As the days get longer and Old Man Winter finally begins to loosen his grip on us, I’ve had so much success targeting secondary cover for big bass. The bass know it’s time to start staging for their annual spawn and each day they’re coming to the shallows by the hundreds. To make it even more fun, they’re fat and they’re the dumbest they’ll be all year when they make that initial push.
There’s one big problem with that around my area, however. Every single fisherman on the planet is on the water this time of year. It’s not quite as bad on the weekdays but my gosh, you could hardly park a tricycle at the boat ramp on the weekends. This increased fishing pressure results in a pretty quick decline in shallow bass fishing action after a week or two. These bass see every bait known to mankind in that small window and they get pretty wise to our tricks in a hurry.
I make an earnest attempt to avoid clichés in my articles but I have to say this: Big bass don’t get big by being dumb. When they sense all the fishing pressure and hear all that racket going on around them, I’m a firm believer that they can and will vacate those shallows and opt for secondary cover instead.
This is something I strongly suggest you try during the prespawn and even the spawn in your area. When the water temperatures are between 54 and 70 degrees, you can catch the biggest bass of your life running this pattern.
I’ll explain exactly what I’m talking about so you can unlock this special pattern on your local fisheries.