Black bass fishing is ever changing on any lake in South Carolina. But the process of change has been more marked than usual on Lake Russell on the Savannah River since its impoundment. One angler has followed the changes from Russell's early "boom lake" period right through modern times. One of the big changes has been that the spotted bass has now become a crucial consideration in the black bass fishing at Lake Russell, along with the largemouth.

Wendell Wilson has been fishing the Savannah lakes since he first started fishing on Clarks Hill back in 1973. He began fishing on Lake Russell about 1987 and started a guide service there in 1990 (706-283-3336; www.wilsonsguideservice.com).

"When I first began fishing Lake Russell, we only had largemouths and the fishing was fantastic, typical of a new impoundment," Wilson said. "There were lots of fish that over a period of a few years turned into good numbers of very large bass as well. Back then, it wasn't uncommon to occasionally catch largemouths in the 8-pound-plus class. Of course, a number of largemouths much larger than that were also caught. However, the largemouths don't get quite as large on the top end as a rule now. We'll still catch plenty of 5- and 6-pound-class largemouths. But the spotted bass have taken up residence in Lake Russell and offer a great black bass fishing alternative. Between largemouth and spotted bass, there's a wide variety of black bass fishing opportunities."

Wilson added there are very basic differences in the habitat requirements and other needs for largemouth and spotted bass. Because of that, the April fishing scenarios must be broken down into distinct patterns for each. In fact, Wilson breaks down his tactics again for the smaller spotted bass, such as 14 inches and under fish, from the patterns for larger, 3- to 5-pound spotted bass.

"The different fishing patterns provide a lot of diversity and fun fishing, particularly since we have lots of spotted bass in the lake now," he said. "But the successful April patterns are clearly very different. I've found that I've got to target one or the other because there's not much overlap in the April fishing patterns."

Wilson said the largemouth bass fishing patterns during April are solidly linked to shallow water throughout the month.

"April is largemouth spawning time at Lake Russell (…)," he said. "They won't all spawn at once, but there will be ample shallow-water largemouth bass fishing throughout the month."

Wilson said some of the factors to consider when planning where to fish include the stability of the water. If it's stable or high, fishermen need to go into the timbered areas and fish toward the shallow water near the shoreline.

"Some of the most productive areas of the lake for me are the Heardmont, Selkel and Allen creek areas," Wilson said. "All of these areas are full of timber. There's a boat lane, sometimes quite narrow but just big enough between the timber and shore. If the lake is high and stable or rising, I'll work my boat though that lane and fish toward the shoreline and fish the grass, stumps, logs and other debris.