Spring Movement and Electronics North Alabama

Spring Movement and Electronics, North Alabama

Every year as we enter into the late February time frame the one thing you can count on is the movement of the bass toward the spawning grounds. The movement will be like seeing gobs of bait balls forming at the ends of the river channel edges with large displays on your electronics moving to the top of the river channel. You will think your seeing something that isn’t true, that your eyes are deceiving you, but I’m here to tell you that they are not. As bass will be staging around the edges where the deep meets the shallow, the ledges will light up with fish and little by little the bass will migrate from this staging location to the spawning grounds. Sure, it will be a mixture of fish species as it appears there will be every fish feels the effects of spring and starts to migrate somewhere around the same time frame.

The good news is that the bass will quickly fan out moving in toward the spawning grounds. Suddenly, your electronics will no longer show these large groups staging at the ledges as they will move on top of the ledges, humps, and near the creek beds as they move into the spawn. The first of the bass will be the buck bass as they move in to protect the bedding area then right behind them will be the females and they will start fanning the bottom making beds to drop their eggs. The males will stay to protect until the females abandon the bed and then they will move also. It will be a long process as the bass do not all spawn at the same time and it may take weeks for the spawn to be complete.

During this time frame the best way to catch fish will be with slow moving baits like worms, jigs, crawfish style soft plastics and patience will be the key to catching fish. There is one exception that being the early movement will produce some aggressive fish and top water baits like buzz baits, frogs, spooks and whooper floppers will produce early bites. I generally find this in mid to late March. Look for the spawn the staging fish and you will have a great spawning season.