TheCodFather Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 I am new to fishing prespawn bass. What do the bass want? Plastics? Jigs? Lures? I am fishing in Michigan on a lake that is mostly clay, sand, and marl. The waters are still in the 50's-60's. He lake goes to about 35 ft deep and has steep drop offs. The water is dark typically about 2-3 ft of visibility. I'm open to all suggestions. I've tried Texas rigs and jigs and nothing and I know there in there. Thank you! Quote
Tylertut Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 On stained waters when it's still prespawn I usually throw anything slow moving, especially jigs, in darker colors such as black and blue. I have also had luck slow rolling spinnerbaits as we'll. Quote
MIbassin Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 A nice big single Colorado bladed spinnerbait slow rolled Quote
Chris9999 Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 White spinner bait here. Usually fished slow but ive caught some on faster paced retrievals. Quote
Super User WRB Posted May 20, 2014 Super User Posted May 20, 2014 Smallmouth or Largemouth bass? Smallies spawn about 4 degrees coder water than LMB and in different locations. Tom Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 Smallmouth or Largemouth bass? Smallies spawn about 4 degrees coder water than LMB and in different locations. Tom Largemouth Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 This site is awesome! Thank you for the replies. Looks like I'm headed to the store come morning. We've entered a little "bass competition" if you will against some friends and I've pre-fished the lake twice now and caught nothing of size and the competition is Monday. I know bass are in there, the lake is known for it's bass. Any advice on location? Such as cast it in the shallow and reel it into the deep? The lake has steep drop offs. Quote
Super User WRB Posted May 21, 2014 Super User Posted May 21, 2014 Most of Michigan's lakes are natural and the largemouth relate to weed-grass lines, outside edges during pre spawn and inside edges during the spawn. You can cover a lot of water with a a trap as Catt suggest, good choice along the weed-grass breaks. Small swimbait like a 4" Trash Fish or the Havoc knock off on 1/4 oz plain ball head jig and jig & craw. I would fish any points that are near bays or coves and any rocky or wood areas with spawning areas near by. Tom Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 Great information. Thank you it's much appreciated. I have just recently learnt some about reaction hits from bass and then like hits when there feeding. I was under the impression that they would not hit a rat-l-trap/crank bait during pre spawn because there more in the feeding type phase then reactionary. I hope that makes sense. Thank you for the clarification. Quote
Super User WRB Posted May 21, 2014 Super User Posted May 21, 2014 Reaction gets misused, it means to some bass anglers that bass strike a faster moving lure, they strike all lures fast or slow moving. Per spawn bass tend to be a little deeper as they transition from deeper winter water, they are looking for high protein prey to fatten up on. Crawdads and larger baitfish offer high protein meals. Tom 1 Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 This site is gold. I have some crank baits that dive so I will defiantly throw those as search baits then switch to one of the suggested choices once I find them. What are your thoughts on a wacky rigged worm? Maybe with a weight? I apologize if I'm asking to many questions I've just never known any of these things tell recently. Quote
Super User Lund Explorer Posted May 21, 2014 Super User Posted May 21, 2014 I got my first chance to be on the water this year on Monday afternoon. The lake chosen was a medium sized lake here in Mecosta Co. There was a fairly stiff easterly wind and clear water, but the important part was the fact that the water temps were 59-61 degrees. The bass we found were all in approximately 8' of water hanging around weedbeds. Of the 14 fish I caught, 11 came on a spinnerbait (bleeding shiner) and the others came on a 7" Berkley Power Worm (Green Pumpkin). My grandson had been on the same lake on the 14th and the water temps were 5 degrees higher before last week's rain and cold temps hit us. He told me that they saw many bass cruising the shorelines and loosely hanging around beds when the water temps ran around 64-65 degrees. Depending on where you are located in this state, I would guess that the current weather forecast of warming temps from now until the weekend, you should see you lake's water temps rising. Here's hoping that yours gets up into that mid-60's range. 