What are some tips/baits for fishing the late pre spawn in ponds/smaller lakes? I've started to see early beds here in NJ but there's no bass on them yet. Fishing the actual spawn is pretty self explanatory so I'm not asking for tips for that. Average water temps are 56 to 58 degrees and it seems the earlier feeding binge period has ended. I'm guessing the bass are now in mating mode instead of feeding. 

 

How do I target them while they're preparing to get on beds like this? 

Yeah, same here. It went from a bulldog, take the rod out of your hand bite to having to beg and plead with them almost overnight. Weightless straight worms is what they are wanting right now, soak it with a drag and drop.

 Spinnerbait, jig, jerkbait and Whopper Plopper anywhere from the spawning flats to the first dropoff. Some years here it's exactly as you describe. For some reason it's been better this year. I've caught some good females off the wood cover between deep water and spawning flats. I've also cleaned up on the 1-2 lb. males in the shallows. I've seen beds but only one male on one. I caught him twice. He was still on that bed 3 days later. 

Senko, swim jig, Menace

Man, I don't even know. I fish just outside of Chicago. Getting more than 2-3 fish a session (3-4 hours on average, for me) is a good day. Last week, I caught 19 bass on two evening trips (5ish hours total). My wife got a massive hookup on a Whopper Plopper 60 on Easter. So I have no clue what the bass are even up to at this point. 

2 hours ago, cdlittle said:

Man, I don't even know. I fish just outside of Chicago. Getting more than 2-3 fish a session (3-4 hours on average, for me) is a good day. Last week, I caught 19 bass on two evening trips (5ish hours total). My wife got a massive hookup on a Whopper Plopper 60 on Easter. So I have no clue what the bass are even up to at this point. 

 

I used to fish just outside of Chicago at the county lakes. Your "2-3 fish a session" comment hit home. Some of those lakes have been straight up destroyed. 

As for the OP's question. I've had very good luck with downsizing swim baits for cold water pre-spawn bass. Simple 3" Kietech minnow in threadfin shad on a 1/16th jig head either bounced in or retrieved straight has saved me from a skunk on more days than I can remember.

6 hours ago, AManWearingAHat said:

 

I used to fish just outside of Chicago at the county lakes. Your "2-3 fish a session" comment hit home. Some of those lakes have been straight up destroyed. 

 

It's the absolute worst right? I'm not an amazing angler or anything, and I'm certainly not trying to toot my own horn here, but I rarely see anyone else catching fish when I'm at the local ponds/lakes. I spend hours and hours a week researching, learning, tweaking, etc just to get that 1-3 fish bag when I go out. There's just no hope for the casual angler here in Chicagoland. 

I'm fishing ponds just south of Chicago and have been doing great with a 60mm Berkeley Wake Bull in MF Bluegill.  Has been my go to for a couple of years

On 4/14/2021 at 7:10 AM, OG Crankster said:

I'm fishing ponds just south of Chicago and have been doing great with a 60mm Berkeley Wake Bull in MF Bluegill.  Has been my go to for a couple of years

 

Interesting. I have an old Lucky Craft GDS SSR which runs barely subsurface. I haven't bothered with it since the cold front has moved in this week. I have a couple of 4" FishLab bluegill wakebaits that I'm dying to try. I just don't have any confidence at this water temp.