ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

5 Spring Bass Fishing Lures

Updated on February 28, 2016

Fishing Lures for Springtime Bass Fishing

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.

Best Spring Time Fishing Lures

spinnerbait, jig, rattle trap, dropshot, senko
spinnerbait, jig, rattle trap, dropshot, senko

Senko Fishing

Senko - February to May for big fish

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.

Casting a Red Eye Vibrating Lure

Rattle Trap

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.

Skeet Reese Fishing the Jig

Jig

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.

Spinnerbait Fishing with KVD

Spinnerbait

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.

Dropshot Fishing With Aaron Martens

Dropshot - Plastic Worm

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.

Spring Time Success

What is your favorite spring time lure

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)