| Going toe to toe with a bunch of pole bending line stretching
early season bass is the best way to get over winter withdrawals.
With all of the new plastic and hard baits and all of those
bass waiting to be fooled it’s time to have some real
fun. Although it won’t always be easy, there’s
almost always a way to get ‘er done.
Flats hold the secrets to finding early season bass and includes
most of the pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn periods. Shallow
flats in particular, as they warm up fast and attract numbers
of active smallmouth and largemouth bass. Team Crestliner
member and pro fisherman John Janousek of Nisswa Minnesota
spends most of the early season working thin water bass; “Shallow
flats can hold fish all year long but the early season is
prime time. Basically here in the Midwest the shallower flats
include the area from the inside weedline to shore. Bass will
move up and in as soon as it starts to warm up and they can
be found actively feeding when the conditions are right. Steady
weather and calm conditions are what you’re really looking
for and is when you can find big numbers of aggressive fish
that will chase down and inhale plastics, cranks, and even
topwater lures.”
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Janousek worked overlooked water to find this nice
early season bass.
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John’s techniques include a real mixed
bag and he has something for every condition including
from the best to the worst. The best includes nice long
warming trends which can super charge shallow water bass
and is the perfect time to be on the move looking for
fish; “Good search baits include a half ounce Rattle
Trap or a ½ ounce Northland Tackle Reed-Runner
Spinnerbait. They can be worked quickly allowing you to
cover some ground and find the biters. They’re also
pretty well fool proof and about all you have to do is
throw them out and reel ‘em back in.” The
new Pro-Series Reed-Runners have a bend resistant stainless
frame and come in some super hot colors including Bluegill
and Blood Minnow, and are going to make it awful tough
for bass to resist. “Jerkbaits can also be effective
when you’re looking for fish including the new X-Rap
Subwalk. The Subwalk is designed to be worked back and
forth like a regular jerkbait but does it below the surface.
Although plastic tubes are associated with a slower more
methodical presentation I’ve found that they can
be extremely effective when worked up off the bottom like
a jerkbait. |
With a Slurpies Baifish Tube rigged on a 1/8oz Inner-Tube
Jig you can work the bait with your rod tip down and use a
short snap, reel, snap, reel, technique and keep the tube
off the bottom.”
Good jerkbait gear includes bait casting rods like St. Croix’s
6’6” LTBC66MF Legend Tournament series which has
the right action and length for working smaller baits. You
can also get away with using lighter line like ten pound test
Low-Vis green Trilene Maxx, if you don’t have to deal
with a lot of heavy cover.
Topwater lures can also help you find fish quickly and is
John’s favorite way to load the boat: “There’s
nothing more fun that catching big fish on topwater baits
and are always a good possibility. Buzzbaits are best when
the fish are really turned on and can be fished nice and quick.
Baits like the Skitter Prop are designed to be worked at a
slower pace and a twitch, pause, twitch, pause, technique
is usually most effective.”
When it’s time to slow down like after the passing of
a cold front John will stay shallow but adjust his presentation
accordingly. “Then it’s time to slow things way
down and use more plastics including Texas rigged worms, shaky
head worms (formerly known as the jig worm), and weightless
do-nothing baits. When things get tough I’ll use a lot
of plastic and work the baits dead slow. One of my best tough
bite tactics is to rig a Slurpies Dip-Stick Worm on a 3/0
exposed hook and cast it out and just let it sit, and let
it sit, and let it sit. It can drive you nuts and requires
a lot of patience but just might be the only way to get hooked
up.”
Although the most logical place to throw a bait is at some
type of cover; don’t overlook the middle of a flat,
even if you can see the bottom and can’t see any fish.
“Bass aren’t always that easy to pick out, even
in crystal clear water. They’ll come from what seems
like out of nowhere and suck in a lure. Most anglers will
look right past a nice clean flat with “no fish”
and those fish receive little pressure and are largely overlooked.”
The early season can be feast or famine but with the right
gear used in the right places you shouldn’t have to
starve. And when it’s good the action can be incredible
and are the days you absolutely live for. See you on the water.
Ron Anlauf
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