COLUMN: TACTICAL BASSIN
now’s the time to get in front of
big prespawn bass
e’ve all been told that if
you put in enough time
on the water, you’ll
eventually catch a big bass. But
what if there was a faster way to
catch that “fish of a lifetime?”
Well, there is. There are
simple adjustments you can
make that will start putting big-
ger bass in the boat, and this is
the best time of year to start.
February and March usher
in the most extreme shift in
bass behavior we see all year.
Fish that were lethargically
waiting for the end of winter on
offshore structure are swim-
ming toward the bank even as
you read this. If you shift your
mindset from “just going fish-
ing” to “hunting for big bass,”
this is a great time to get results.
W
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
A fishing guide and
conservation officer,
respectively, Matt
Allen and Tim Little
are well-known big-
bass experts who own
Tactical Bassin, a
website and social
media channels dedi-
cated to educating the
public about bass
fishing.
28
Bass start traveling toward
their spawning grounds much
earlier than we realize. As water
temperatures around the coun-
try creep into the 50s, the pres-
pawn period begins and bass
start moving. During this peri-
od, the bass have two main
drives: 1) to reach spawning
areas quickly, and 2) to eat as
much as possible along the way.
This extreme change from
basic survival to voracious pres-
pawn feeding gives you an
opportunity to hook a huge
bass at its peak weight. How are
you going to do it? You’re going
to get ahead of the bass this
year. Don’t be the guy who
finds out about the pattern after
it’s over. Go to the lake now,
and let the bass come to you.
Highland Reservoirs
Bass in highland reservoirs
hunker down on outside struc-
ture all winter. The bigger fish
you’re pursuing likely spent
their winter on the ends of long
tapering points and flats, using
chunk rock and sheer edges to
ambush prey. By this point in
the year, these fish have already
begun to travel back up the
creek arms toward their spawn-
ing grounds. While traveling,
they stop on secondary points
in search of an easy meal.
As an angler, your first goal
should be to catch any bass
that will bite, because catching
any bass, male or female, will
give you clues about the where-
abouts of the largest fish.
Normally, the males move up
FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2020