As the bass begin their march towards the shallows to spawn each year, anglers everywhere get excited to get in on the great bass fishing action. The bass are fat and hungry and can be caught in several ways. With this in mind, professional angler Randy Howell does what he can to intercept bass with two primary weapons: an underspin and a Neko Rig. According to Howell, these lures are perfect for pre-spawn bass fishing.
Follow the Migration
Many bass spend their winters away from the bank chasing shad in open water, then turn their attention to the bank when it's time to spawn. Howell keeps this in mind and tries to intercept them as they migrate by following contours and using his electronics.
"I like to follow the contours on the mapping on my Lowrance units and look for channel swings and bends, where many of those bass have been hanging out all winter," he said. "As it gets warmer, many fish will relate to those deeper channel swing banks, bluffs, and rocky banks before they move shallower. For years, we always blind casted baits to these areas, but now we are mixing in forward-facing sonar like my Lowrance Active Target to target suspended bass related to standing timber or on top of brush piles in these areas."
No matter which approach he's using, Howell said a bait that can effectively work in the middle of the water column is ideal, such as the Blakemore Randy's Swim'n Road Runner. It's a horsey-head style jighead with a blade and soft swimbait, perfectly imitating a shad swimming through the water.
"That's a good bait this time of year because sometimes the bass are in the middle of the water column, and other times, they'll be closer to the bottom," he said. "It works well in all depths, and I like to start with the 3/8-ounce size so it gets down quicker, and that blade gives it the right amount of action. I use it when the water is in the upper 40s and into the low 50s, and the straight tail of the bait and tiny blade give it a nice, subtle action."
Howell will sometimes fish the bait with a standard slow retrieve but says it's also very effective with forward-facing sonar, keeping it just above the fish he sees on his screen. "You don't want to overpower it by reeling it too fast because this is still a finesse technique," he shared. "Also, most fish will just load up on the bait, so I like to use a rod with a real parabolic action with a soft tip. I fish it on my 7-foot, medium-light Daiwa Tatula Elite baitcast rod made for shallow, lipless, and jerkbaits. I like to use a Daiwa Tatula 6.3:1 100 SB with 12-pound Daiwa J-Fluro line."
Howell fishes the Swim'n Road Runner with a baitcast setup when casting and retrieving without looking at his electronics but goes with spinning tackle when using forward-facing sonar.
"If I'm trying to get it out there in deeper water or when trying to keep it right above trees and brush, I like a spinning rod," he said. "I'll fish it on a 7-foot, 3-inch medium Daiwa Tatula Elite Rod I designed for drop-shot rigs, shaky heads, and underspins like this. I'll fish it with a Daiwa Tatula spinning reel, 15-pound Daiwa J-Braid Grand, and a leader of 10-pound J-Fluoro as my leader. I'm fishing it like many anglers fish a jighead minnow when watching fish on their screen, but that little bitty blade adds a bit of flash and vibration to get the fish's attention further away from it."
Picking Apart Cover with a Neko Rig
Another top way to catch bass before they spawn is with a Neko Rig. This rig is an excellent option for picking apart cover and can be used at many depths. It's one of Howell's top picks for fishing this time of year.
"When the bass just start to get into the areas where they are going to spawn, a Neko Rig is a great way to catch fish when you can't get them to chase faster moving baits," he said. "If they are inactive, you can cast to specific targets where the fish hide. That could be anything that sticks up slightly off the bottom, a stump, tree limb, dock post, or anywhere else they can relate to."
Howell will use the same spinning rod setup he mentioned for his Swim'n Road Runner and opts for a straight-tail worm like the Yamamoto Sensei. He'll round out the package with a Size 1 PRO X Ned/Wacky Hook and varying sizes of nail weights inserted into one end of the bait.
"That's a good worm shape for a Neko Rig, and one of the best colors this time of year, in any bait, is morning dawn. They like that pink color in the spring," he said. "I adjust the nail weight size based on my fishing depth. That hook shape is great for a Neko Rig, and it's got a slick coating on it for easy penetration. Plus, it's strong and won't flex easily, even though it's a thin wire hook."
Howell will use his electronics to scour for isolated cover and then cast to likely targets with his Neko Rig and couple with an underspin; he has a solid approach for pre-spawn bass fishing. It's a one-two punch that covers bass feeding on shad and those hunkered down around the cover, two things he experiences every year in the pre-spawn
