I do not have much experience fishing for bass during pre-spawn and early spring.

Could you recommend the best lures and techniques.

Thanks

I don't have a lot of experience either, as last year was the first year we could legally fish for bass that early. I did very well on Chatterbait-style lures, shallow crankbaits, and a curly tail grub on a jighead with a jig spinner attached.

I'll use shallow running crankbaits or a small spinnerbait. Also Double Curly Tailed grubs work good. My fav colors for the grubs are: Chart. and White. Creature baits like zoom baby brush hog and the Berkley version of that work well too.

Pre-Spawn is not my strongest time.

8-)

This is also my first year fishing pre-spawn and have had some luck with crankbaits (Manns Baby -1, Rapala SSR's and Rat-L-Traps).  I don't know if this will help in your case but it has allowed me to pull in quite a few 3lb LMBs.

A lot depends on what's "early".  Here in the upper midwest we start fishing in the beginning of April with water temps around 40-50.  I have found that small 1/8 oz. finesse jig's with pork work great, however a good hair jig with pork is probably the best as is a weightless senko either t rigged or wacky  rigged.  Also, lipless crank baits are also keep when the water temps increase throughout the day.  Remember that this time of year that noon is typically better than the beginning of the day like other times of year as warmer water temps are helping not hurting you throughout the course of the day.  I typically find that slow and less action works the best such as the senko and the tight wiggle of the lipless crank baits.  I have however had some good luck on suspending jerk baits and particularly the LC Pointer's as well as small spinnerbaits with willows to produce less vibration even in the typical stained to dirty water that I fish on the upper Mississippi River.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Early Pre-Spawn:

Individuals or groups of bass begin making short reconnaissance trips into coves. Only when the water temperature is stable for a couple of days will any appreciable number of bass remain for long. Look for bass on main lake and secondary points

Mid Pre-Spawn:

Bass leave deep water drop-offs and enter protected coves; the majority of these fish will be males. The weather and water temperatures will still be unstable. Look for bass on feeding flats adjacent to deeper water.

Pre-Spawn:

Weather and water temperatures have became stable and large fluctuations of bass are now present in shallow water. Start looking for a solid bottom, Bass avoids soft, muck bottoms; instead they prefer to spawn on hard sandy bottoms, gravel or rocky banks, large boulders or even a fallen log or lily pad root.

Keep in mind pre-spawn bass will be looking to feed before they start looking to spawn so just about any lure will work; I suggest fishing towards your strengths.

Once they are moving up and getting ready to spawn I have alot of luck with faster moving baits like crankbaits, spinnerbiats and stuff like that. The bass start to feed alot and they start chasing lures.

last year i did really good on chatterbaits in the prespawn for smallies  for largemouth i use jerkbaits and did ok   im going to be fishing the prespawn alot this year so i hope i can figure it out  

rattle traps, spinnerbaits, and manns crankbaits for early spring and nothing beats a smithwick rattlin rogue for spring time when the water heats up a little bit

Early Pre-Spawn:

Individuals or groups of bass begin making short reconnaissance trips into coves. Only when the water temperature is stable for a couple of days will any appreciable number of bass remain for long. Look for bass on main lake and secondary points

Mid Pre-Spawn:

Bass leave deep water drop-offs and enter protected coves; the majority of these fish will be males. The weather and water temperatures will still be unstable. Look for bass on feeding flats adjacent to deeper water.

Pre-Spawn:

Weather and water temperatures have became stable and large fluctuations of bass are now present in shallow water. Start looking for a solid bottom, Bass avoids soft, muck bottoms; instead they prefer to spawn on hard sandy bottoms, gravel or rocky banks, large boulders or even a fallen log or lily pad root.

Keep in mind pre-spawn bass will be looking to feed before they start looking to spawn so just about any lure will work; I suggest fishing towards your strengths.

Thanks for the great info Catt!