Spring Fishing by Marc Marcantonio There is nothing more exciting than bass fishing in the Spring. No other time of the year causes me to rush the boat to the lake, and the reason is simple: BIG bass! This is the time when I focus all of my attention on the single goal of catching hawgs, not bankrunners. In reflecting back over the years, the best days I have had bass fishing have one thing is common, Spring. All of my bass over 8 pounds have come during the spring months, and this is also true of most anglers. One look at the record books is all that it will take to convince you that if you want a big bass, your best bet is during the next few months. Most bass anglers refer to 3 separate phases (in bass terms) of the Spring: the "pre-spawn" period, the "spawn", and the "post-spawn". My favorite time to hunt for Mama Pesce is the pre-spawn. Consider this example. On May 11, 1982 I was fishing Lake Perris in southern California. Fishing started out rather slow, and I felt my way around the island in the pea-soup fog, hoping with each cast that my crankbait was landing in water. The spotted bass should have been staging on transition areas, close to the spawning flats. I worked my way to the south point of the island, and suddenly my balsa crankbait was freight-trained! Several fast-paced moments later, I had a 4lb 3oz spotted bass in the livewell. Two casts later, my shad imitating crankbait was grabbed with even more force, and after a give and take battle I had landed my biggest spotted bass ever, at 7lb 6oz! At that point I raced over to the scales at the marina, and weighed both fish. Then I went straight back to the same spot, and hooked up with more huge spotted bass. Three more went into the livewell, at 6lb 8oz, 5lb 10oz, and 5lb 3oz. In one day my five fish limit of spotted bass weighed a total of 28 pounds and 14 ounces! Yes, I like the Spring. Or how about a couple of years ago in May, when it took 22+ pounds of smallmouths for a five fish limit to win the American Bass Association tournament on Lake Washington? The same holds true for largemouths, as every year the biggest bass are caught when the huge females (most bass over 5 pounds in size are females) move into the shallows for a brief feeding spree prior to turning their attention to the rigors of spawning. It was a pre-spawn period ABA ProAm tournament on Silver Lake that produced my largest Washington State largemouth, at over 7 pounds. OK, you get the point, if you want BIG bass, go fishing in the Spring! Pre-spawn. In case you don't follow calendars (and most bass I know of don't), the pre-spawn period generally covers water temperatures from 40-55 degrees for smallmouths (March - April here in Washington). This is when smallies will be on the prowl to gather as much energy as possible before the spawning period (and feeding shuts off). They are vulnerable to a well-presented lure that passes for fast food. The theory of using big baits to catch big bass is most true during the pre-spawn period. Think of it this way, as a predator about to start the most stressful phase of its life (spawning), a bass instinctively knows that it will gain the most energy by occasionally chasing down big meals rather than expending lots of energy trying to catch small meals. Another thing to keep in mind is that most of the available meals in the Spring are larger, as they are last Spring's spawn, and have grown for a full year already. Sure, I have caught large bass on small lures, but one look at what's tied onto my Lamiglas rods in the Spring will convince you of my preference for large lures. Some of my favorites for huge smallies in the pre-spawn are a Yamamoto 4" single tail grub on a football head jig, a 5" double tail Hula Grub, or a dropshot rig with a 9J series Senko. I rig the dropshot rig using a ¼ ounce QuickDrop sinker, and a #2 Gamakatsu Split Shot hook on 6lb McCoy line. When I find the huge ladies on shallow flats, I like to throw the Lucky Craft Pointer 78SP. Flats should be one of your primary fishing areas in the Spring, especially those on the North shore of the lake. The North shore usually warms up first, as it receives the most sunlight during the spring, and is also protected from cold North winds and collects surface waters from warm South winds. Throw in some boulders or dark rocks that collect warmth from the sun and radiate it back into the water, and you have the décor of Mama Pesce's hunting grounds. Largemouths are generally in their pre-spawn phase when the water temps are 55-65 degrees, which in the Pacific Northwest occurs during the months of May and June. In California this could be from March to May. Again I like to use large lures, such as the reliable Jig & Pig, or a 9 Series Yamamoto Senko. Another favorite of mine at this time of the year is a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP, or the Bomber 7A (in a crawfish color). Largemouths also become most active along North shorelines, but will tend to be closer to emergent vegetation such as tulles or cattails, or around submerged wood. Make sure when you use lures with single hooks such as jigs, or Senkos, that you use a stout rod that is sensitive and capable of driving the hooks in solidly. I prefer to use Lamiglas rods in a 7-foot length, and 5-power (heavy) action. For lures with treble hooks, you will land far more fish if you use a forgiving rod with a parabolic action, such as Lamiglas' XP704C, which is a glass composite that keeps bass attached to your hooks until they are in the boat. Spawn. Once spawning begins, a bass forgets about the urge to eat. This doesn't mean you won't catch bass this time of the year. There are a couple of things that work in your favor to still land your biggest fish. First of all, Mother Nature spreads the spawning period over a couple of months, so all bass don't spawn at the same time. This means that your pre-spawn techniques will still work, as you will be encountering