This is the first year that I’ve been able to fish early enough in the year to catch some of the prespawn and the whole spawn, so I apologize if my questions seem stupid 
The water temps are 60-70 degrees on the lakes near me so I assume the spawn is going on. What’s a good way to find and target these prespawn/spawning fish?

    Lots of the small lakes I fish are pretty much like a bowl, with not much structure, so is the best way to fish them just covering a lot of water? What about the lakes that have more bottom contours? ( I should mention that I don’t have electronics). I fish clear northern lakes so how deep should I be focusing? And what are the main baits I should have tied on?

Basically whats the best way to approach a lake this time of year?

Glenn just posted a video stating that rotted reeds indicate a firmer bottom best for spawning. I've found this to be true and have literally caught hundreds of bass in 2024 in rotted reeds. I think the guys will tell you that the larger females are likely to be staging near the rotted weeds in deeper water. The rotted reeds sit in one to two feet of water, so you'll need a lively retrieve. 

Yeah basically the hard bottom spots anywhere.  I have found them on points, bluffs, flats, humps, around docks, at the boat launches, in pads, in reeds, on rip rap, on logs, on stumps, on old train tracks, on sand, near drains, near streams and I find them spawning north, south, east and west on every pond and lake I fish - I mean seriously - where do bass not spawn is what I'm starting to wonder!!!!

 

I am turning into a person who is of the mind that in the spring, if you throw a bait up shallow and it gets bitten nearly immediately, you're almost always agitating a fish guarding a bed or an area where babies/eggs are nearby being protected.

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

Glenn just posted a video stating that rotted reeds indicate a firmer bottom best for spawning. I've found this to be true and have literally caught hundreds of bass in 2024 in rotted reeds. I think the guys will tell you that the larger females are likely to be staging near the rotted weeds in deeper water. The rotted reeds sit in one to two feet of water, so you'll need a lively retrieve. 

Thanks for the info! What do you mean by rotted weeds? Just last years dead cattails and bulrushes? Should I just be throwing trigs and jigs into the rushes and hopping them out? Chatterbaits around the edges? Will they hit top water? 

1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

Yeah basically the hard bottom spots anywhere.  I have found them on points, bluffs, flats, humps, around docks, at the boat launches, in pads, in reeds, on rip rap, on logs, on stumps, on old train tracks, on sand, near drains, near streams and I find them spawning north, south, east and west on every pond and lake I fish - I mean seriously - where do bass not spawn is what I'm starting to wonder!!!!

 

I am turning into a person who is of the mind that in the spring, if you throw a bait up shallow and it gets bitten nearly immediately, you're almost always agitating a fish guarding a bed or an area where babies/eggs are nearby being protected.

Thanks! So how are you finding the hard bitten areas, especially in weedy northern lakes? Are you looking for gaps in the pads and bullrushes? Will they be right in the middle of the new growth? I fish out of a sit-in style kayak so I’m very low to the water making it hard to see the bottom unless it’s right under me. Also what depth should I be focusing?

1 hour ago, August said:

What do you mean by rotted weeds?

 

Thick, slimy, decayed reeds that stand about an inch above the water, as the rest of the reed has fallen away.

 

1 hour ago, August said:

Just last years dead cattails and bulrushes?

 

I don't know their precise name. They are round and hollow. Maybe pencil reeds?

 

1 hour ago, August said:

Should I just be throwing trigs and jigs into the rushes and hopping them out?

 

I cast an Owner underspin with a Rapala Crush City or Keitech with the hook point tight to the body of the soft plastic. I start retrieving as soon as they hit the water because I'm casting into the slime of decay. You will feel a tick-tick-tick as the lure bumps into the reeds and then you will feel a bigger tick or tug as a bass takes it. However, I often don't even feel the bass take it. I'll just see the line moving sideways and I'll set the hook. 

 

1 hour ago, August said:

Chatterbaits around the edges?

 

Yes, some of the bass will be on the edge of the old reeds, but most of them are in it. Many of them are an inch from the shoreline too.

 

1 hour ago, August said:

Will they hit top water? 

