Spring is getting close in Tennessee and i'm getting the itch so what baits will you start out with and how and where will you start? God Bless and as always Thanks

#5 shad rap, suspending JB, and a finesse jig over here

Jerk bait, flat sides cranks, some type of shaky head. Also will fish deeper staging prespawners with a sk structure jig.

Most of the lakes I fish are natural lakes up here and this is the one time of the year where I believe there is a big difference between natural and man made lakes, not only in staging areas during the pre-spawn, but in productive lures during that period.  Bass in the lakes I fish rarely suspend during pre-spawn as deep water is normally just a couple of flicks of their tail away and deep water on those lakes is 20ft. and under which is the reason I don't often use jerkbaits then.

The most productive early spring bait has been a blade bait (Sonic, *** Blade, etc.) allowed to fall to the bottom and hopped up 1-2ft. and allowed to fall back. As the water warms into the upper 40's I slow roll it with occasional pumps of the rod will get the nod as the fish are already making short trips up the points and key structure leading toward the shallows.  This is also the time I break out my flat sided and lipless cranks. Once the water warms into the low 50's it seems that any presentation can and does produce fish and I base my selection more on the fish's location, but a spinnerbait as a search tool is invaluable to me at that time as the fish tend to move around alot and it's the easiest bait for me to change depth and speed productively.

Late winter/early spring I rarely put my jerkbait rod down, if I do it's usually to fish a jig. 

Jerk bait, flat sides cranks, some type of shaky head. Also will fish deeper staging prespawners with a sk structure jig.

 

That's it!

Spring for me will be: Jig and Craw trailer, Rayburn Red lipless crank, LC jerkbait, Spinnerbait & T-rigged grub.

For the past few years, I have found white/silver swim Jig works the best for me. Then, I will usually throw LC pointers and flukes.  

went out yesterday and caught a few in a short amount of time on a Rapala Slashbait in firetiger, water was 47 degrees visibility 3-4 feet. No luck on rouges or jigs.

On warm days a craw colored wiggle wart over chunk rock can be good too, when the water gets closer to 50°.