Early Season Bass Fishing Tips

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Successful fishing for bass during the early spring season requires different tactics. According to Game and Fish Magazine, bass can be harder to locate and lure during this time of the year. However, familiarizing yourself with their habitat patterns and the appropriate lures for those habitats may affect your catch rate. For both largemouth and smallmouth bass, early spring constitutes a rapid change in temperature and feeding diets.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Fishing rod and reel
Baits and lures

Step 1

Search for early season bass in brushpiles in shallow water, beaver lodges and submergent weed cover, as well as areas with laid down trees and spots with exposure to the sun's warming rays. Early springtime bass, especially largemouths, frequent these areas because of the cover and warmth.

Step 2

Use skirted jig lures. Skirted jigs are suited for being thrown into thick cover-like weeds, wood and brush piles. Cast skirted jigs with natural or artificial frog-shaped trailer to trigger bass bites.

Step 3

Pitch and flip skirted jigs with a relatively heavy casting tackle. Choose a 10-inch rod, 6 feet long with 16 lb. test fluorocarbon line for largemouth bass fishing in snag-choked covers.

Step 4

Fish with bucktail jigs when fishing in natural lakes during early season. A bucktail jig made of leadhead jig and a 3-inch body made of deer hair works especially for smallmouth bass. Cast in areas with newly emerging grass along drop-offs.

Step 5

Select a 6-foot medium power spinning rod with 8 lb. test copolymer line when fishing for smallmouths with bucktails.

Step 6

Use larger lures in attractive colors, such as Rapala Magnum lures in\ orange and red, when fishing in dark or murky water.

Article Written By Rona Aquino

Rona Aquino began writing professionally in 2008. As an avid marathon runner and outdoor enthusiast, she writes on topics of running, fitness and outdoor recreation for various publications. Aquino holds a Bachelor of Arts in communications and English from the University of Maryland College Park.

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