Combined with water that is not as acidic as most North Carolina coastal bay lakes due to its limestone underpinnings, the lake management regime for the three main lakes at Boiling Springs Lakes should hold the potential to create excellent growth in largemouth bass fishing. Increasing the potential for good bass fishing is that the first few years after a lake is dewatered, refilled and restocked are usually the best fishing years in the life cycle of any lake.

Still, anglers should not overlook the smaller lakes among Boiling Spring Lakes. About a dozen of them are accessible from public rights-of-way. But anyone who knows a property owner on one of the "private" lakes can obtain permission to cross his property to access the fishing on the lake. Many of these lakes have always hosted excellent bass fishing and most have mowed and landscaped borders that allow easy fishing from the bank or an easy slide-in for a canoe or kayak.

Since the lakes at Boiling Spring Lakes offer a varied number of habitats, they also require a number of different approaches for successful bass fishing.

The smaller lakes offer anglers a quick-hit style of fishing. They are perfect for an hour or two of fishing before and after work. Often only a few dozen casts are required to cover the entire lake and see whether the fish are in a cooperative mood. In June, some of the smaller lakes are covered with filamentous algae and lily pads, which create shady ambush areas for largemouth bass and problems with casting lures to get to them for anglers.

Most anglers use topwater lures rigged to be weed- and snag-free for fishing the smaller lakes. Floating soft-plastic worms works particularly well for small-water bass casting. Rigged with just enough weight to allow them to sink very slowly, the worms are tossed onto a pad or algae bed, then reeled, wriggled and jiggled until they reach holes at the edge of the vegetation.

Any lure fished this way produces vibrations that can be felt by every bass within 20 feet of it. Often the pads and algae are rippling from bass swimming toward the lure as it slithers from the surface cover and into the water.

Hard-plastic or wood surface poppers, soft hollow-bodied slug-type floating lures, swimming surface lures and buzzbaits can also catch plenty of fish from the smaller water bodies. The best time to use commotion-creating topwater baits is at dawn, dusk and at night.

All of the larger lakes have similar floating and emergent vegetation cover along the shorelines and at the shallower, upstream ends. The same lures that work for the small-water lakes will work just as well at these locations.

The larger lakes (in particular, Big Lake) have boat docks and fishing piers lining the shoreline. These docks offer the shade and ambush cover sought out by summer bass. Many dock owners also tie evergreen boughs beneath their docks to attract panfish, such as crappie. Some also have added lights, which attract small baitfish and insects in the evenings where bass can find them. Therefore, docks offer the best hard structure cover on any of the lakes. There are some areas with submerged cypress stumps and a few trees that also attract bass.

Soft plastics and crankbaits are popular with fishermen casting to docks and stumps. A good idea is to head to the lakes in fall or winter when the water levels have been lowered and take photographs of the shoreline. The bottoms of the lakes are relatively clean of debris. Therefore, anything solid that sticks up from the bottom can potentially hold a fish or two once the lake level has been restored in spring and summer.