many pre-spawn bass still. Also, all bass are very territorial and temperamental when they are guarding a nest. In the wild there are all kinds of opportunistic predators, such as bluegills and waterdogs (aquatic larval form of salamanders), which prey on eggs. Bass stand guard over their nest to chase off these predators. Should your lure come into a bass nest, it is likely to get picked up by the bass and carried several yards away before it is dropped. At this time of the year, it doesn't seem to matter what color or size lure you use for bedding fish, it is likely to get attacked. One theory is that you should continue to use large lures, as they will be attacked with the most vigor by the bass. On the other hand, many times a bass will remove your large lure from the nest by grabbing the tail, and swimming off with it. A hookset in this case leaves you coming up empty, with nothing to show for it but a red face and a tail-less lizard! I often scale down to a smaller, heavy lure at this time like a 4-inch worm with a 1/4-ounce weight. This will require the bass to engulf the entire worm, hook and all, in order to move it away. A dropshot rig with a 3/8-ounce QuickDrop weight will also do the trick. In this case you can keep your soft plastic lure in one spot until the bass can't stand it anymore, and attacks it. If there is very little wind, it is hard to beat pitching a 9S series Senko (on a Gamakatsu 1/0 G-Lock hook) to the shallows for smallmouths. McCoy Mean Green line in 8-pound test is ideal for this. Smallmouths tend to spawn in the water temperature range of 55-65, with most spawning during the first full moon phase after the water temp reaches the low 60's. In the Pacific Northwest, this is usually the months of May and June. You can find smallies spawning over gravel and rock up to the size of a hardball. They prefer coves that are protected from the wind, as wind stirs up silt that can kill eggs by suffocating them. They also prefer to build their nest next to deep water, so that they can stay deep until the moment they spawn, and can quickly return to the protection of the depths to regain their energy after spawning. Largemouths prefer to spawn when water temps reach the range of 60-70 degrees, with 68 degrees being prime. Largemouths also focus their spawning effort around the first full moon near the 68-degree water temperature. In Washington, largemouths usually spawn in May and June, although they can spawn over a several month period. In more southern states they will spawn in April and May. Largemouths will spawn over any material as long as it is firm, in a relatively protected area with little wind, and not too deep to let the sun's rays incubate the eggs. They have been observed to spawn on sunken logs, stumps, boulders, wrecks, gravel, sand, clay, and every other imaginable hard surface. Largemouths prefer to build their nest next to, or on an object that forces predators to approach the nest from one direction. This makes it easier for the bass to ward off predators. Casting accuracy can be very important to your success at this time, as can stealth in your approach. This isn't the time of year to wear a loud Hawaiian shirt, or make noise that will alert bass to your presence as you search the shallows. Post-Spawn. This can be the toughest time to catch a bass. Post-spawn refers to the period in which bass have completed their spawning cycle, which leaves them tired and in shock. Initially after the spawn, the females retreat back to the depths, and often suspend with lockjaw. The males remain on the nest to protect the eggs, and are more easily caught. No matter whether you are fishing for smallmouths, spots, or largemouths, the most easily caught bass during the post-spawn seem to be those that are cruising shallow flats. About one week after the eggs hatch, the male bass tend to exhibit strong feeding behavior again, and as more time passes they get easier and easier to catch. This is an ideal time to switch to small baits, as the bass on the flats are smaller, and the available forage they expect to see is also small. Over the past two years one of my deadliest new lures has been a Lucky Craft Bevyshad 75. This little jewel of a crankbait is made to order for fishing these shallow flats. Another favorite of mine during this time is a bluegill colored 1/8 ounce Luhr Jensen Speed Trap. Bluegill are not close friends with bass at this time, as they are primarily interested in eating the newly hatch bass fry. This is the pre-spawn period for bluegills, so they are hungry, and they are also in the shallows getting ready to spawn themselves. That is what makes a shallow-running bluegill pattern lure so effective during the post-spawn. The post-spawn period for smallmouths is generally the 66-70 degree water, found in late May through the end of June in the Northwest. For largemouths it is the 68-75 degree water, usually encountered in Washington in late June through July. Once the larger females have had a chance to recover, one of the best ways to fool them is to rip suspending jerkbaits outside of deep ledges. Look for the shelf of a flat that drops from 3-12 feet, and fish parallel to the ledge over the deeper water with a flashy jerkbait. Frequent pauses add to the appeal, and when you time this right, you can get those old girls racing each other to be the first to smash your bait! Ripping jerkbaits works for all three species of bass. Another alternative is to slow roll a ½ ounce VPR Little Big Men spinnerbait. When you get it in the zone, bass will smash these blades with all of their might. This type of fishing can be a hit or miss proposition, but if you want to catch large bass during the post-spawn, you have to start moving away from the shoreline. So there you have it. Springtime is big fish time. Go out to your favorite lake and apply these techniques and I'm confident that you too will catch your largest bass of the year! Ciao.