COLUMN: TACTICAL BASSIN
you don’t have to see to believe
The biggest bass of the year can be caught around the spawn, but you don’t always
have to sight-fish to catch them
F
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
A fishing guide and con-
servation officer, respec-
tively, Matt Allen and
Tim Little are well-known
big-bass experts who own
Tactical Bassin, a website
and social media chan-
nels dedicated to educat-
ing the public about bass
fishing.
22
ishing during the
spawn can provide
some of the most
heart-pounding, mind-blowing
and overall rewarding outings
of the entire season. This is the
best time of year to see some of
the largest bass where you live.
It’s also one of your best oppor-
tunities to catch a new person-
al best, and maybe even a fish
of a lifetime.
When anglers talk about
fishing the spawn, they usually
talk about sight-fishing or bed-
fishing, and the full moons in
April and May certainly are
prime times for targeting bass
by eye. But that doesn’t have to
be the only way to target big
fish. We have a few additional
techniques to share with you to
help you catch more bass dur-
ing the spawn without sight-
fishing, because you don’t
always have to see to believe
when it comes to springtime
fishing.
Find Spawning Areas
To properly understand
how to target big bass during
the spawn, you must first
understand their movements.
On most bodies of water, the
north end of the lake warms
up first because of the sun
shining in the southern sky, so
that’s a great starting point
early on.
When we head out on the
lake, we look for shallow
spawning bays close to main-
lake points. Shallow bays and
coves that are protected from
the wind and harsh afternoon
shadows are key areas. This
type of cove is where you will
most likely find the first wave of
spawning fish on beds.
Locate Subtle Transitions
Although bed-fishing is a
large part of our fishing this
time of year, we’ve caught
some of our largest bass with-
out ever seeing them until they
are in the net. One of the most
productive techniques is fan-
casting in spawning bays. We
drop the trolling motor and
scour the shallows, meticulous-
ly looking for subtle anomalies
that will hopefully produce the
next double-digit bass.
You might assume we just
look for the obvious cleared-
out beds or nests, but that isn’t
the case. The biggest bass are
usually the weariest. As they
transition and move from the
depths up into the shallows,
they utilize whatever cover and
concealment they can find.
They’ll use the obvious rock,
wood, small depressions or
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