Reverse Your Normal Bass Routine To Catch More Fish During The Spawn

About an hour or two into an April or May morning is when I’m usually reminded of the fact that I should have switched up usual plan a little. See, most of the time I choose to head into shallow pockets early because I’m still caught up on the spring shallow bass bonanza. I make the call, catch only a few in the shallow pockets early, and then proceed to target the deeper point-related fish late morning into early afternoon. What ultimately ends up happening with this plan, however, is that I’m late for both parties.

Over the last few years, my fishing buddies and I have been keeping each other in check this time of year with weekly reminders about where we’re at in the cycle of the bass spawn. When water temps are in the high 50’s to mid-60’s, you’ll have big postspawn females on points, a few straggler giants still looking to spawn in shallow, and some bigger bucks guarding fry from spawn wave 1 around shallow cover. By keeping each other enlightened with even the most subtle water temp info for certain lakes—or certain sections of lakes—my friends and I are steered into better decisions from the minute we hit the water in the morning. And the best decision may be to hit the points first.

I’ve personally found that point-related postspawn females bite better in the morning. A big part of this has to do with the fact that they’re more open-water fish now that they’ve moved off the bank, as opposed to the cove-related bass that have no shortage of cover in shallow. Postspawn open-water bass are also seeking refuge from the stress after the spawn, so their best biting window most often occurs in the early morning and late evening when there are low light conditions, little pressure, and ample forage activity. Contrary to that, late spawners in coves tend to show themselves to anglers when the sun is high, ironically just about when the point bite dies off. The same goes for the fry guarders that “rise to the occasion” with the elevated sun position. This all brings me back to my original point of trying to stop yourself from bypassing your best chance at the big female point bass by going directly to shallow coves first. Let me know how that reversed plan works out for you if you give it a whirl in the next few months.