Favorite spring pattern

[polo-dog]

Spring is here whether we are ready for it or not. I have a game plan that I use on Chickamauga for the prespawn and it works early but later when we get into the 60 degree water temp and above time of the season I seem to lose touch with the fish. When the water gets into the low 50's the male bass get out onto the hard bottom flats that lead to the backs of the sloughs. I run the flats with rattletraps in the 1/4 to 1/2 oz size. I keep the boat in 5-7 feet of water for the most part and make long casts. The flats that I am talking about are only 5 feet deep far from the bank. With a cast of 75-100 feet I still can't reach the bank on these flats so they have very little slope to them. Sometimes the fish will be in 1 foot or less of water early and late in the day and if there is good cloud cover. During the middle of the day and especially when it's sunny I usually have a hard time getting a bite. Most of the sloughs that I fish like this have at least 10-12 feet in the middle when the water is down. It seems that wherever there is a transition of rock size on the shore that leads out into the water seems to be a good place for a group of fish to stack up and where "cuts" come into the slough, little bottom contour dips that often also have a different rock size in them. When I catch one fish I usually make a few casts to the area because the fish seem to be in packs. The females are caught every once in a while but it seems like mostly small males that are cruising the flats. If I just want to catch a bunch of fish I will use this pattern and sometimes can catch 30 or more. Sloughs that have large shallow areas in the backs of them tend to be the best sloughs for this and early in the year they tend to be on the first third of the slough, closer to the mouth of the slough, but as the season progresses I find them farther and farther back into the sloughs. If I'm looking for bigger fish I will check the 8-12 foot depth zone or the points that are in and at the mouth of the sloughs. I tend to go for numbers so I tend to run the flats more often until the water gets warmer. That's how I usually fish prespawn.

 

[polo-dog]

Okay, so no one esle wants to tell what pattern that they fish in the spring? Come on now guys/gals, spill the beans.

 

[keithcatfish]

I'll spill some beans....After a first few really warm sunny days (water temps in high 40s-low 50s), I like to fish lay down trees, (thicker is better) in < 5 feet of water in stained water coves. The stained water heats up faster and the dark trees really hold the heat. I find lots of good fish sitting really tight to the trees, warming themselves up. Works best in the late afternoon and the fish really like a small jig fished slowly right against the thickest part of the tree trunk.

 

[Fat Albert]

<font color="#ff0033">Polo,  you have covered the subject rather well... I too, do much of the same thing you do when looking for quality fish... crank baits(deep wee-R's) I love. They don't really run that deep and they are very productive pulling them by docks.  Then to cover lots of water I love fishing traps. Got a bunch. 1/4  and 1/2 size.  But I love to fish a T-rig...(worms or lizards) and like Bill Dance, Spring time my choice of ....color...</font><font color="#3300ff">BLUE.</font><font color="#ff0033"> or red shad. Learned a long time ago from a friend that is in Chatt. Bass Club to keep a rod handy with a jerk bait tied on... He wore me out a couple of times with that bait.  With the grass making a comeback on the Chick I think the fishing will be great...lots of luck... FA</font>

 

[Bprice]

Guntersville - rippin' Traps through the grass or Fishing spinnerbaits in the flats waaaay back in South Sauty

Wheeler - spinnerbaits and texas rigged lizards in shore grass and hydrilla

 

[Liveliner]

Slow rolling big double Colorado blade spinner baits in 4' - 6' of water over new grass. If I find schooling bass, I use the "Countdown to a Lunker" trick. That is a countdown trailing 16" to 24" behind a small Pop-R or any topwater lure.

 

[drumking]

Polo, back when I used to bass fish, I did basically what you are doing. There are 3 or 4 hotspots in Wolftever/Savannah areas that are loaded with bass at this time of year. We kept our boat in 4' of water and cast shallower. We would just make a milk run from these 3 or 4 spots over and over during the day and have caught over 100 bass more than once doing this. Of course, we released them all.

My favorite lure for this type of fishing was a rattling rapala in the blueback orange/white belly hue. For me, it outfished the rattletraps. Don't ask me why, cause I don't know why. Another great lure was a very small countdown rapala in the chartreuse back/white belly. It was deadly on these fish. Also caught a lot of fish in 1' of water on a lure called...(I forgot the name of it) but it was out before the baby minus1's came out. It only ran about 8-12 inches deep. Bill Dance used to fish them on his TV program. That's what made me try them and they do work really good when the bass have their backs out of the water.

Now I mainly Crappie fish and I move around a lot trying different plastics, depths, and checking the spawning grounds. The Crappie in one of my favorite areas spawn earlier than most people think, so I keep a close finger on their pulse. I'm planning on expanding into different areas this year though. So many places, so little time. emoBigsmile emoGeezer

 

[jason]

Drumking, would that shallow crank you are referring to happen to be a Spence Scout? It is a forgotten lure that draws devastating strikes from shallow prespawners.

 

[drumking]

jason - 3/2/2007 8:26 PM

Drumking, would that shallow crank you are referring to happen to be a Spence Scout? It is a forgotten lure that draws devastating strikes from shallow prespawners.

Yes, that's it. I couldn't think of it to save my life. It is deadly on shallow water bass.