Every year as the water warms from winter to spring the bass move up
on top of humps and ledges and you can have a blast fishing top water
baits. I know it sounds crazy but some of the biggest stringers in
tournaments are caught on top water lures in early spring. A few years
ago we did a TV show on top water fishing in early March with water
temperatures between 49 and 53 degrees on a rainy cold morning. We
loaded the boat with 4 and 5 pound fish and made the TV show in about 3
hours.
The key I believe to an
early spring top water bite is two things. The first being bait,
if there is bait on top of the humps and the bass are moving on
and off these humps looking to feed you have a great chance of
getting hit. The next is bait choice, where two things come into
play the correct color choice is a must; many lakes are muddy in
the spring so contrasting colors like red are extremely
important. Noise is next, bass are extremely sensitive to noise
in the spring and noisy buzz-baits or spooks with BB’s in the
body are great choices for reaction bites. Not only can you
catch a winning stringer but it’s a lot of fun to see that early
spring explosion in basically cold water in March.
Some of the other elements I look for in order to find the early
spring top water bite is some left over grass or lily pad stems, or duck
weed that still has a little life from the last year growth. Both of
these natural elements hold bait fish and seem to grow on hard bottom
humps or along edges of quick drops. Bass in the early spring are always
hunting hard bottom areas as they spawn in these hard bottom areas of
the lake. Top water fishing this time of year just doesn’t get any
better as the bass are hungry, aggressive and usually two pounds bigger
as they are getting ready to spawn.
