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!

Favorite Crappie Spawning Grounds

When you are on the lake and looking for crappie during the spawn, look for shallow, timber or other cover loaded coves. Try to find areas where the water is 1 to 2 feet, has a sandy bottom, but has plenty of cover like bulrushes, submerged timber or branches, lilly pads, and the like. Also, if possible, you should look for an area where the bottom has a slow sloping decent, not places where there are sharp drop offs and cuts.

These type of coves offer great protection for the crappie spawn, as well as warm, slow moving water. So the crappie are able to clear out a spawning area, and don’t have to combat currents pulling away their nests or dispersing their eggs.

How to Time the Crappie Spawn

Crappie tend to be one of the first specie of fish to spawn in the spring. They generally precede the bass spawn, and could spawn as early as late December, depending on the water temperature. The ideal water temperature for the crappie to spawn is the low 60 degrees, and finding water temperature in the 62 to 65 degree range will most certainly get the crappie in the spawning mode. Because bass like the water temperature to be a little warmer, around 63 to 68 degrees, the crappie will often have already spawned before the bass spawn.

So, like I have said about largemouth bass spawning, it isn’t the month or date, it is the water temperature that you need to focus on. And water temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s are what you want to go for when looking for the crappie spawn. This may happen as early as late December, and all the way through to March or April, depending on what part of the country you live in.

Using Crappie-Licious Bait

If you are going to use live bait for crappie, you’ll want to stick with small shad or minnows. Get them in the 1 to 2 inch size, and hook them with a small hook through the eyes or tail, and use a split shot or two to keep them down in the water. Larger crappie will tend to hit at deeper levels than smaller crappie.

But I like to use artificials. And probably the best crappie lure by far is the marabou jig. You should do some experimentation to find out what the fish want on the day you are fishing, but generally speaking using white, yellow, green, and chartreuse in clear waters will work better; and using dark colors like black, purple, and dark orange will work better in stained water situations.

So that’s the basic run down of the crappie spawn and how to catch them during this time of year. Look for more great tips from me at Hidden Fishing Tips.

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!

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.

Personally, I think bass fishing with plastic worms tends to yield better fish than with other baits, the problem is that you’ll generally be working the plastic worms slower than other baits, and thus you’ll have to be more patient, and more selective with the spots that you fish. With other baits, you can work them faster and easier, and be able to cover more water, looking for fish.

The Ideal Scenario When Bass Fishing With Worms

The very best situation when working worms is during the spring, summer, and early fall when the water temperatures are warm. Look for heavy cover and drop your worm right in the thick of it. This is another advantage of worms, they are almost always rigged to be weedless, and you can work your worm right through the bass’ most favorite habitat. If you are working deep water, drag the worm right along the bottom with a slow retrieve, and wait for the tap. Give the fish a moment to take the worm, then set the hook hard, to make sure to penetrate through the worm body and the bass’ mouth.

Some Different Types of Worms

Generally, worms range from about 4 to 12 inches in length. Mostly, I like to use 6 to 7 inch worms, and they will work in most cases. If you use a worm that is too short, you may not get enough tail action to attract the bass. But if too long, you may end up losing fish due to bass hitting the tail of the bait, and not getting the hook.

The color of the worm will vary based on conditions. However, generally the use of a purple, black, or motor oil color is going to work to attract the bass. Do some experimentation. In dark or murky water, you may want to use a chartreuse, pumpkin, or red color instead. But in clear water, translucent colors like blue, grape, white and red will probably work better.

The shape of worms can also vary greatly. There are a tremendous assortment of worms, eels, salamanders, lizards, and perhaps even small snakes to choose from. If you are just starting out, I would recommend sticking to a 7 inch, motor oil or purple regular worm, perhaps with a firetail (a different colored tail end of the worm).

Stay tuned for next week, when I take you through the bass worm rig, a couple of the styles that are very popular, and that I recommend for bass fishing with worms.

So what made this tank so great for pond bass fishing?

There were several factors that made this pond great for bass fishing. First, it wasn’t a very deep pond, and it was located in the south (Texas) where warmer weather prevails. This combination is excellent for the promotion of bass population and size. Water temperatures of about 60 – 80 degrees will begin to draw the bass into shallow water, and they will commence in heavy feeding. As a result, bass ponds in the south have longer seasons where this water temperature is prevalent, and thus the bass will grow much faster than in northern areas.

Second, aside from its location and depth, the vegetation in this pond was just excellent for bass. There were bulrushes and tree limbs both submerged and above the water’s surface. This provided excellent cover for  the bass, but there wasn’t too much vegetation to allow bait fish to escape. So the bass had open areas and vegetation areas, and thus there were lines between the two where bass could easily ambush their prey.

