As the month progresses, Thomas will still do some prospecting with a lipless bait, but more often than not, he's going to spend more time seining the bank with a floating worm, a plastic crawfish or a jig.

"After I start with a Frenzy, once the sun comes up, I'll go to a pink, 6-inch Berkley floating worm, fishing it on a baitcaster with 12-pound Magna Flex line," he said. "I'll key on the primrose and fish the edge right up against the bank. I'll work the edge of the grass and the little indentations in the grass. Fish aren't really holding on anything; they're mostly cruising, looking for places to spawn. They won't be any deeper than 3 feet. I'll fish the floating worm real slow, just twitching it along. You can keep it in front of them a long time.

"Later in the month, they'll go into a full spawn mode. You can almost bet by late April -- right before the dogwoods get ready to go to full bloom -- they'll hit the bank That's when you get some of your best topwater fishing of the year, because you've got fish that are guarding fry and fish that are guarding beds. When they hit, it's an aggressive bite.

"I like to fish just a little bit deeper, because I think the bigger females will spawn there, on down to 4 or 5 feet. They'll spawn everywhere, and the beds are so obvious, but every once in a while you'll find a really big fish spawning in the middle of a pocket, in deeper water."

When he keys on bedding fish -- all of which he releases immediately -- Thomas likes to fish a 3-inch Gulp craw, Texas rigged on a 1/4- to 3/8-ounce slip-sinker, or a Lunker Lure jig. "I just want to drop it into the bed and mess with the fish a little bit to get it to bite. If the craw doesn't work, I'll go with a jig. With a craw, I like to fish something bright (colored), something I can see, like chartreuse. But if I get in an area with a real gold-colored bottom, I'll throw green pumpkin because I'll be able to see it."

Both Cable and Thomas are in love with the 16- to 20-inch size limit with which the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission manages Shearon Harris. That has knocked out much of the pressure from organized fishing tournaments, Thomas said. "There used to be four or five little club tournaments every weekend," he said, "but now, those guys want to weigh in fish, and at Harris, you can catch a fish that isn't quite 20 inches that might weigh 5 pounds."

Cable believes that the slot limit protects many of the fish, keeping them from being taken out of the lake for several years as they grow into the 5-pound range.

"The slot has definitely helped this lake," he said. "There are many fish caught that guys have to put right back. Sometimes, you'll catch a 20-inch fish that's a good 5-pounder. These fish are really healthy. There's an abundance of bait and plenty of food for them in the lake."