Catch Big Bass in Pre-Spawn with Greg Hackney's Jig Fishing Tricks!

I'm Greg Hackney, and let's talk about seasonal jig fishing. Really, now we're talking about the pre-spawn, spawn period of fishing. From probably that time right before, you know, we've come out of winter, we've started to have some warmer days, water temperature is increasing. Now we're in that 55 or above water temperature, a lot of things start happening real fast. Those fish are on the move, they're on the prowl. They'll start to spend more time shallower during this period of time. A lot of times that's when they really move up and get on cover, they've been offshore, they start moving up, maybe the lakes. That's the time when you start getting a little rain, the lakes start kind of bumping up a little bit, rivers start getting dirtier, fish start trying to migrate like maybe towards the back and places they start to think about spawning. They start putting that feed bag on.

But the one thing that you will have during that pre-spawn period is you'll have a lot of weather changes. It can be a really hard time of the year to fish because you got cold fronts. It warms up for a few days, fishing's good, fronts come through, which really, to me, really play for jig fishing, that pre-spawn period before the spawn. And a couple reasons for that are that, yeah, that's a great time of the year to throw moving baits, but after that cold front comes through, that's prime time of the year to throw a jig. Those fish will have a tendency to be aggressive. When these fronts are moving through and you can catch them, a lipless bait, a spinnerbait, and a bladed jig, and there's a lot of different ways. But again, you have a lot of changing weather that time of the year.

And when those fish move up, move up and get on boat docks, and move up and get on lily pads, you know, they'll start to use that cover, that cover that's just outside of, you know, where they're gonna do the deed at, where they're gonna do their spawning at. My part of the country that time of the year, like, a lot of them will kind of start to have a tendency to move away from that mat a little more. Maybe they'll be on more cut banks, cypress trees. Another thing that happens during that period of time is you can target those bigger females. I grew up in a part of the country, had a lot of cypress oxbows, backwaters on rivers. And those females will have a tendency to group together. You'll catch them. That's that time of year when you catch a spotted bass. Now, I'm not talking about a Kentucky spotted bass or an Alabama spotted bass. I'm talking about a largemouth bass that has spots on them.

And I'm not sure about the science, but typically when you catch one that have those spots, it is a female. I have heard a rumor that changes in her body that are producing eggs during that time of the year and stress on her body is what causes those spots. And I can tell you one thing about that. When you catch one of those spotted bass that time of the year, you're in the right area, because typically females are not nomadic. They like to hang together. That's the fish we wanna target during pre-spawn anyway because they're bigger. And it's such a great time of the year to throw a jig that time of the year because those fish are eating aggressively. And again, you know, jig's a big profile, but the main thing is once we get those cold fronts to come through, we can target those fish with a jig. They were super aggressive, biting my moving bait before, but now they've moved into places, they're on the heaviest cover.

And that's typically what I look for that time of year in the pre-spawn. I want the heaviest cover, and depending on the lake you are, that could be grass, it could be lily pads, it could be mats, could be cypress trees, could be boat docks. But I want the heaviest cover that's closest to the spawning area. Now, it doesn't have to be in the back of that flat where you think they're gonna spawn at, but it's leading into. So, I'm looking at something like...so we're sitting right here in a day in the mouth of a pocket. And a lot of times what'll happen during that pre-spawn, those fish will make trips back into those spawning areas, but when that front comes, they'll come back and hang up on whatever is around the mouth of that deal, the closest. Again, whether it's mats or reeds, or just depends on what part of the country you're in, whatever that heavy cover is.

And I'll slow down. And almost to the point, because fish are really affected by cold fronts in the spring, that I will fish for those fish the exact same way I did out there deep. I'll still have a tendency to use a lighter jig. I'm not going heavy because we're still not dealing with super warm water conditions. We're still...55 is relatively cold. It could be...depending on what part of the country you're in, this deal happens from realistically 45-degree water temperature to, let's call it, 58 degrees. That's that period of that water temperature and those fish are aggressive. 

