Spring time bass fishing

As promised earlier, I will be discussing as much fishing here as training.  Why?  Well, I love fishing.  I love fishing probably more then I love training.  I fell away from fishing for a lot of years, but my awesome wife talked me back into it last year and I fell back in love with it.  Now we spend as much time fishing as we can, but I try my best to not skip out on my workouts too much.

Let's get right too this installment I call Spring Time Fishing.

The spring is a great time to get out there and land some nice fish.  Depending on your area and where you live in these great United States, nice fish can be 1-pound large mouth bass or 20 pound lunkers!  Most species of fish are starting to ramp up their activity to prepare to spawn.  This doesnt mean they are easy to catch, but they are out there ready and willing to get after something that catches their eye.

The past few weeks I have been smoking large mouth bass at the local water hole.  I get a kick out of it because there will always be a handful of other anglers on the surrounding banks getting SKUNKED!  Why?  Because spring time bass don't care about your minnow or your night crawler.  They want to be finessed into biting.  This is the BEST kind of fishing because you arent just sitting there with a minnow waiting for your bobber to dunk.  You HAVE to WORK a fish onto the line. 

First off, let's talk location.  Dont just cozy up to the bank and cast straight out into the unknown.  Bass typically spawn 8' or less from the shore line, so casting horizontal 6 to 12' out is always your best bet.  They also stray up to the warmer waters when the temperatures change, so keep your lure close. 

Also, make sure there is plenty of cover.  Large mouth love the weeds, so you can't go wrong with rigging your baits weedless or using some sort of weedless lure.

There are 2 types of rigs that I love to use on spring time bass.  They are both weedless, and both easy to do.  Remember that must get out there and WORK and figure out exactly what the bass are hitting.  This will require you to use a couple different methods to see what works the best.

I will usually start with a weighted jig head (1/8 ounce) and work the bottom with a Texas rig. 

These jig heads have screws on them so the bait can be screwed on and held in place.  To make it truly weedless, use the bottom method of the picture.  This will allow you to run this rig through all kinds of muck and not worry about snagging.  It is much harder to feel a bite and set a hook this way, so it takes practice. 

The method I use with this is Texas rig a power worm, minnow jig, or something with a Rage Tail from Strike King.  The Rage Tail Space Monkey is amazing from Strike King and has all kinds of bass attracting action.  Once I rig it up, I cast it out horizontal to the shore then use a couple of different retrieval methods.  The first 5-10 casts I will do a slow stop/go retrieval.  This is accomplished by a slow reel, pause for a 3-5 count, then slow reel. 

If that is unsuccessful, I will then start jigging.  I do this by casting out the bait, waiting for it to hit the bottom, then jigging 2 hard swipes, pause for a 5 count, 2 hard swipes, pause for a 5 count.  I do this until the bait is in.  Sometimes half way in I will stop and dance the pole end up and down a little to really get the tail action working on the worms and minnow jigs.  I have landed quite a few bass this way.  The important part is the pause.  This allows the jig to sink and the tail of the bait to really work it's magic.

As I said above, the bites will be hard to detect.  The jig head bangs the bottom, and often will feel like a false bite.  After some time you will be able to detect the difference.  What helps for me is after my 2 hard jigs, I reel up the slack tight and keep the tip of the rod down.  If it is a true bite, the line will tighten and jerk without you doing the reeling or jigging.  Once you feel that, set the hook by jerking the rod tip up ad back.  That will expose the hook through the plastic and into the fish.

The second method of spring time bass fishing I like is the drop shot technique.  Leave yourself a 12" or so tag line for the sinker, and rig the hook much the same.  To texas rig a normal weightless hook you will need to work the hook point through the very tip of the worm, about 1/2" down, then out the underside.  Slide the worm up to the eye end of the hook, roll it over, and then place the hook into the worm Texas rig style.

Hiding the hook inside the worm is up to you, but it will help you to keep the weeds and other debris off it if you do.

A plus to drop shotting is the plastic does a lot of the work for you.  Just dance the sinker up and down on the bottom for a few jigs, then let it sit and do the work.  Again, bites will be hard to detect and hard to set, but worth it.

Spring time fishing can be a hell of a challenge.  You might cast 20 times in on spot and not get a bite and on the 21st you land a lunker.  Just keep at it, and by using the above techniques you will have all the other anglers around you cussing you out!

If all else fails and the weeds arent too bad yet, you can usually always find a few that will bite a Joe's Fly.  I have caught a ton of spring time bass on these neat little lures.

Get out there and FISH!