The bad news about spring bass fishing on Falls is . . . Well, there really is no bad news. About the closest you might come could be a fish-consumption advisory; however, very few anglers keep Falls Lake bass to eat anyway, so that really has little to do with the fishing outlook.

"Falls is absolutely loaded with big fish," said Dave Wolak, a BASS Elite Series pro from Wake Forest. Wolak travels all over the nation to compete in tournaments, but some of the finest fishing action he enjoys is close to home at Falls Lake, which impounds 12,500 acres along the Neuse River, just outside of Wake Forest.

"Falls Lake is noted as one of the premier largemouth bass lakes in North Carolina," said Kirk Rundle, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologist who is over the lake's fisheries management efforts.

Everything about Falls screams out "bass lake." Its shallow upper end is stumpy and typically thick with aquatic vegetation. A deeper lower main body offers rocky ledges, long, sloping points and other good structures. In between, massive stump fields tangled with treetops, well-defined creek channel ledges and laydown-rich banks provide tremendous bass habitat.

Electro-shocking surveys, which are conducted annually by the NCWRC, reveal that the bass population is in very good condition, according to Rundle. Fish numbers and size distribution are both very good, and average weights per given length are considered ideal, with an abundance of plump, healthy fish. Falls Lake bass feed mostly on a mix of shad, sunfish of assorted species and minnows, and the condition of fish sampled indirectly suggests that there is ample forage in the lake, Rundle noted.

Approximately half the fish captured during the most recent shocking survey were more than 14 inches long, and approximately 20 percent were more than 16 inches long -- both typical numbers for Falls Lake, but far better than the numbers for most lakes.

"The largemouth bass populations at Falls Lake have remained rather consistent over the years, with no major changes in the data," Rundle said. "Trophy largemouths have been collected on a routine basis."

Falls is managed for big-fish production, with a 16-inch minimum size limit, but Rundle said that the size limit has minimal effect on the fishery because of the extreme popularity of catch-and-release fishing for bass of all sizes. "The excellent habitat and forage available at Falls Lake have the greatest impact on producing a high-quality largemouth bass population," he said.

Interestingly, NCWRC biologists find very similar results when they sample in various areas of Falls Lake. The bass population is good throughout the lake, so the best area for an angler to fish really depends upon the season and on types of techniques that the angler favors.

For spring fishing, Rundle suggested that anglers look fairly shallow. "In the spring as water temperatures warm, largemouth bass will be found in shallower areas of the lake, adjacent to structure and cover such as weedbeds, rocky outcrops and fallen trees or stumps," he said.

Dave Wolak has a particular fondness for the month of April on Falls Lake because the big bass in the lake's deeper, clearer lower end move shallow for just a little while. "The fish in that part of the lake suspend quite a bit and can be difficult to catch at most times. During April, those fish move up into the pockets and will get really shallow," Wolak said.

Wolak concentrates on pockets off the main channel throughout the lower end of the lake and generally fishes one of two ways. If he locates any fish on beds, which is sometimes possible during April, he will sight-cast to individual fish. Otherwise, he'll just work through the pockets, swimming a white spinnerbait just beneath the surface, moving the bait quickly and covering a lot of water.

"Those big bass will just be cruising," he said, "If there's a big laydown in the back of a pocket, there might be five or six huge bass cruising around. When you throw that spinnerbait in there, they will race to it and will absolutely crush it."