Third, this pond was closed to the public and wasn’t fished very often.  So the bass were allowed to grow year after year, and were not thinned out by many anglers. So you could say that we “had these fish all to ourselves”, and it meant that we generally caught lots of fish.

Fourth, this pond was stocked only with bass and perch. So there weren’t many other predators like catch fish that would disrupt the population growth of the bass. And the perch provided an excellent source of food for the bass. And again, with the vegetation being sparse, bass had good spawning grounds that they could easily protect against the perch hunting down their eggs and fry.

I cannot explain the appeal of having an 15 + inch bass on the other end of your line. If you see them come to the top and shake that head, and it is your first time, you will probably be hooked on it for the rest of your life. I like catfishing too, but just the fast paced nature of hunting down the largemouth bass with lures is enough to keep me occupied and happy for hours at a time.

Make sure to check back tomorrow as I’ll show you Pond Bass Fishing Hot Spots: how to fish your pond(s) for bass during the different times / seasons of the year. See you then…

Where does largemouth bass spawning occur?

The male bass spends time looking for the perfect area to build their nest. They will travel up and down the shore line, looking for that perfect spot. The bass are looking for firm bottoms in about 1 to 4 feet of water in which to build their nests. They’ll tend to choose areas with weeds, lilies, or bulrushes, but the bottom must be solid, thus bass will not usually go for areas where the bottom is mostly silt. If there aren’t enough covered areas, the bass will go for open areas on the sunny side of a rock or log submerged in the water.

Bass usually will not setup a nest close to another nest location. So if they can see another male setting up a nest, they will move on. This generally leads to nests being about 30 feet or more apart. Once they find a spot to spawn, they will use a shaking motion of the head tail to stir up the bottom and remove the loose debris. This will lead to a saucer shaped depression in the bottom of the shallow area.

It is important to note that the largemouths will not begin the actual spawn until the water temperature reaches 63 – 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The water temperature must remain in this range for several day in order for the bass to spawn. If a cold front or other weather interrupts this water temperature range, it will delay the spawn. Once that temperature is right and the fish are ready to spawn, the male will nudge the female to release the eggs, then the male will cover the eggs with his sperm (also called milt).

The typical nest will yield 2,000 – 10,000 fry (baby bass) from which only about 4 or 5 bass will reach 10 inches in length. After the fry reach 1 inch in length, the male bass watching over them will relinquish them, and may even begin to eat them.

So if you are in the spawning season, and the temperature is right, look for those saucer shaped depressions in shallow water, as those are the best spots to fish! Because of the instinctive protection measures that the male bass exerts over its young, these bass are going to be prone to striking a lure or other bait that invades their spawning territory. So using vibrant colors during this time of the year has merit. A hot pink or red crank bait moving through a spawning ground of a protective male bass may very well lead to a defensive strike, and thus a fish!

March Bass Fishing In Cool Waters

Depending on what region of the country you are in, you are going to be experiencing different temperatures. Water temperatures of about 40 degrees or less is generally not the best for the spring spawn. So where I am in Texas, early March is still pretty cold on the lake. This is also frustrating as getting out to your spots can be rather chilling if there is any wind out.

So when you face these water temperatures, use lures that run deep. Check your fish finder for approximate depths of the fish, and try to match that up with your lure choice. Using plastic worms, bass assasins, grubs, tubes and jigs with a very slow retrieve or dead stick should yield better results. Cranks and jerks may work as well, however they need to be deep runners, suspending, and also with a slow retrieve. The fish are sluggish, and usually hang out in deeper water, where it is warmer.

March Bass Fishing In “The Zone”

On the other hand, when you get into 45 to 50 degree waters, that is when the action is going to be fast and furious. My favorite lure is the Bomber “Flat A” in the ghost white color. It runs about 4-6 feet deep (although you can get it in the 8-12 feet deep range) and really hits well with large mouth, small mouth, whites and hybrids. It is also a suspending model, so you can run a jerk and retrieve pattern on the fish, if they tend to be sluggish.

As with cooler temperatures, you can also pull out your worms and jigs to go after these fish. Many of the state record fish were caught with worms. I like a 6-7 inch worm using a Carolina or Texas style rig. Mostly use a slow retrieve on the bottom of the lake, and waiting for that tap. Give the fish some time though, as they don’t usually just suck down a worm, often they will tap it before they fully commit. When you feel the tap, give it a few seconds to let the fish take the bait, then hit ‘em!

So don’t wait, get out there on your favorite lake, and take advantage of one of the best months for bass fishing, March! If it is cold, bring your deep running lures and work them slow, if it is warmer, go for the more shallow running, fast action baits and knock ‘em dead!