The ideal water temperature for bass spawning is 63 to 70 degrees.

But, the smart anglers will begin their spring fishing season when the water temperature is cooler than this, perhaps in the 58 to 60 degree range, as the bass will be in the pre-spawn, and will be preparing their nests for spawning activity.

Where to Find the Bass Spawn

While water temperature is warming, but cooler than ideal for the spawn, the male bass will be in search of proper nesting areas. They will look for shallow areas, maybe only 1-4 feet deep, with good cover surroundings like bulrush patches, weeds, or lilies. They are looking for consistent bottom structure, they won’t often build a nest close to a drop off or other structure change. They also want the bottom to be firm, they don’t like thick silt areas, they want to be able to lay their eggs and not have them be buried by runoff deposits, etc.

Also, during the bass spawn the fish are very territorial. If they can spot another nest close by, they will move on and look for another area. Thus in good spawning areas, you’ll probably find nests that are about 25 to 30 feet away from each other.

Once the male finds a good spot, he’ll fan the spot to try and remove as much debris as possible. This will leave a small saucer like depression in the bottom, one which is fairly easy to spot in the shallow water.

Pending the influence of harsh changes in weather (which will delay the bass spawn), the bass will typically spawn when water temperatures are in the 63-68 degree range. A nest that hatches may produce 2k-10k worth of new fry. Of these, maybe only 5 or so bass will reach the 10 inch mark, the others will be eaten by other fish or die of some other cause. Once they are about 1 inch long, the male bass will leave the fry, and may even begin to feed on them.

So just to reiterate, the bass spawn usually occurs when water temperatures are around 63 to 68 degrees. Just before the water reaches these temperatures, you’ll find bass in the shallows, and they will be feeding heavily, to make sure they have enough food to make it through the spawn, and to recuperate and hatch their fry. So when water temperatures are in the high 50s, make sure you are out there fishing for bass!

Early Fall is the General Point

What I mean by this, is that year to year and location to location will vary. But specifically, what you want to look for is the change in the water temperature. When temperatures begin to cool off from the hot summer, so will the water temperatures, and that’s when you need to strike.

Here in the south, summer temperatures often hit 90 degrees and up. Bass in water temperatures above 80 degrees in the shallows will seek deeper, cooler water. And in those deeper waters, the bass will miss out and some of their meals.

But as the ambient temperature begins to drop, so does the water temperature. And when the water temperature gets back into the 70s and high 60s, the bass will move back into the shallows, and will attack in a very similar way as they did in the pre-spawn period during the spring bass fishing season.

So it’s critical to hit the lake and work the early morning and late evening hours during this period of temperature change.

Mid and Late Fall Bass Fishing Tips

After the early fall temperature change and resulting bass binge, the water will continually drop in temperature as the ambient temperature falls. And when the surface temperature of the water gets back into the low 50s or lower, the bass will begin to retreat to deeper, warmer water.

One point to remember, as the surface water temperature drops, there will be a point in time (it may be as long as a few weeks or more) when surface water temperatures and deep water temperatures are roughly the same. During this time, you will have trouble locating the bass, as they may be deep or shallow.

But when you are fishing waters that are in the 50 degree range, work your lures deeper, and try to find and work bottom structure changes like drop off points, large protruding rocks that are deep, the edges of grass or vegetation patches, cuts, and other bottom structure change points.

Late Fall Bass Fishing Pattern

Once the water temperatures drop below 50 degrees, you might as well head to the house. You may be able to snag a bass here or there by fishing a deep, slow worm, but your luck is going to be sparse, and frustrating. Bass like warm water and plenty of oxygen, and they are just going to be extremely sluggish in cold waters.

Spring Bass Fishing During the Pre-Spawn

Several weeks before bass actually spawn, they will begin to move into the shallow water as it begins to warm up. The males come in first, and will begin feeding when the water temperature gets into the 50 degrees. If the weather cools down, the bass will retreat to deeper water until it warms up again. This cycle may occur several times during the pre-spawning period.

But when the water temperatures get into the high 50s, bass will begin the binge. This is where you will be able to catch lots of fish, just by being in the water and tossing good solid bass lures. Focus on the shallow areas where there are changes in the bottom structure, and preferably where there is good bass cover.

Catching the Fish During the Spawn

When the temperature gets into the middle 60s, the female bass will deposit their eggs. After they deposit their eggs, there will be a period of time where the females retreat and recuperate, before coming back in to feed. But the males are in charge of protecting their young in the spawning ground, and thus if you get your lure near one them, you could get a defensive strike, and pull in a good fish.

