Spring Bass

This message posted by Barry Bruton on 4/24/97.

In early spring, I usually try to locate the males first. My favorite search bait for males that are just beginning to fan out nests are sluggos. Their territorial instincts make early spring males a chump for a sluggo. If males are actively fanning nests, I back off to the first deeper water (10-15 feet)structure I can find, usually a secondary point or the mouths of small coves and start searching for the staging females. Sluggos work well on staging bass, but a crank bait is a much better search tool. I've recently been using a small 'Shadling' in perch color. The wide wobble of the bait makes it killer for bass. Once I've located staging bass, I'll back off a bit and fish much slower with sluggos or carolina rigged plastics, depending on the depth the fish are actively feeding.
Great fishing to everyone!
BKB

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