Best Tips to Catch More Spring Bass

[fusion_builder_container type=”flex” hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”true” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_sizes_top=”” border_sizes_bottom=”” border_sizes_left=”” border_sizes_right=”” first=”true”][fusion_text]

Best Tips to Catch More Spring Bass

By Nick Johnson

Spring bass fishing can present its challenges, especially for northern states, like Iowa, which tend to experience a wide range of temperature swings coming off ice-out into mid-spring. Those anglers that get out and really look for them, however, are often rewarded with some of the heaviest bass of the entire season. The springtime and pre-spawn period offer the patient angler a chance at huge success.

One of the biggest mistakes an angler can make for spring bass is to go after them in the same manner as you would during the summer. While strange things happen, generally you will not find the bigger fish behaving the same. Could you catch one on top water? Sure, maybe, although that would definitely not be my first choice from the tackle box.

The game here, from my experience, is to first cover some water and find where groups of bass are staging out of their winter locations. A couple key spots to check out would be the flats or tips of points with an adjacent drop off. Or a flat with a nice break just outside the mouth of a spawning cove or bay. Using some key lures and good electronics if you have them can make quite a difference.

The Cold Bite
When the ice has finally come off, there is a period of time when the water is only in the upper 30’s, maybe lower 40’s and the bass fishing is pretty tough. You really have to find these fish and entice them into striking. One method that has become popular in recent years is the advancement in suspending jerkbaits. These lures imitate a winter chilled baitfish struggling for its life, something early spring bass key in on. Another advantage as the name implies is the fact that they suspend. You can twitch and kill the bait and let it sit in place for a few seconds, perhaps enticing a sluggish cold bass that’s been watching into eating your presentation.

Another less common approach but still effective in the right situations would be a Carolina rig. You don’t hear about an awful lot of folks fishing that rig here in the Midwest but its kind of a sleeper, especially if the bass you find are still a little bit deeper and tight to the bottom. Carolina rigs can be fished extremely slow and work well to entice more neutral fish into biting.

Getting Warmer
Once the water temps start to climb into the low 40’s and above, the bass definitely start to become more active and really start to set up and stage in pre-spawn locations. Some bass you will even find up quite shallow at this point. Now is a great time to focus on some of those key areas such as points, humps, the mouths of coves and rocky shorelines, and cover a lot of water.

At this point the lure selection starts to widen up for effective presentations. A couple key and noteworthy baits for this time of year would be lipless cranks, square bill cranks and spinner baits. All of these presentations give off a combination of sound and vibrations and are designed to cover water in a host of structure situations. Lipless cranks are an immediate go-to when there isn’t a ton of wood or chunky rock present. Square bills and spinner baits will bode fewer snags in situations with wood and rock.

My friend Kyle Wood introduced me to a very effective method with a lipless crank a few years ago that really opened my eyes to how good they are at catching big spring bass. This method is referred to as a Yo-Yo retrieve. Essentially you cast the lipless crank out and let it sink to the bottom. You then retrieve by starting with the rod tip pointing down the line and swooping the rod up at medium speed, letting the rod back down to allow the bait to fall back to the bottom and reeling in any slack line. Essentially you are sort of jigging that bait. That day I watched him catch three bass over five pounds on a central Iowa lake. The water temp was 43 degrees.
I also really like throwing a square bill crankbait this time of year because it fits well with the type of lakes we have here in the bottom half of Iowa, which makes up the majority of locations I fish. When the water is still pretty cool and you have a nice sunny day, the sun will radiate warmth off of shoreline rocks and rubble and can make for great locations to target bass seeking that one to two degree warmer water.

Spinnerbaits are also a great option this time of year. To be honest, they are one of my favorite bass lures throughout the entire open water season. They can be fished through heavy cover, fished fast or slow and come in a wide range of colors, weights and blade styles. In the spring I generally like a smaller profile, slower blade such as a Colorado style. The water just isn’t quite warm enough to burn a willow blade yet. Find a spinnerbait with the secondary blade being orange or red and you have yourself a dynamite spring lure option.
Honorable mention for the lure category and still an effective spring option would be a bladed jig, otherwise known as a chatter bait. These also come in a wide array of colors, weights and blade action and can make for a great addition to the arsenal when targeting shallower bass.

The Red Connection
An interesting tidbit I learned about years ago is the effectiveness of red colors in spring bass lures. I have heard theories as to why, and maybe it has something to do with crawfish molting this time of year, but I’ve honestly never seen scientific factual evidence to support this. In any regard, those vibrant red craw colors just seem to produce, especially in the lipless cranks and square bills.

Spring bass fishing can definitely present a challenging situation to catch fish but for those that put in the time, cover a lot of water, and focus on some basic techniques, the rewards can be there in the form of really big and heavy bass. Pay close attention to water temp and really use those electronics and maps to your advantage if you have them. Good luck on the water this season!

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]