Spinnerbait is my favorite pre spawn bait.  Water temp. at my favorite lake went from a cold 64 degrees two weeks ago to 72 degrees today.  I will miss the pre spawn and spawn this year due to work requiring me to chase yellowfin tuna for the next month instead.   In my local waters, the best tuna fishing is in Nov. and Dec., and the big bass bite, is best Feb. and March. I'm forced to fish the exact opposite.  I guess that is why its called work.  I hope to catch some big post spawn bass in April, probably on a spinnerbait.

Don't over look 9”-13” Uptons Customs worms. Contact Last Chance Tackle In Hemet, they ship everywhere.

Mag Bay in late Oct- Mid Dec is magical.

Never made it down to San Benendicto/ Revilliajigedo islands.

Good luck amigo

Tom

 

 

14 hours ago, BassWhole! said:

Mason-Dixon line is essentially the PA/MD border, so you are a couple of weeks early with that assessment for the northern range. That being said, as soon as there is an upswing in water temps I like a jerkbait and a chatterbait. As the water warms a tad into high 40s low 50s, a squarebill, spinnerbait, and a large swimbait. Once they start thinking of the beds, plastic creatures and jigs. 

Around here the fish start to school up and push shallow heavy when the water hits the mid 40s.  I love to throw JBs and SBs do really well, but the chatterbait would be the 1 bait I cant go without in the Pre Spawn.

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Something from one of these two boxes ~

 

A-Jay

Looks like only deep divers interesting 

Stickworm (weightless texas rigged) , Chatterbait, Spinnerbait, and Glidebait 

Squarebills during the 1st wave. Grubs during the 2nd

A lot of good recommendations in this thread, one of my favorites is a smaller glidebait you can twitch well 

like a waver 168 or gan craft 178.

 

the other thing I have killed them on when the conditions are right is a spook or frog. Doesn’t always work, but if you have a day where the sun has been shining and warmed up the water some. I’ll find that bass get super shallow in either dark bottomed silt bays or flooded shorelines on the river systems I fish. When those fish are in 1-2ft of water it doesn’t matter that it’s 40 something degree water they are gonna eat it if their in a feeding mood.

10 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

Looks like only deep divers interesting 

Good Eye Sir ~

In my world the hunt for big pre-spawn brown bass starts the very day the ice goes out.

Intercepting these girthy girls as they start coming in from their winter haunts

has proven effective.  

Some come straight into the skinny water, and the standard bait is money then.

But it does seem that many will hang back a bit, staging on something 'deep' while they wait.

If one is willing to fish in the cold & wind that's often a part of this,

there's a decent opportunity to coaxed a few of these heifers into snapping up an easy meal.

Often times, it's got to be right in their face - 

So low & slow is the order of the day.

A-Jay

 

Lipless crankbaits, shallow running crankbaits, jigs, chatterbaits, and spinnerbaits.

Rattle-trap, texas rigged bass assassin's 7" worm. Chatter bait with chunk Jr. Dipped of course.