For bass in Triangle waters, the cold days of winter are distant memories and even the spawn is winding down. The warmth of May is the time for them to recuperate from spawning strains, tend to their fry (young) and begin moving from spawning areas to their deep summertime haunts.

While there will always be some bass shallow and some deep, for bass anglers prowling area reservoirs this month, the search should be horizontal not vertical. The bass are in the shallows, looking for a meal before the summer heat drives them deep.

On Falls, Jordan and Shearon Harris lakes, bass are finishing up the spawn in the backs of the major creeks and heading out to the main bodies of area lakes. Moving through the shallows, bass will stop and stage along the way on visible cover, stump fields and grass beds, making them very accessible.

When it comes to baits of choice in May, two area anglers, Rich Szczerbala, a pro on the Bass Fishing League and American Bass Anglers circuits, and Kennon Brown, of Hawg Hunter Guide Service, believe top water is a best bet. Szczerbala spends most of his time on Jordan and Harris lakes, and Brown guides on Falls Lake.

From chuggers to crawlers, there are a lot of top-water baits to choose from, but Szczerbala is a frog man -- he favors a Mann's Super Frog. Brown is a head-banger, preferring a Hildebrandt Headbanger buzzbait.

Szczerbala, 43, a performance marine technician from New Hill and part-time guide, really likes top-water baits for May.

"May is perhaps one of the best times of the year for top-water baits, especially on Harris and Jordan lakes," he said. "I throw a frog, whether it is a Mann's frog or a Zoom Horny Toad. I'm throwing it to the heaviest cover that is visible. In the Mann's, it is black with red flake -- that's the only color I throw -- and in the Horny Toad, it's white or green pumpkin."

The Mann's frog, with its upturned hooks, floats and doesn't hang up much when fishing thick vegetation. You can stop it over holes in the cover, triggering strikes. The Horny Toad has the added advantage that when you stop your retrieve, it slowly sinks down to fish reluctant to come up on top for the bait.

"I like working it over any vegetation that is available," Szczerbala said. "Work the edges and stop in the open areas. Typically, I start with a pretty quick retrieve early in the morning, and if the fish aren't cooperating, then I experiment with different retrieves, slow it down, do a little more pausing."

Szczerbala prefers a braid line in 30- to 40-pound test and wide-gap 5/0 or 6/0 hook for the Horny Toad. He prefers an All-Star medium-heavy action rod.

"When the fish bites, you really don't try to jerk. You let the fish take the bait a little bit and sweep the hook kind of like a Carolina rig," Szczerbala said.

For Brown, May is also a great time for a top-water bait.

"The big females are just through with the spawn, and they are hungry. It's a great time for a buzzbait, a Hildebrandt Headbanger," Brown said.

The buzzbait is his first choice in May.

"You better believe it if I'm going for a big fish," he said. "I use one with a gold blade and white skirt on cloudy days and one with a nickel blade and white or chartreuse and white skirt on sunny days.

"I actually like to use a Quantum open face [spinning reel] throwing a buzzbait. The reason for that is that the moment the bait hits the water, I can engage the reel because I want that bait moving as soon as it hits the water. I don't want it to sink at all. I'll use a 6 1/2-foot rod medium to medium-heavy with 12- to 14-pound test. The thing about fishing a top-water bait, you want to feel the fish before you set the hook. If you go with an instinctive strike, you'll pull the bait out of his mouth and never hit him," Brown said.

Brown targets visible cover like stumps and laydowns,

"If you find an isolated twig, make sure you hit it. If there's a little bit of grass in there, watch for movement. It may be a carp or it may be a bass. Don't hesitate to throw to it," he said.

While buzz baits and frogs are highly effective, there are other top-water offerings that shouldn't be overlooked, including a Rebel Pop-R, Storm Chug Bug, YoZuri ZZ Pop, Rapala Skitter Pop, or Lucky Craft G-Splash, Smithwick Devil's Horse, Arbogast Jitterbug and Heddon's Tiny Torpedo or Zara Spook.

Going deeper

As good as top-water action gets, sometime it just shuts down. That's when both anglers hit the tackle box for their next weapon of choice, a blue-and-black rattling jig with a sapphire-colored trailer.

Both anglers use jigs of their own design, Szczerbala one he makes himself and Brown one he designed for Hildebrandt, the JigZilla.

"It's an awesome bait to use at this time of the year," Brown said. "It works in pretty much any color water. I like a 1/3-ounce. If you jerk that thing a couple of times and twitch it and that rattle goes off, he's looking for it, the second time it happens he sees it, there won't be a third time."

When using jigs on Falls Lake, Brown uses a shorter rod than most jig anglers.

"I don't fish a conventional flippin' stick like most people do. I go with a little bit lighter stuff because I want it to be more sensitive. I use 14- to 17-pound test line, with a [6-foot, 8-inch] rod made for Carolina-rigging with a fast tip and nice butt action with a high-speed bait-caster. I use the Quantum PT Pro bait-casting reel."

On Harris, Szczerbala is working his jig on the beds of primrose.

"I try to penetrate the primrose, the thickest cover available," he said. "I use 30-pound Power Pro braided line, you don't have to worry about line visibility, because you are fishing vegetation. You have to drop the bait right on the fish, and you have to agitate them by pumping the rod before you get a strike."

On Jordan, Szczerbala fishes other types of cover.

"I target any visible cover with that jig. The female fish are still close to the beds and you can still catch the bigger fish," he said. "I always have one rod with a jig that's rigged with braided line but most of my flipping rods are rigged with at least 20-pound test Big Game Trilene."

"I only throw a 1/2-ounce with a sapphire blue or Zoom blueberry flake trailer. The rod is an All Star, 7-foot, medium-heavy action," Szczerbala said.

On any of these three lakes, the major creeks are the key -- the bass spawn at the backs of these creeks and move out as May progresses.

On Harris, try Buckhorn, Tom Jack and White Oak creeks. On Jordan, anglers should try Bush and Beaver creeks, and on Falls, start with Lick Creek and on to Ledgerock, Lower and Upper Barton's creeks.

The month of May can be one of the best times of the year for bass. Though you may not catch those fat sows, heavy with eggs and heavy on the scales, good quantities of bass are readily accessible in the shallows.