Spring Fishing

Spring:

I catch some of my biggest bass in the spring where I am located. Because Bass spawn in the spring this changes their behavior drastically than any other time of the year. The feeding frenzy will go up and down during this phase of fishing. I like to be careful on my lure selection and my style of fishing in the spring to be successful at getting hooked! The bass feeding habits will change and so must your strategy if you want to keep catching them. I am going to tell you what works for me and you can take what you want from it.

My top lures for spring should have me covered no matter if the bass are biting or not. Temps will fluctuate in the spring and this changes the bass activity that having a wide range is good for honing in on what they want to #GETHOOKED. The baits I am talking about are slow moving too fast moving baits. This will set you up with a great plan of attack!

1. Crank baits (1.5" & 2.5" squarebills) in one of my sunfish patterns or a bleeding shad pattern 2. Spinner baits 3. Top Water Popper (2.5") in one of my sunfish patterns or a bleeding shad pattern

Springtime is when the water temps and bass feeding is on the rise. Water temperature is very important for determining bass actions. A bass is a cold blooded fish and this causes their body temp to be the same as their environment. I get hooked best when the temps are between the high 50's too low 70's. Once it starts getting hot and temps rise above 80 the bass will seek water that has less temp fluctuation and head for deeper water. When I say "deep" that depends to the overall depth of the lake you are fishing. If the deepest points are 10 or 30 that is where the bass will be hanging out. The water temps at these depths will be more stable.

Even though deep water plays a role in some spring activity. most of my big bits come in the shallows where the spacing will take place.

SPAWNING PATTERNS: 1. Pre-Spawn 2. Spawn 3. Post Spawn

Bass will behave differently during each phase. I try to have a few lure choices and techniques so I am ready for the change over the course of the season. Keep in mind that the spawn will occur at different times of the year as well as change from lake to lake. A shallow lake will get warm quicker than a deeper one so and this will cause the spawn cycle to begin sooner. I get an awesome spring because I have 3 lakes that are all next to each other to fish. 2 are a lot more shallow so when the chomp its on at the smaller lake and finishes then I can move to the bigger lake and find the same pattern there. This makes for a great start to the season.

Always check your water temps during the spring so you can gauge what phase of the spawn cycle you are in. If you do not have electronics then get a small fish tank thermometer to carry with you. Temps will fluctuate like crazy in the spring so don't just assume the temp is the same from day to day.

PRE-SPWAN PATTERN: As the water starts to climb and reach the high 40's to mid 50's range the bass will begin to slowly make their way to the shallows searching for food to restore energy that was lost during the winter. What better way to get hooked than on one of them tasty custom Lou's Lures. Between this point and the spawn pattern the bass will become very active. When them temps are staying in the mid 50's you can expect them to be feeding. Hold your pants they are not in full chomp mode just yet. Maybe try to keep your lures moving a little slower at this point. This time of year I love one of my 1.5" square bills in bleeding shad pattern.

Try to spend as much time on the water as you can during this pattern to take advantage of every minute because the bite will change drastically when we get to the spawn pattern.

SPAWN PATTERN: Once the water temps start to reach the high 50's to mid 60's the bass will generally begin to enter the spawn. This means the bite will slow down a bunch. During the spawn the males will make beds. Most times these will be located along the shoreline in about 2-5 feet of water but I have seen them in up to 8 feet of water also. If the water is clear the beds will be deeper. If the water is murky they will be in the shallower water. The males will start to push the females into the beds to get them to lay eggs. Once the girls drop the eggs the male will fertilize them. Once this happens the bite is OFF! This can last 2-4 weeks as the males will be guarding the eggs all the time. The girls are gonna be heading for deeper water to recover. You might as well forget about the females at this point but can still catch the males. While they guard the beds they will be vicious and attack anything that comes into the bed or even close. Some will argue that bed fishing is cheating and I kinda agree. Anglers have been fighting for years over the ethic of bed fishing. To each is own I guess.

POST SPAWN PATTERN: Once the fry are big enough and active enough the male will stop guarding them. At this point the adult males with abandon the beds and start to feed normally again. When the girls have recovered from the spawn the will start to move back to the shallows to feed as well. In my experience it takes about 4-6 weeks after they spawn for the chomp to pick back up. This is when I tie on a top water popper and start smashing. Late spring and early summer is when the lake will be buzzing and at its peak when its comes to bass fishing. Another good time to spend as much time on the water as possible because it will be a feeding frenzy. Enjoy this time because the summer heat are gonna drive them down and it will get tough again to get hooked!

#gethooked #louslures #fishingfiends