Location is Everything

Location is Everything

As we are quickly progressing into springtime fishing a few things change the fisherman’s thought process; the first and most important is location. “Fish where the fish are.” You just cannot be successful in the in the spring unless you understand the factors that move fish to certain locations, especially the bigger fish.

There is probably no time of year where the bass group up more than in the spring and to me this is just paramount, as the spawn is near and finding the right area or location is the key to finding bass.  Natural elements make all the difference as bass spawn in areas like stumps, rocks, lay-downs and they all have the same thing in common hard bottom and its key to finding spawning bass.  I tell many customers that the first thing you must do is start looking where all the research says they ought to be located. Do your research, understand the typical patterns and start there. My spring is divided into two phases; the early spring is all about the mouths of bays, creeks and inlets; the late spring is about the backs of these same areas.

I fish all the deeper mouths and bay entrances that I can find from stumps to shell beds. My baits are pretty typical as I love to run shallow running SPRO crank baits especially over shell beds, when that crank bait gets hopping off the bottom it is deadly. Chatter baits, swim jigs and SPRO rattle baits are all choices that catch fish.

The second half of the spring is finding shallow water near the backs of the coves, like points, red clay areas and humps near the islands all make sense to me. These areas become targets for bass as the bait moves quickly to the shallow water around the islands and stumpy areas along the edges. You see the warmer water in the shallows become the spawning grounds and the hard bottom gives them spawning targets to lay their eggs. Not all shallow water holds fish so look for areas that meet the spawning criteria mentioned and have studied over time. Being a student of fishing will allow you to be your guide to the correct spawning areas and point you into the areas so you can fish where the fish are!