Tournament multiple times, registered a Chain Pickerel in 2000, just a few ounces shy of the State Record and a Largemouth Bass caught in 1999, that was registered in the Bassmaster Lunker Club at 10.16 pounds. Just 5 ounces shy of the Delaware State Record. It also appeared in a feature article by the "News Journal" (Gannett Publications), and in all of Bass Pro Shops Master catalogs for 2003. more information is at Reeltimeanglers at http://www.reeltimeanglers.com.