 

Yeah, they will, but I'd rather not cast six hook points into that decaying jungle. However, if I see an open slot, for fun, I have dropped surface lures into those and caught bass that way too, but 97% of them come on the Owner underspin. FWIW, I've found the Rapala Crush City to be sturdier than the Keitechs. I've caught as many as 20 bass on a single Crush City. I also caught 24 on a T-rigged blue lizard the other day casting into the salad, but I prefer the fast retrieve of the Owner underspin because I cover more water with it. It's nearly weedproof too. 

 

One final thing: In the middle of the zombie reed fields, there are some woody shrubs and being lazy, I'll sometimes cast to the far side of a woody shrub and if I hook a bass, that's when life gets interesting. Remember base in the childhood games we played, that safe place where no one can get you? Well, lmbs consider those woody shrubs to be base.

 

3 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Yeah basically the hard bottom spots anywhere.  I have found them on points, bluffs, flats, humps, around docks, at the boat launches, in pads, in reeds, on rip rap, on logs, on stumps, on old train tracks, on sand, near drains, near streams and I find them spawning north, south, east and west on every pond and lake I fish

 

Pat, this made me laugh. It so Dr. Seussian. 

 

Pat can catch them on a box.

Pat can catch them in the rocks.

Pat can catch them in the rain.

Pat can catch them from a train.

 

And for those of you who don't follow Pat and his exploits, he does catch them everywhere and every way. 

So I don’t need to be afraid of fishing too shallow? Also what size crush city and owner do you use? 

Also would a swimjg work in the same areas? And do you ever look for them in the new growth? Sorry for all the questions lol

43 minutes ago, August said:

So I don’t need to be afraid of fishing too shallow? Also what size crush city and owner do you use? 

Also would a swimjg work in the same areas? And do you ever look for them in the new growth? Sorry for all the questions lol

 

You're asking the right gal. I've caught hundreds of them in the reeds the last few weeks (I know it might sound like I'm stretching here, but look at my trip reports and you'll see I really have caught that many.).

 

You can't fish too shallow. Like I said, I often cast within two or three inches of the shoreline and immediately hook up. However, sometimes I start retrieving about a second before the lure hits the water when I know the water is super skinny because the bottom is slimy from rotted weeds and I don't want to slime coat my lure because they won't hit it then. 

 

A swim jig is going to have a more exposed hook. I think it would work, but I also think you'll be picking weeds off it and you might not have the fearlessness I have with my Owner underspin with the hook point tight to the body of the Crush City. 

 

I like the four-inch-class soft plastics. The Keitechs are 4.3 inches. The Crush City plastics look a little shorter. 

 

As far as new growth, right now in Maine, there is new growth in the zombie weeds, so, yes, they're in the new growth too. I don't think I'm fishing the reeds as much as I'm fishing the bottom. @Glenn explained that the reeds are growing out of a bottom that's little firmer than the muds that lily pads prefer. The bass are prestaging on that firmer bottom.

 

Don't apologize for asking. You ask great questions. 

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

You're asking the right gal. I've caught hundreds of them in the reeds the last few weeks (I know it might sound like I'm stretching here, but look at my trip reports and you'll see I really have caught that many.).

 

You can't fish too shallow. Like I said, I often cast within two or three inches of the shoreline and immediately hook up. However, sometimes I start retrieving about a second before the lure hits the water when I know the water is super skinny because the bottom is slimy from rotted weeds and I don't want to slime coat my lure because they won't hit it then. 

 

A swim jig is going to have a more exposed hook. I think it would work, but I also think you'll be picking weeds off it and you might not have the fearlessness I have with my Owner underspin with the hook point tight to the body of the Crush City. 

 

I like the four-inch-class soft plastics. The Keitechs are 4.3 inches. The Crush City plastics look a little shorter. 

 

As far as new growth, right now in Maine, there is new growth in the zombie weeds, so, yes, they're in the new growth too. I don't think I'm fishing the reeds as much as I'm fishing the bottom. @Glenn explained that the reeds are growing out of a bottom that's little firmer than the muds that lily pads prefer. The bass are prestaging on that firmer bottom.

 

Don't apologize for asking. You ask great questions. 

Do you use the 3/0 or 5/0 underpins for 4in baits?

1 minute ago, August said:

Do you use the 3/0 or 5/0 underpins for 4in baits?

 

Both, but I lean toward smaller.