What’s Been Hot This Spring
While I haven’t bass fished a ton this spring, the numbers on my trips have definitely made up for it. That’s one of the best parts about spring time bass fishing, lots of hookset reps, quality fish, and every time you leave the lake you feel like you have it dialed in. That’s all changing soon though, although this cold snap we are currently experiencing might prolong that prespawn bite a little more.
The bass around me are in 2 main stages right now. Prespawn and spawn, it’s up to you which stage you want to pursue. Depending on which area of the lake you are in will determine what your best option is. While you can catch big ones doing either thing right now, I know if I was putting together a tournament plan, I would be all in on the spawn. But without any tournaments, I haven’t dedicated much time to that. Sure, I’ve caught a few when the opportunity presents itself but I have really dedicated my time mostly to prespawn largemouth. They just set up in such predictable places and that is only amplified when you have a lot of wind (like I do every time I fish on the Lakeshore).
It's been important to me to get used to many of the different models of TFO rods this year. I’ve been leaning heavy on a TFO Option Bass 704 (7 foot medium action) baitcast setup and a jerkbait. For me that bait has been really inspiring to them this year. I’m not sure if it’s the cold fronts I’ve been fishing on or what. I can throw a small swimbait or a squarebill and catch a few but I’ll get them multiple casts in a row with a suspending jerkbait. A few areas where I really thought a small swimbait would shine resulted in fish mostly bumping the bait instead of eating it. I haven’t been picky with color or model, to be honest with you I’ve mostly been using ones that I would never use in a tournament. Since the rest of the year, they just take up space in the tacklebox. I’ve been targeting areas 10 foot or less for the most part and using standard lipped jerkbaits. I did have one deeper area that I broke out a deep diving Berkley Stunna and went to work. That was my first experience with that bait and the fish seemed to really like it. I’ve given that rod a workout and just has a nice bend to it for throwing a jerkbait and keeping them hooked. I’ve also boat flipped quite a few that I really shouldn’t have and that has been a good testament to its construction and strength.
I’ve also been leaning heavily on a ned rig. I know, it is boring but that thing just catches fish. It is hard to beat when they get really concentrated on little feeding spots and you can just catch fish after fish on it. Hard spots are often the deal as the waters warming so the biggest problem is getting a ned rig hung up. If you are using standard ned jigheads with an exposed hook, you have a lot of retie time coming throughout the day. To maximize opportunities you either need to have multiple rods ready or change something up. I hate to give up a little secret but I’ve been relying on a “swing head ned” that my buddy Andy at Duke Creek Tackle makes. They rarely hang up and they pin the fish so well, I also think it gives the bait some added action especially in current. Colors on the neds haven’t mattered either since I’ve been using an old bag of chartreuse and brown Zmans that melted together some. The real key has just been being on the concentrations of fish that are waiting to feed. I’ve been using a TFO Option Bass 734 (7’3” medium) for ned rigging and that rod is just kind of a do all spinning setup. I do like to ned rig with straight fluorocarbon sometimes but this year I’ve been doing it with some 20lb P-Line Spin X braid to a 10lb leader.
I doubt I’ll be leaning on either of these setups when we get to our first event of the year on the Grand River but for now it’s been fun!