Focus on fishing likely bass spawning areas like a patch of bulrush weeds or other good cover area in shallow, warm water. Work your baits slow, and give them plenty of lure action while you do.

Post Spawning Spring Bass Fishing

When the water temperature gets above 70 degrees, normal bass activity will commence. You’ll find them feeding in the shallows at times (usually morning and evening), and in the deeper, cooler water for most of the day. Middle to deep running crankbaits and bass fishing worms will be the likely candidates for fishing the post spawn.

The southern states may see a spawning period of anywhere from February to April in a typical year. But with cooler temperatures in northern states, the spawning period might just be a few weeks, beginning some time in May and finishing up in June. Whatever your case may be, being out on the water fishing during the pre-spawn, spawn, and post spawn for largemouth bass is definitely exciting!

You can find these materials in grocery stores, discount stores, and outdoor stores all across the country. Just go in and ask for guides published by your state’s parks and wildlife division. The information will usually be located in the same area where they sell and distribute hunting and fishing licenses.

What to Look for in Bass Fishing Lakes

Just remember what makes bass fishing waters great – lots of varied structured, lots of cover, and warm, but not hot water. Remember that bass usually bite the best when the water temperature is between 68 and 80 degrees. So once you have your sights set on a particular lake to fish, see if the parks and wildlife division has a topographic map of that lake. Look for points, drop offs, holes, and any other sharp contrasting structure. These will be good areas to test when you are fishing.

Then, ask them if there are any fishing reports for that lake. This will give you an idea of what type of lures are working for that lake, and that season. It should also let you know about the water clarity, temperature, and movements of the bass.

After that, check the weather report, and make sure that there will not be a significant change in the weather when you go fishing. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as you can catch tons of bass just before a cold front hits, but it may kill the rest of your fishing. Steady weather patterns create steady bass feeding patterns, making the fishing reports reliable.

The Best Bass Fishing Lakes

Ok, so now that you have an idea of what to look for in a lake, let me give you a list of top bass fishing lakes in the US. Here they are:

This list was courtesly provided by Dan Eggertsen of http://www.askbassfishing.com/ and his US bass fishing page.

What to Look for to Find River Bass

When dams are built along river systems, often you’ll find areas of backwaters, which are shallow areas that have been flooded, and may connect lakes and river systems together. These shallow areas are usually warm, and have lots of underwater timber, grass and other cover that promote bass populations.

Bass spawning will occur in the shallow backwaters (maybe in waters that are 1 to 3 feet deep) during the spring months, and after the spawn, many bass will retreat to deeper areas of the backwaters, or will go into the nearby cuts. But if the water level is maintained, bass will stay in these areas through the summer.

If you can find a power plant, or other manufacturing facility along the riverside that perhaps uses the river water to cool machinery, you may have hit the jackpot. Especially if the surrounding water is cooler, bass will congregate very near the dump off point for the plant, where the water is warm.

Tips for River Bass Fishing

Now that you have some ideas of where the fish will be, work them with the appropriate lures. For the shallow backwater areas during the spawn, work topwater plugs or buzzbaits. If you are in a cut, or a drop off point, consider using a crankbait or worm to get down to where the fish are.

Here’s the key. Look for the break points, or where the change occurs between the bottom structure or cover. For example, if you are in a cut, look for a sandbar or a break in the current, and fish right along that point. If you are fishing cover areas, work your bait in between and as close as you can to the cover, as the bass will normally be hiding under the cover, waiting for bait fish to come by, so they can ambush them.

If you are stream bass fishing, look for current changes, and deep holes in the stream. Again, fish the edge of the change in current, and fish the edges of the deep holes, as the bass will use the points to ambush their food. So that’s a basic look at stream and river bass fishing, so let me know how you do! Leave me a comment at the bottom of this page…

Those are the exact questions to ask, and the reason for this post. Schooling bass (sometimes called schoolies), are usually found during the late summer to early fall months on large lakes or reservoirs. These bass are typically young, and thus smaller, perhaps only a pound or two each.

The situation normally occurs when very large schools of shad follow plankton around the lake, feeding on it. The schooling bass will pin them to the surface of the water, and then viciously attack. So spotting them can often be easy. Just look for areas where the shad are jumping out of the water, being hit by bass. We usually refer to this as “boiling water”. You can sometimes spot this from afar by using binoculars or looking for birds diving and hitting the top of the water in a particular area.

