(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Bass anglers spend all winter, and often a portion of the spring, anticipating the massive migration of spawning bass to the shallows. The magic temperature is often believed to be 60 degrees, but not all 60-degree water produces the same results. Pete Gluszek said that after a quick warming trend it’s often possible to find temps in the upper 60s in the backs of creeks and pockets while it remains substantially cooler elsewhere. Anglers will then wonder why they can’t find the bedding bass.
“When the main body of water starts approaching 60, that’s when the bass make their move,” he advised.
Even when the thermometer tells the perfect story throughout a body of water, not all spawning zones are the same. Gluszek looks for the ones that have bluegills and other baitfish harassing the bass population, because that’s where big bass are likely to be most aggressive and easiest to catch. When he can see the bass on their beds, it becomes a different sort of guessing game, but when the water is too stained or wind-blown to allow for that, he still employs a systematic approach to maximizing his time on the water.
The prespawn might’ve been a period where “anything goes,” and fish would commit to all sorts of horizontal power baits, but one of the first signs that they’ve fully moved into the spawn is when that bite more or less ceases to exist. That’s when Gluszek turns largely to soft plastics, including creature baits, but especially weightless lures like the Senko, which he said is the most consistent weapon to catch fish this time of year.
He employs repetitive casts to key spots and reminds anglers that fish will get on patterns during the spawn much as they do at other times of the year. For example, if you catch one off of a cypress knee or dock post, it pays to look for similar cover.
Most importantly, Gluszek reminds his students to fish as slowly as they can while not rotting in an area. “This is not a time to move fast,” he implored. You want to drag a bait through the nesting spot of a territorial bass in the most confrontational manner possible to get it to strike. "
If you want to learn some of Gluszek’s other tips for catching bedding fish that you can’t see, filmed on location at Toledo Bend, check out his video on the topic, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
