For most bass anglers, and depending on your where you live, sometime between February and May usually marks the arrival of the most thrilling season in bass fishing: the prespawn. This is the prime window when giant bass migrate from deeper water into the shallow areas to lay their eggs. Because the fish are aggressively gorging themselves to prep for the spawn—and the females are bursting with eggs—this is your absolute best shot at landing your heaviest bass of the year.
If you’re in the south, the prespawn is well over with by now, but if you’re in the north like me (Wisconsin), the prespawn is quickly approaching. And in the north, it doesn’t generally last very long so you have to take advantage when the time is right. Water temps start to heat up pretty quickly and they’ll be on beds in a hurry.
And while every fishery is unique, water temperature is your ultimate guide for locating these migrating fish:
The Mid-40s: Bass begin to wake up from their winter lethargy, moving out of deep holes to stage on secondary points.
The 50s: The migration pushes even shallower. Bass move closer to the spawning flats, stacking up heavily on transitional cover like laydowns, large boulders, old lily pad stems, and boat docks.
Focus your search on shallow, muddy bays and the dense, weedy areas that will eventually turn into thick summer grass mats.
The “Standard” Arsenal
When targeting prespawn largemouth, there is a strong, industry-wide consensus on what to throw. Walk the docks of any boat ramp, and you will see the exact same baits tied up on every front deck:
- Chatterbaits
- Lipless and squarebill crankbaits
- Suspending jerkbaits
Those classic baits are proven producers, am I’m definitely throwing them regularly (I had a great Chatterbait bite going on earlier this week) but what happens when the bite dies? When the weather is tough? When you’re on a highly pressured or gin clear lake? When you are fishing a busy lake and the bass have already seen a hundred Chatterbaits by noon, you have to show them something completely different.
If the standard lineup isn’t getting it done, here are a few overlooked and highly underrated prespawn baits that can trigger a strike when nothing else will.
1. Swing Head
A swing head jig tends to be more of a summer bait, but it can be such an underrated prespawn bait, and reason being is that you can fish it just like you would a crankbait, banging it along the bottom on rocky points, gravel transitions, shell beds, chunk rock banks, or river channel swings. A swing head jig perfectly imitates a crawfish or baitfish scurrying along the bottom, and its free-swinging action creates a ton of side-to-side movement that can generate reaction strikes. When everyone on your lake is cranking, give this a try and you’ll catch fish… I promise. And rather than a craw, try and pair it up with paddle tail and scoot it along the bottom slowly and you’ll get bites.
Another sneaky move, especially up north, is to rip the skirt off a football jig and get a similar effect, but you’ll also have a weed guard that will help it come through cover better. It can be a really good move when you want to slow roll a swimbait across the bottom but don’t want it to get hung up on weeds or pad stems, and the football shape can give you a nice side-to-side wobble. I like tungsten for a little extra sensitivity, but lead will work too.
Xzone Tungsten Swing Football Head Jig Head 1/2 ounce – $6.99
Rapala Crush City The Mayor Swimbait – $6.99
Colors: Gizzard Shad, Green Pumpkin Disco, Black Blue
2. Underspin
In the same way that a swing head or an unskirted football jig can be creeped along the bottom and mimic a similar approach to a crankbait, an underspin can be a great option when the Chatterbait or a spinnerbait is just a little too much for finnicky fish. Of course, I’m always gonna have a Chatterbait rigged up during the prespawn, probably 2 of them, but if it’s not producing and the conditions seem right, I try and downsize with an underspin. I really like the Great Lakes Finesse Sneaky Underspin, which was primarily designed for smallmouth, but will catch largies too.
Great Lakes Finesse Sneaky Underspin – $6.99
Size: 3/16
Great Lakes Finesse Dropkick Shad – $6.99
Colors: Green Pumpkin Shad, Pro Blue Pearl Red, Ayu
3. Hair Jigs
Up north here in Wisconsin hair jigs are a hammer for smallmouth, but I catch a lot of prespawn largemouth on them too once they get up and roam the shallow flats. You really need a long, light spinning rod to effectively cast such a light lure, but the subtle presentation is hard to match. They fall slowly and naturally, like a dying baitfish or a leech,
Great Lakes Finesse Marabou Jig – $6.99
Colors: Black, Black and Olive
4. Ned Rig
You really can’t go wrong with a Ned rig anytime of year, and it’s especially powerful for smallmouth in the prespawn, but it’s a big sleeper for largemouth too. Your best chance of success is earlier in the prespawn with colder, clearer water. You’re going to want to target rocky bottoms, weed edges, and secondary points. It’s particularly effective in clear or pressured waters where a more subtle presentation can entice those finnicky bass. But regardless of time or place, when you can’t get a bite, pick up a Ned rig.
VMC Swingin Ned Rig Jig – 1/8th – $5.99
Rapala Crush City Salted Ned Roll – $6.99
Colors: Green Pumpkin Blue, Baby Bass, Black
5. Buzzbait
The buzzbait is one that most people don’t pull out until after the spawn, but it can actually be pretty effective in the prespawn if the fish are staging up really shallow and you have some color on the water. Bonus points if you have warming and rising water. Plus, it is really fun to throw, and it catches some of the biggest fish in the lake. I generally like a white buzzbait in dirtier water (which is what you want in the prespawn), and a black in clearer water, and most of the time I don’t use a skirt… just throw a Zoom Horny Toad on the back.
Berkley Toad Riveter Buzzbait – $9.99
Colors: Black, White
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