What To Do When You Spot The Schooling Bass

This feeding frenzy will likely not last very long, however. So we you see it, immediately drop your current fishing spot, and get to that area as fast as possible. Cut the boat more short of the area, and allow your momentum and/or your trolling motor to get you close to the fish. This will ensure that you do not spook the fish. Begin casting as soon as you are within range. I prefer to cast behind the boiling water, and retrieve back into it, as to not scare the fish. But experiment, you may find that the bass respond best when you drop your line right on the top of them!

Smart anglers will have an additional rod and reel rigged up with a short diving, natural looking shad crankbait, or other shad like lure. Having this on hand will prepare you for the schooling fish, and you’ll be able to maximize your catch, since the boiling water will not last that long. I hope you got something out of this article, and if you did, would you leave me a comment in the box below? Thanks, and we’ll see you next time on HiddenFishingTips.com.

So let’s review the main components that make up the buzzbait. There are four main components to this fishing lure, and they include:

1. A jig head on a bent shaft
2. A two winged aluminum blade (perhaps two of these aluminum blades on a double buzzer)
3. An aluminum rivet per each blade present
4. Skirting, or a worm, or a minnow shaped spoon on the hook

The key component that separates the buzzbait from other fishing lures is the blade. The blade is made to spin viciously through the water, and to screech in the process. This creates a lot of vibration and sound in the water, much more so than spoons or spinnerbaits.

The Buzzbait Retrieve

But the retrieve is extremely important when bass fishing with this type of lure. The pros will cast the lure out, and stop the line just before the lure hits the top of the water. This will ensure that the line tightens up, and that the buzzbait will hit the water in the ideal position to retrieve. Often, the strike will occur when the lure hits the water, because the buzzbait will already be in motion, and the splash, combined with the churning and screeching in the water will not be missed by many fish in the area.

But if you don’t get the strike during splashdown, the you’ll need to go back to bass basics, try to canvas the cover areas that are near the lure’s location. You may have to extend your rod in a weird direction in order to pass the buzzbait very near the cover, but it’s worth it. Bass love hanging out under sticks, bulrushes, lilly pads and the like, and the closer you get to them, the better. But be careful not to cross into the cover areas, unless you have a weedless hook, otherwise tangles and impairments to the action of the lure will occur.

And as always, when you are considering which colors to fish, stick to natural colors in clear water, and more vibrant colors in murky water. Also remember that bass tend to enjoy black and purple regardless of conditions. So that’s buzzbaits in a nutshell. So get out there, and catch those fish!

But I remember when I was growing up, that we would go out to a friend of the family’s property, which had a nice sized pond on it. This pond was absolutely loaded with bass. Now some people think pond bass fishing isn’t very exciting, but I am here to tell you that we pulled some whoppers out of that little pond! And we caught most of them on a tiny spinnerbait.

This tiny spinnerbait that we used was a bent (angled) shaft with one small, broad Colorado blade and a tiny one inch purple worm with a curly tail. We did not use any kind of skirt, just a purple a worm on a jig head. Normally we fished during the spring and summer, and we usually knocked them dead, catching many bass, most of them in excess of 3 pounds, even as high as 6 pounds and more.

This bait worked very well for me, but let’s get back to the different types of spinnerbaits and when to use each one. With spinnerbaits, you basically have two types of shafts, a straight shaft and an angled, or bent shaft. Most anglers, including myself, prefer the angled shaft spinnerbait because it presents the reflective blades a little more prominently in the water, and helps to keep the spinnerbait balanced, so the hook will ride up during the retrieve.

Spinnerbait Blades

There are three basic types of spinnerbait blades.

• The elongated willow blade looks like a an oval with two hard corners on either end. These blades are good for general fishing in multiple types of conditions, as they provide a lot of reflection and some vibration in the water as well.
• The broad shaped Colorado blade creates more vibration in the water, and therefore can be retrieved slowly. This makes this type of blade good for cold weather conditions, and murky water.
• The tear shaped Indiana blade is good for warmer water conditions, with slightly murky water.

Many spinnerbaits have multiple blades, and can even have blades of different types on the same lure. Stick with the basics, and then experiment with some of the combinations available.