1 Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 I got my first chance to be on the water this year on Monday afternoon. The lake chosen was a medium sized lake here in Mecosta Co. There was a fairly stiff easterly wind and clear water, but the important part was the fact that the water temps were 59-61 degrees. The bass we found were all in approximately 8' of water hanging around weedbeds. Of the 14 fish I caught, 11 came on a spinnerbait (bleeding shiner) and the others came on a 7" Berkley Power Worm (Green Pumpkin). My grandson had been on the same lake on the 14th and the water temps were 5 degrees higher before last week's rain and cold temps hit us. He told me that they saw many bass cruising the shorelines and loosely hanging around beds when the water temps ran around 64-65 degrees. Depending on where you are located in this state, I would guess that the current weather forecast of warming temps from now until the weekend, you should see you lake's water temps rising. Here's hoping that yours gets up into that mid-60's range. Awesome, thank you. I'll check the temp and adjust my location accordingly to what you said. I know the depths and the baits thanks to everyone. Thank you. Quote
Super User Lund Explorer Posted May 21, 2014 Super User Posted May 21, 2014 Awesome, thank you. I'll check the temp and adjust my location accordingly to what you said. I know the depths and the baits thanks to everyone. Thank you. Wow, 80 degrees here this afternoon. Going to sneak out this evening for a couple of hours, so I'll post an update on water temps by morning. Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 22, 2014 Author Posted May 22, 2014 Wow, 80 degrees here this afternoon. Going to sneak out this evening for a couple of hours, so I'll post an update on water temps by morning. Nice! Well I tried darn near everything that was suggested on this forum and no bass, not even one. But I did catch a nice 27" northern pike! Quote
Super User Lund Explorer Posted May 22, 2014 Super User Posted May 22, 2014 Nice! Well I tried darn near everything that was suggested on this forum and no bass, not even one. But I did catch a nice 27" northern pike! Water temps have gone up 4 degrees and we saw many more smaller buck bass and bluegills cruising the shallows. How did you like that wind? NNW @ 19mph with gusts to 29mph! Almost impossible to feel a bite with any soft plastic, and we couldn't catch squat on the calm side of the lake. Only caught 9 total between the two of us, and all caught on spinnerbaits on the windy side. Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 22, 2014 Author Posted May 22, 2014 Water temps have gone up 4 degrees and we saw many more smaller buck bass and bluegills cruising the shallows. How did you like that wind? NNW @ 19mph with gusts to 29mph! Almost impossible to feel a bite with any soft plastic, and we couldn't catch squat on the calm side of the lake. Only caught 9 total between the two of us, and all caught on spinnerbaits on the windy side. We defiantly felt the wind! It calmed down a lot as it got later so it wasn't to bad. I couldn't catch a bass so I just went to heavy spoons for pike, worked well against the wind. Quote
CDMeyer Posted May 23, 2014 Posted May 23, 2014 I would throw a swim jig or a spinner bait near the staging areas, the bass are trying to pig out before they go and spwan Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 25, 2014 Author Posted May 25, 2014 How do you find the staging areas? All this is new to me. Thank you for the reply! Quote
mikey5string Posted May 26, 2014 Posted May 26, 2014 How do you find the staging areas? All this is new to me. Thank you for the reply! Deeper water close to shallow flats. Big females will hang around cover in deeper water close to shallower spawning grounds. The wait for the males to come get them and bring them back tho the nest. If you catch small bass shallow, they are probably males. Try fishing that same spot but deeper. Quote
TheCodFather Posted May 27, 2014 Author Posted May 27, 2014 Deeper water close to shallow flats. Big females will hang around cover in deeper water close to shallower spawning grounds. The wait for the males to come get them and bring them back tho the nest. If you catch small bass shallow, they are probably males. Try fishing that same spot but deeper. Thank you! Went out today and couldn't catch a keeper for my life it seemed. Tried tons of things and areas. Probably didn't help they just got done spraying the lake for weeds the day before : \ Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.