Largemouth Locales largemouths typically will stage up and spawn in the same general areas: dead-end backwater bays cut off from the cold inflowing current of the main river. these areas warm quickly because they’ re relatively shallow and because there’ s limited snowmelt coming in.
Bass might hang out in slightly deeper water within the bay or in adjacent chutes and secondary channels before spawning, but as the water temperature creeps up toward the 60-degree mark, they start heading to the flats where they’ ll fan their nests.
“ look for shallow bays that have good green grass and areas as far away from current as possible,” says stefan.“ i’ m talking you’ re fishing in a foot to 2 feet of water in the areas that in the summer are choked over in weeds. largemouths are looking for areas that are oxygenated and have the warmest water possible. in april you’ ll have main-channel water in the 40s, and you’ ll be able to find backwaters in the 60s.
“ if we’ ve had a couple warm days, that’ s the best fishing of the year,” stefan adds.“ Grab a swim jig, grab a chatterBait and you can just go to town in these back bays because they’ ll be grouped up. a lot of these bays are where the largemouths winter. they’ ll stay in the bays that have some deep water in them, but they’ ll get up on the flats.”
Better flats have hard-bottom areas of gravel, rock or even pad stems that provide suitable substrate for spawning. stefan seeks out these smaller sweet spots in what can be vast stretches by fancasting with moving baits. once contact is made, slower baits such as yamamoto senkos and texas-rigged plastics are perfect for catching multiple keepers. is a really good bait, too, as is a jerkbait if we’ ve got clear water. once i catch a fish or two, i’ ll slow down with a carolina rig or jig. i really try to look for current breaks that are not one-cast spots, but that i can thoroughly work in 15 to 20 minutes.” vast eddies behind wing dams, islands and large points are classic prespawn spots, but stefan actually avoids them. they’ re too obvious, he thinks. he prefers to target smaller eddies created by boulders, man-made structures and“ sand drops,” which are formed when the current deposits sand on the river’ s bottom. some will form in the middle of channels like sunken islands. they also form like tails on the downstream side of dry islands.
“ picture the downstream side of an island, and you’ ve got current coming around both sides. you’ ve got a seam that comes off the back end,” says stefan.“ it [ a sand drop ] is really similar to that, but the sand bar usually comes off the backside and trails off into the main channel and is submerged. you might have 2 feet of water that comes off 200 feet from the bank, and then it drops off into 4 to 12 feet of water.
Prespawn Smallmouth Strategies
stefan targets prespawn smallmouths in eddies and other current breaks. some will be near heavy current, but most often they’ re in secondary channels and chutes with milder flows. smallies also stage in deeper, cooler water( 8 to 12 feet, usually) than their largemouth counterparts – places where the water warms more slowly – which is what sets up the order of their spawns.
“ they’ ve been sitting in that eddy for months, and they’ re just waiting for it to warm up enough to move in,” stefan says.“ that’ s why they actually spawn later in the season than largemouths up in this part of the country.” stefan begins his search with moving baits, but because the fish are grouped up he stays prepared to milk out additional fish once he finds them.
“ usually i’ ll throw a swimbait or spinnerbait. even a rat-l-trap is an excellent bait up here,” stefan says.“ that’ s kind of what i start with to find them. a crankbait
ABOVE: Lawrence Lake shows a typical area where largemouth bass will stage and spawn. It’ s out of the current and shallow. Smallies might set up to spawn in the channel leading in. BELOW: Another classic example of a good largemouth spot. Smallmouths will stage at the mouth of the backwater area and spawn near deep water.
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