Spinnerbait Skirts

After the jig head, many spinnerbaits are equipped with a skirt, usually made of silicone or rubber. The skirt hides the hook, and helps to make the spinnerbait (somewhat) weedless. Using a weedless hook with your spinnerbaits can ensure the ease of retrieve through heavy cover. The color of the jig head and skirt is up to some experimentation, but stick the basics, use more natural colors in clear water, and the more vibrant colors in murky water.

So that’s spinnerbaits in a nutshell. Again, the basic spinnerbait componens are a shaft, blade(s), a jig head and skirting or a worm. Spinnerbaits are very popular baits, and have yielded some good bass in many different locations.

So that’s where using live bait comes in. You see, with a live salamander, worm, frog, or minnow, you can use a slow retrieve, and the bait will still have plenty of action in the water. Additionally, with live bait, you will have the benefit of scent in the water. Most artificial lures do not have any scent (unless you are using the new Gulp lures, or something similar), which can be a major player in murky or otherwise visually impaired bass holding areas.

I’ll have to say again, that bass eat a wide variety of foods. From an inch long fry, to a small grasshopper, to foot long worms, salamanders and eels, the largemouth bass likes it all. One thing you want to try to do is to make sure the bait that you are using stays alive, and thrashing in the water. The more action, the better. So baits that survive longer will be easier to manage, and help you (especially during tough economical times) to stay out there longer.

Many top anglers will tell you that the waterdog is the best live bait to use for bass fishing. The waterdog is a tiger salamander in its larva stage. For some reason, these young salamanders are just super appealing to bass. If you are fishing a deep cover area, you may be able to use a free hook, hook the waterdog through it lips in an upward fashion to ensure the water dog can easily swim right side up, throw your line right into the cover area, and allow the waterdog to swim as it likes through the cover, and to get hammered by a hungry bass.

Another favorite bass live bait among bass fisherman is the frog. A live frog can provide some great action in the water, and along with the scent, can drive a stubborn bass into striking. Again, hook these frogs in the lips with the barb facing up, and work them through good, shaded cover areas with a slow retrieve.

Another technique you can try out is using a spinnerbait or other lure, and adding some live bait to it. You’ll still get the action that the lure produces (except in the case of crankbait) and you’ll have the added benefit of the natural scent and appeal of the live bait.

So get yourself some live bait, and get started fishing for bass with live bait.

Professional bass fisherman have the experience and arsenal to be able to hunt down and catch bass based on a myriad of factors. It is those factors that determine what type of lure you should be using. Don’t just try one and forget the rest, use this systematic approach to selecting the best bass lure for the day you are fishing.

Know the Depth of the Water You Are Fishing

Perhaps the single most important factor when selecting the right lure, you need to understand what the depths of the areas you are fishing really are. If possible, use a depth finder or fish finder to help you to know how deep you are fishing. For water less than 10 feet deep, you’ll probably be looking at topwater fishing plugs, spinnerbaits, shallow or floating worms, or shallow running crankbaits. For depths greater than 10 feet, use heavily weighted worms, deep running crankbaits, or heavy spinnerbaits.

Check the Water Temperature

As previously noted, bass  prefer water temperatures around 68 to 80 degrees Farenheit. This is when bass activity will be the highest, and you will be able to use larger baits with faster retrieves. A 7 or 8 inch worm will work better in this temperature range than a shorter worm. But in cooler temperatures, you’ll want to use a shorter worm (maybe 4 to 5 inches) with a slow retrieve, perhaps just dragging the bottom.

Work the Cover Areas

Largemouth bass love covered areas. Places where there is submerged tree branches, bulrushes, or man made objects like docks, etc. are great places to find bass. In deep cover areas, consider using a Texas rig with a worm, ensuring a weedless setup, and work your way through the weeds. Other weedless lures like weedless spoons and weedless spinnerbaits can pay good dividends in these heavy cover areas. In light cover areas, you can look to open spinnerbaits, buzz baits, and crankbaits for catching bass. Just be sure to work the edges of the cover, preferably on the shade side, as bass love the shade.

Be Mindful of the Water Clarity

When fishing bright areas of clear water, consider using natural colors over darker colors. There is an exception here, as purple and black colored worms seem to work well in most waters, regardless of clarity. For dirty or murky water, use fluorescents like yellow, chartreuse, pumpkin and orange to get better results. When light levels are low, darker colors will generally outperform lighter colors.

So to reiterate, there isn’t any one best bass lure, or “super” lure. Selecting the right lure for the job depends on the day, the water depth, temperature, color and amount of cover that you will be fishing. Be mindful of these, selecting the appropriate lure, and you chances will increase greatly.