March Pre-Spawn ... Favorite Lures ?

[ChrisD46]

In many parts of the country March marks the month when bass will start moving up shallow for the spawn - what are your most productive lures for fisihing the pre-spawn ?

Note : El Nino weather pattern has seen many areas of the country receive a lot more rain  -> runoff -> very stained water than usual ... If this fits you , how will you change up pre-spawn lure selection ?

[roadwarrior]

You can't win any money around here without throwing The Rig.

 

[CJ]

6 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

In many parts of the country March marks the month when bass will start moving up shallow for the spawn - what are your most productive lures for fisihing the pre-spawn ?

Note : El Nino weather pattern has seen many areas of the country receive a lot more rain  -> runoff -> very stained water than usual ... If this fits you , how will you change up pre-spawn lure selection ?

As RW mentioned, it's hard to beat the A Rig. I usually go with one with spinners on the wires like the Yumbrella in dirtier water.

If the water is really stained-muddy, it will usually make fish go shallow earlier. Pre spawn is when I have the most lure variety on the boat. In really stained water, I usually go with blade baits(yes even shallow), traps, spinnerbaits, and a variety of crankbaits but I love the DT 6 for dirtier water. Vibration becomes a key player. And I always have a jig on board, ALWAYS!

[junyer357]

Swimming a craw topwater basicly and chasing missed blowups with a wacky senko. If im not kicking up mud with TM im too deep. 

[ChrisD46]

With some of the most consistantly stained water I have seen in years - anything with vibration , flash , bright color  or bulk !

[WI_Angler1989]

Crankbaits are a classic early bait, I'd guess either darker contrasting colors or brighter chartreuse/firetiger would do well. 

[Bankbeater]

I will use Rat-L-Traps until the water is warm enough for topwater baits.

[roadwarrior]

Well, the deal is almost everything works during pre-spawn, but on a given day some things work better than others. My BEST day ever was fishing the Sworming Hornet/ LFT Live Magic Shad. 78 bass in one day! My partner fished the Red Eye Shad which had just been introduced by Strike King and he killed 'em too!

[Jaw1]

#5,#7 shad raps and redeye shads mainly until the water warms up 

[tje0705]

50 minutes ago, Jaw1 said:

#5,#7 shad raps and redeye shads mainly until the water warms up 

This is the approach I'm going with for my upcoming March tournament. 

I will also be slow rolling spinnerbaits and gambler big ez's

[Greed]

Every year I do the same old thing and it seems to work. 

38-42 degrees: Jerkbait only

42-50 degrees: Jig and Lipless Crankait

50-55 degrees: Bladed Jig, Swim jig, Jig

55 degrees plus: It's pretty easy to wack them on anything until they start bedding up.

[A-Jay]

Below is part of my response to a PM  discussion a friend & I has on this very subject -

If it's cold & windy with dirty water - might be more of a boat ride. But if the recent local weather has been on a "warming" trend, I'd make sure I looked shallow - sometimes right on the bank too. North end - oiut of the wind - some place that's protected & getting cooked by the sun.  These spots can usually be productive in the middle & especially near the end of the day.  Early spring can often be like spring in that the later part of the day is often best - before that, look for fish on the first drop back from the bank - wood heats up fast and bass always use it especially early season.

Also, rather than rotating through a ton of baits & presentations, I'd stick with a few that I can cover water with and that I have confidence in . . . .   Lipless baits & small square bill work well for me early - the SK RES 1/2 and that 6th sense X75 bait especially.   A little trick I use (but don't advertise) is I use a slightly oversized mono when throwing RES early - allows me to fish it slower & a little shallower than say braid or fluorocarbon.  Think 17 & even 20lb.

And on most moving baits since I don't have the ability to slow my reeling retrieve down (especially after not fishing all winter - too hyped up I guess)  I'll switch out the reels to a slower gear ratio - 5.3:1 or 5.6:1 - this pretty much forces me to "fish" these baits slower - which is almost ALWAYS a game changer very early season. 

After I catch that first one, I always have to do two things - first pay close attention to where, why when & how I caught it and then once I start fishing again - SLOW DOWN, I always end up fishing too fast looking for the next one and then wonder why it doesn't come - it's almost always because I was not doing what got the strike in the first place - so I need to slow my roll.

