Where have you caught them so far?

[Swamp Girl]

For about my last five fishing trips, I've caught bass in different places. Here are some of the patterns I've used to catch them so far in the Spring of 2024:

 

Tight to rocky shorelines in a foot of water.

 

80' off-shore in 8' of water.

 

Under shoreline shrubs.

 

In the deepest part of the pond.

 

Along the edges of emergent weeds.

 

 

What have been your Spring 2024 patterns?

[IcatchDinks]

Pond Largies: all four have been super shallow. Two feet or less. 

 

River Smallies: holding to lay downs where the current breaks and slows around the fallen trees. Although I've really struggled to catch smallmouth this spring. 

 

Frankly, fishing has just been kinda slow for me. Although, it might just be me. I've heard and seen other people doing better than me on the same bodies of water, so I assume I must be doing something wrong. 

[MIbassyaker]

I have caught them in a box

I have caught them with a fox...

 

But seriously,  I've only been out 4 times.

• In march, with water temps in high 30s, some smallies below a dam, and in the eddies downstream of a bridge piling.
•  last 2 weeks just a couple smaller largemouth in less than 2 feet of water, in the emerging shallow vegetation.  
• a few days ago I found several better largemouth in 4-5 feet, not on the shoreline, but just on shallow side of the drop to deep water in the main lake (~50ft).  Either adjacent to a shallow flat, or around docks.

 

55-59 degree water last week. They may be spawning here this week and next, with the weather we've been having.

[Susky River Rat]

The pattern for me has been roughly the same cranking creek mouths hard and fast. However my last time out I was having to drop shot and be very slow. Been averaging 2-4 fish an hour most trips. Nothing remarkable size or numbers wise. I do expect this pattern to go away very soon. 

[OmegaDPW]

In my main pond, it's the deepest part of the water- which is only about 8 feet. 

[pdxfisher]

Anywhere from 4' to 24' on the same day. Some groups have moved up and others haven't. I have found bunches at both extremes on the same day. This time of year I always keep checking all depths all day long. 

[Swamp Girl]

@pdxfisher: Having read many of your trip reports, I have learned that you are great at finding them.  

[bp_fowler]

So far this year these have been my big producers:

 

 

-Slightly further out relating to where the weed line usually is once they top out.

 

-Shallow under overhanging vegetation or around flooded bushes.

 

-A few on riprap banks.  
 

This next one is a variation on the first.  

 

-Over the top of submerged weed beds in the upper end of the smaller reservoirs and in the middle of some of the smaller ponds.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alex from GA]

Always in the water.  I fish rivers and lakes and have found no pattern except in the nastiest blowdowns there are.  I fish a lake with stumps and sometimes they're around the stumps other times they're in the grass.

[river-rat]

I have been focusing on the area around Lake Boeuf in south Louisiana. Currently a frog early in the day and then punching grass the remainder of the day.

 

 

[FishTax]

In the same day, almost touching the bank on a bed and as far as I could cast it on a deep ledge. At the tail end of the spawn they are everywhere in different phases. 

[Pat Brown]

Mostly in or around spawning locations since about January but we are finally starting to get some that are just cruising around eating stuff.  It's nice to get back to that again.

[Swamp Girl]

I caught them in woody bushes off shore yesterday. I saw a bass pluck a bug off the surface under one of those bushes and so I started chucking into them. Sure enough, that's where they were, but given how much they've been moving in Maine, if I were to fish those same bushes today, I expect they wouldn't be there. 

[padlin]

The edges and among weeds that have yet to emerge, the biggest in about 5’ of water. In the shallows, weeds or not, it’s dinks and small pickerel. The water is still pretty cold up in the hills. By far, cloudy skies, water is just too clear.

[Bankbeater]

With the exception of one or two bass that have been caught bombing a spinnerbait out into open water, all of my bass catches have been in, or above, growing vegetation.

[MediumMouthBass]

All the bass ive caught so far have been either in or just outside grass.

Caught 1 on a swimbait, another on a top water walking bait, but the rest all came from ripping a lipless out of grass or burning it above it.

Open water (from the bank) there just doesnt seem to be any bass activity, theres been alot of small bass in 1' of water right on the bank lately but the past week theres been a few 3-5lbers cruising along with them.

They dont seem to be on beds yet, or even anywhere near that stage. Weve had a weird spring in PA, our pre spawn is just about happening now in 1 lake and is probably another few weeks away in the rest.

Very strange its usually still happening or done by now.

[CDMTJager]

All from shore, all in less than 10' of water, all in or around vegetation, rock mix, all on faster moving baits. Tried a MULTITUDE of different colors BLK-BLU-RD/GP/WML/BLK-BLU/B-Gill.

All of March and most of April a 3/8oz BLK-BLU sparkle skirt chatterbait with 5" avocado-red sparkle trailer worked absolutely like a bass magnet. Then about last week of April that color went cold and then it went to white/chartreuse with 4" sparkle 1/2 white 1/2 clear shad minnow trailer I dipped the tails in chartreuse and highlighted the bodies with orange have worked amazingly well. I'm well past 100 bass in little over 50 trips.

 

[txchaser]

For size, post spawn has been outside weed edges, flats (right) near deep water, submerged wood near creek channels, shallow standing timber on a flat near (you guessed it) deep water. Mostly in 6-7 FOW. I have a bias towards fishing the intersection of (relative) deep and shallow water though, with deep water within a cast length. 

 

Except in the morning chasing shad spawn up shallow. It's fun but nothing of size. 

[Pat Brown]

Lately the bite has shifted to outside weed lines here as well.  Basically sparser cover near deeper water seems to be the post spawner preference....and around baby sunfish 🤫😉 

 

Caught the 7.8 lber on the Frog fishing over the main Creek channel next to a weed line.  There are isolated brush piles and stumps in that channel and the water is very clear right now.

[casts_by_fly]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:39 AM, ol'crickety said:

What have been your Spring 2024 patterns?

 

A complete lack of fishing.

 

And minimal returns when I do.

 

That's a pattern right?  Go out a little as possible, expect as little as possible, success!

[Choporoz]

Last two weeks, they have been in eelgrass, between 3-12 FOW.  The eel grass in this lake breaks off when a cicada flits on the surface within a quarter mile.  It is a pain to fish.  The fish bite only moving lures.  So, you need to get that swimbait or spinnerbait bit in first 3 seconds of a retrieve, or its dragging salad.  Poppers ok until about 8AM.  After that, it's maddening and exciting all at the same time.

[Swamp Girl]

I'm catching them in zombie reeds. About a foot of water. I rig my Keitech so that the hook point is tight to the soft plastic. 

 

[PhishLI]

 This is what we have here already, shore to shore from 0'-4' deep, and it's only the middle of May. Just gotta work through it. Needles in haystacks but they're in there, somewhere.

 

[PhishLI]

Only 3 weeks ago

 

[Swamp Girl]

Yikes, @PhishLI!