And so I still like a light jig for pitching around these docks. I like a big profile. I mean, I'm a big fan of having that jig with the rattle in at that time of year that I can bang it around, but I will typically stay lighter, like, a half-ounce. When I'm up fishing shallow in the spring and it's pre-spawn period, I just seldom ever go over a half-ounce jig.

I like a three-eights and a half, honestly, depending on how shallow and how thick the cover is, because, again, much like wintertime, and we've talked about that before, is that I want just enough jig to get through the cover. I still fishing slow, you know, because, again, you're dealing with the fish that's dealing with the cold front condition and we're targeting places and they're sitting there, but they still in the back of their mind, they have that feed bag on and they're opportunists. And she knows that she's going to need that to get those eggs to the point where they're going to hatch. And so she wants to be healthy. And nature has a way of telling them what they need to do and what they need to do is eat, you know, just like, honestly, any pregnant woman. They need them powdered donuts. And that jig just... It's just a great time of the year, you know, for that.

Now, one thing that does happen at that time of the year when they really...like, in this pre-spawn period and it's gotten...you've had two or three really, really warm days, then I'm going to move on into where those fish are...that were spawning, and they'll be on sparser cover then. And then rather than using that flipping jig, then I'm going to get after them with that swim jig. And because that's something, again, it looks like a bluegill, it looks like a crawfish. Those fish are... I can target more isolated cover, you know, because I know when those fish make that move and they've been on that heavy cover that's warmed up, and they're starting to feed in those areas where they're going to spawn, the more isolated cover, maybe pad stems, you know, because they love to spawn in pad stems.

And when they first move out there, they are super aggressive like this. And you can cover so much water with that swim jig, and it catches that same fish that that flipping jig does. We got some warm weather. We got some cloudy weather. Now they're on isolated pieces of cover around the area they're going to spawn. And those females have a tendency to move up there. Realistically, I will catch some of them extremely shallow pre-spawn period in the spawning area before any males show up. Typically, when the males show up, the female then has went back and set somewhere and is waiting. But when she makes that move up shallow, she's aggressive, she's feeding. And the other reason that she does that, she wants to feel that heat. She wants to get high.

We've even learned that with front-facing sonar, that time of the year that fish that are in own reservoirs that stay out in the middle, they're three-foot deep. They're in 50-foot of water and they're 3-foot deep. They wanna feel that warmth because that surface temperature that time of the year is where that heat is. So, I'm going to be fishing shallow. I'm going to be targeting cover that shallow because they want to be up there and they want to feel that warmth. They're like us. If you spent all winter out there in the shade, it's dark and cold and snowy and nasty and you've been inside the whole time. When you get that warm period, you wanna move up. So, it's just kind of that transition.

I started looking for heavy cover in the miles of spawning areas, the best cover in a bay. Maybe you're on a river on a backwater. I'm looking for that stuff that they're getting on. And then I'm also looking for, because those warm period days on pre-spawn, places I can move up and swim that jig around or pitch cypress trees that are shallow with a regular jig, but that swim jig will outperform a regular jig when they make that move up. But just a couple of things to think about. And again, depending on the cover, the situation, you know, typically, anytime I'm swimming a jig, I would say, especially what I consider power fishing a swim jig, when I'm looking at it, I see them get it. It's always a braid deal, 50-pound braid.

Well, if I'm on a clear water lake and I'm plinking that jig around, you know, more sparse recover in the miles of those places, more of a fluorocarbon deal. And then of course, if I'm mat fishing, hunting thick stuff for those fish to be floating around that time of the year, I got my 7'11" flipping stick and braid. Again, it's the way I said earlier, if I'm fishing the jig back, I want that softer rod. I want that 7'6" pitching rod. If I'm going through cover, that 7'11". When I'm swimming a jig, I use a different rod, either a 7'4" or a 7'6", but I like a softer tip when I'm crawling that jig, you know, swimming it through that cover that time of the year. 

But just a few things that I help you in pre-spawn. If you like to pre-spawn fish, pick up a jig. It's a very productive way and it's the best time of the year, maybe to catch your personal best.