5 Spring Bass Fishing Lures

The spring is a special season and if you use these 5 spring bass fishing lures your catch rates will go up. Looking to catch the fish of a lifetime, make every effort to fish during the prespawn, spawn, and post spawn periods for your local fisheries.

The Large Mouth Bass move into the shallows during the early spring depending on the location of the country can be as early as February or earlier to find the right places to spawn, however it can be as late as May in other parts of the US. During the spawning cycle fish go through several phases: pre-spawn, spawn, and post spawn. Each lasting a period of time consisting of weeks to a month or more and require special approaches to maximize the day on the water, however during the spring months there a few lures and presentations that work between all of the phases of the spawn. Since not all of the fish spawn at the same time in the spring there is a long period of time where there can be fish in all three cycles at the same time and so selecting a lure that allows you to cover water and find groups of fish is important as well as having confidence lures that can be soaked in prime areas to coax out the timid spawning fish. When the fish are focused on doing their mating ritual it is not easy to attract a bite as they are focused elsewhere so while Spring can yield the largest fish it can sometimes require the most patient fishing or it can be wide open fun , you never know, every day on the water is a new day so get out there and enjoy tossing one of these spring time favorites.

The videos accompanying the lures that are great for spring time fishing are from bass pros that have spent years focused on using these lures and techniques and are well known for their expertise fishing with these lures.

The senko is a the perfect go to bait when you are not able to get any fish to bite a faster moving lure. the senko rigged weightless has a slight shimmy to the tail as it falls and the action has proven to entice fish of all sizes. I prefer the original Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Senkos, however every company that makes soft places lures has a variation of the senko. The better ones will have a high salt mix in the plastics that make the bait sink properly and give the fish something to taste when they bite and hold on. Fishing a weightless senko requires precision casting as you want the bait to slowly flutter in the spot you think our likely hanging out at. The senko when fished weedless can be cast into any cover and works well when bass are hiding next to dense underwater cover. I prefer to fish the larger senkos like the 6 and 7 inch on at least 15lbs flurocarbon line and I use 12lbs test or lighter for the 5 inch senko. Wacky rigged is an excellent technique with senkos, simply use a circle hook and rig the bait in the middle and toss in the water. I prefer to use this technique in deeper water around ledges and rock piles and will also insert a nail weight in the nose of the bait to get it down to the bottom quicker. A slow drag can be very effective. Senkos come in too many colors to count so pick a color that matches the bait fish in your local fishing holes and go have fun. 3/0 - 5/0 round bend or EWG hooks will work, I prefer the round bend on the 5 and 6 inch senkos.

The Rattle Trap is a versatile crank bait lure that is diamond shaped and usually has rattles inside for making noise in the water during the retrieve. I like to use a Lamiglass fishing rod for fishing treble hook lures like a rattle trap since they have the flexibility required to play a lightly hooked fish, due to the techniques involved with this lure, many fish will be barely hooked on the outside of the mouth. Favorite techniques for fishing a rattle trap involve ticking the underwater vegetation and popping the lure out. This requires using a fast retrieve speed reel and braided fishing line. The braid does not allow for any stretch which is why I prefer a rod that is then designed to give that play that will be required. When popping the traps off the grass, the fish are likely to react and bite the lure very aggressively due to a reaction strike, however many times they will miss or overshoot and end up with the trap somewhere near their mouth. Yo-Yo'ing a rattle trap is another technique that works very well in the early spring when the water temperatures are still in the high 40's low 50's. Cast the trap out and allow it to sink and then proceed to lightly or violently rip the bait off the bottom and allow it to settle back down and repeat. The fish that are stacking up outside the spawning locations can be very susceptible to an easy meal fluttering down in front of their face. My favorite rattler trap by far is the Lucky Craft LV-500 in a ghost minnow. Blue back and chrome finish is another classic trap that I always have in my box and that bait will work about anywhere and can entice many species into biting.

A flipping jig with a rubber or silicone skirt with a soft plastic or pork trailer is an excellent early spring lure. The jig n pig as it is often referred to is the perfect pitching and flipping lure, with a weed guard fixed the jig the lure is capable of being fished around lots of different kinds of cover. While most of the time a jig is designed to imitate a crawdad / crayfish with the right color selections and retrieve they can imitate a bream / bluegill or a minnow bait fish. In the early spring I stick with brown or black jigs with similar colored trailers with some red, blue, or purple in the mix as an accent color. As the weather warms up I will start to use a brown jig green color combination more and keep the bait moving a little faster to imitate the bait in the waters where I like to fish.

The spinnerbait is one of my go to reaction bait lures in the spring. Casting the spinnerbait long distances and retrieving through flats or along ledges near the shallows or past known ambush / feeding places are typical places to fish with a spinnerbait in the spring. The lure has a skirt made of silicon and usually one or two blades. There is a couple of popular blade styles 1. Colorado 2. Willow. The Colorado blades are flat and round compared to the willow blades which are elongated and pointy. The Colorado blades provide more vibration in the water which is good in off color or dirty water as well as at night. The willow blades produce a subtle vibration comparatively and produce more flash creating a stronger visual appeal. A common blade configuration for a spinnerbait is one Colorado and one willow which works well in most places. You can catch a bass anywhere in the country with a spinnerbait with that blade configuration colored in white and weighing 3/8 oz.

Dropshotting a plastic worm is a simple and very effective way of catching bass anytime they are in the shallows. Being known for a deep water technique many people do not try using a drop shot where you would fish any other regular plastic worm technique. This is great for kids that want to go fishing but do not have the skill yet to cast and retrieve more sophisticated lures. The drop shot is a simple weight with a hook 6 - 18 inches up the line. Put a worm on the hook, just nose hook the worm, I prefer to use a circle hook and tie the knot with a Palomar knot so there is a long tag end to give me room to tie on the weight below the hook. Cast the worm out let the bait sit on the bottom and just slowly drag it back to the boat. Giving the rig a little line occasionally and just dragging behind the boat as it drifts is excellent during tough fishing conditions.