Another sleeper bait for me early is a 1/4 swimjig with a 4 inch grub trailer - My Wife routinely takes me to school with that one early and it's about all she'll fish until I prove that something else is working better -

If the water's clear & you can get them to go on it - a jerkbait can be money too - but you know that.

Fish that won't come out of wood for a bait will sometimes eat a jig pitched into it - but I know you hate those  . . .

Oh and I almost forgot - last spring was the first time I tried it but,  a 3/8 oz Rage Blade with a 4 inch swim Senko trailer (or a 5inch cut back about 3/4 inch) fished low & slow was a solid producer. 

I liked using it early in the day while I was trying to put something together - Best presentation early spring with cool but warming water was to sit on the very shallow side of a spot I expected the bass to come to - sometimes I was almost on the bank - then cast to the deep, let it go to the bottom and crawl the rage blade along the bottom back to me.  Depending where I got bit it was an indication as to where the fish were.  But the vast majority of the time - the bite came closer to the boat shallow (on the final third of the cast) after about 9 or 10 am - in a semi-protected area with the sun in my face. Last spring this took a few good ones. 

Good Luck & be safe out there - that cold water is pretty unforgiving. 

A-Jay

[Slefler]

Here lately I have been throwing two things, one of which has been working the other has not.

Siebert Outdoors Swim Jig 3/8 in Blue Sapphire Shad to search for actively feeding fish. Still to chilly for em to want to chase and eat it but will start getting bit pretty dang soon.

Siebert Outdoors Dredge Brush Jig in PB&J with beaver style trailer, flippin/pitchin shallow cover on the shoreline, isolated shallow cover or shoreline transitions, meaning chunk rock to grass. Usually get bit right where the two meet against the bank. They aren't hammering it but they just pick it up and swim with it. caught a limit on this last Saturday and caught 6 in 4 hours the following day on a different lake doing the same thing. 

[WRB]

Pre spawn is all about locating bass near concentrations of prey, then figuring out what those bass will respound to. 

If your lake is still frozen over in March it's winter not pre spawn or if the bass are on beds in March, it's the spawn.

My all time favorite pre spawn lure of choice is the jig & pig, old school hair jig with real pork trailers.

Tom

[Catt]

Bass are on the bank right now & everything is catching!

[jc68]

lipless crankbait and spinnerbait

[the reel ess]

23 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I will use Rat-L-Traps until the water is warm enough for topwater baits.

Me too!

[Bluebasser86]

Jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, traps, and warts. 

[primetime]

If you find the staging Females and figure out what depth they are holding at.....Then pick any lure, add a split shot if needed, but they usually are not picky if you get them on the right day...but usually look toward areas bass will spawn...Sunny, Sand bottom or hard bottom, and focus on the deeper water nearby that has cover available..If a cold front comes in, they will almost always go deep in the weeds, so pitching a jig is hard to beat, swim it out, let it sink...Smaller is often better, but Spring is the time of year when you can fish any lure you have confidence in and have fun...Topwater can work but I find it rare and only later in the day...

I have been throwing finesse worms on light jigheads and counting them down and figuring out what depth they are holding, and then I try to run a trap through that area...I like the Spro Aruku shad this time of year since it can stand up on the bottom and often hopping it like a jig can work well..90% of Bass are in 10% of the water this time of year....So I like smaller lakes and breaking down bigger lakes into 1-2 smaller chunks...It feels good when you figure out where they are holding, then getting them to strike, it can be tough depending on where the spawn is, it changes week by week, day by day at times...

[Master Bait'r]

Smaller swimbaits

suspending jerkbaits

bladed swim jig

spinnerbaits

magnum (5-6") soft jerkbait with a 3/16 or so swimbait EWG.

flashy swims and kietechs 

rage blade of some kind

 

Obviously I'll change my mind in 10 minutes but that's a good start

 

Find the warmest spot in the place and fish everything you can.  Subtle flash and vibration is usually key during these times for me.  If I don't get hit on the above I'll usually start Ned rigging or using a mendota rig if it's weedy to see if there's anything at the bottom that can tell me what's going on down below and begin to formulate a picture and a plan from there.  I fish from a kayak primarily and sometimes it takes a little longer to learn your waters enough to really know what you want to throw so it's tough to say.