7 Best Lures For Spring Bass Fishing

Spring Bass Fishing
In order to be successful at bass fishing in Spring, here are the seven most productive Spring bass lures that will help catch fish at all depths this time of year.

The Baits: 

Booyah Boo Jig:  https://bit.ly/2Of9ZV5

RageTail Space Monkey: https://bit.ly/3txmfAb

Booyah One Knocker: https://bit.ly/3rooZhy

Rat-L-Trap: https://bit.ly/3jCigOk

Yum Dinger: https://bit.ly/3cMrqXo

Yamamoto Senko: https://bit.ly/3tz4CjO

Gamakatsu 2/0 EWG Hook: https://bit.ly/2YM2gjn

Hank Paker Classic 3/4oz Spinnerbait: https://bit.ly/2Lxo9Qh

Booyah Blade Double Willow Spinnerbait: https://bit.ly/3jpNDeU

Zoom Split Tail Bait Trailer: https://bit.ly/36VLqTx

Spro Bronzeye Frog: https://bit.ly/3aLL7vQ

Fish Lab Frog: https://bit.ly/3p7pLOs

RageTail Rage Toad: https://bit.ly/2MXP2NG

Gamakatsu Keel Weighted Superline Spring Hook: https://bit.ly/3rvIFjx

Dry Creek Tube Bait: https://bit.ly/3cVddr8

Trokar Tube Hook: https://bit.ly/3tCydsj

Strike King Tungsten Worm Weights: https://bit.ly/3oNDDNG

Punch Stops/Bobber Stoppers: https://bit.ly/36JGv8g

"Splitshot" (mojo) style weights: https://bit.ly/36Sab36

Finesse Lead Drop Shot Weights: https://bit.ly/3jnGlrZ

The Gear: 

St. Croix Victory 7’ 1” Medium-Heavy, Fast Action Rod: http://bit.ly/2QqUSJh   

Seaguar Smackdown Braid Line: https://bit.ly/36NGSOV

Seaguar Abrazx Fishing Line: https://bit.ly/2YMCtYj

Daiwa Tatula SV TWS Casting Reel: http://bit.ly/3f1y39c

Seaguar Invizx Fluorocarbon Fishing Line: https://bit.ly/39S5QPa

St. Croix Victory Casting Rod 7'4" Hvy/Fast: http://bit.ly/2QqUSJh

Seaguar TATSU Fluorocarbon Fishing Line: https://bit.ly/39SAGHl

7’ 2” Medium Power Crankbait rod: https://bit.ly/2Ou8X7K

6’ 8” Okuma EVX Moderate-Fast, Fast Action Rod: http://bit.ly/2OJd1l7

St. Croix Victory 7’1” Med/Fast Spinning Rod: https://bit.ly/2O1z99W

Simms Apparel Worn In This Video:

Simms Challenger Insulated Bibs and Jacket https://bit.ly/2T0xErn

Mens Challenger Hoody: https://bit.ly/2T3dWeI

Men’s Tricomp Cooling Shirt https://bit.ly/2FA2CDA

Women’s Bugstopper Tee https://bit.ly/3k6ElnK

BassResource may receive a portion of revenues if you make a purchase using a link above.

Transcript

Glenn: There we go.

Keri: Hey, fishy, fishy. We got a fishy, we got a fishy, we got a fishy. We got a fishy.

Glenn: There we go. There we go. All right. I'll let you go. Hey folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com. And today, I wanna talk to you about spring fishing. Spring is kind of a hard time to fish sometimes because occasionally, it's like the fish are gonna hit anything. You know, you can throw a paper clip out there and they're gonna hit it. Other times, they don't wanna bite anything. And other times, you can't even find them. You know, they're here today, gone tomorrow. So what to throw, what to throw, what to throw? It can be confusing trying to figure out what bait to throw.

So I put together this collection of seven baits that work throughout the entire season. These are my go-to baits that if I'm struggling to catch fish, or if I just wanna catch a bunch of fish, depending on the, you know, the disposition of the fish, these are the baits that I use. These are my confidence baits. So listen up, okay?

So, let's start right away with the jig. The jig is a kind of a universal lure. I can use it throughout the whole season. But I like the jig during the spring because you can fish it all the way deep, you can fish it completely shallow, and you can fish it at different speeds, plus it's available in different head configurations, different sizes, and different colors.

Okay, cool. It's universal. However, that actually adds confusion again because there's a lotta choices, right, so I narrowed it down. Here it is. In the early spring, when the fish are deep, then that's what I'm targeting things such as drop-offs and steep points, steep banks, creek channels, sunken humps, in water that's deeper than 20 feet deep that are generally positioned in the entrances of those bays and coves, where the fish are gonna end up spawning. And that's where the fish are gonna stop, and stack up, and get ready to stage before they move shallow. So those are the places I'm gonna target.

And I'll target with a jig that's, you know, half ounce to three-quarter rounds jig, football head jig, specifically. That deep, typically, there isn't any weeds to get wrapped around the head of the jig, so a football head jig's really good. And I don't really care about having a slow fall. I wanna get it on the bottom and maintain contact with the bottom, hence the heavier jig.

What I'm doing here is dragging it slowly on the bottom, just very, very... just a slow drag. And what happens is that the football head jig just kinda wobbles back and forth, just like this. And so it looks like a little crawdad crawling on the bottom, a little protein snack for the fish that are getting ready to eat up for the spawn. I give it pauses in between, and then slowly crawl it again, just a steady... that's about it.

As the water warms up and the fish move up shallower, then I'll move to a three-eighth ounce jig. Here, I'm using an Arkie style head or a weedless jig, you know, weed jig, which is a cone shape jig. And I'll throw that into all available cover that I can find. I like to target anything you can see, so it could be lay downs, that could be rocks, some scattered rocks, chunk rocks, could be stumps, even docks are really good. If you have an Arkie jig on it, you can skip a jig up underneath a dock really well. All those areas where the fish are gonna be, just getting ready for the spawn. So they'll be either right on the drops, next to the flats, or on the flats in that cover. And especially if a front's come through, which often happens in the spring, that's when a jig really shines, because I can flip and pitch it right into that cover. Or if you get a lotta rain and the water levels rise, and it floods some of the shoreline shrubs and bushes and timber, man, a jig is a really good way to pull them out of that cover. So that's when I started flipping and pitching.

For the spawn, I'll take that jig and I like to swim it over the top of the bed. Sometimes, it gets a strike, just by a reaction strike, bringing it over the top of the bed, or I'll drag it over, and I like to hop it through the bed. And you gotta be real careful when you do that. If there are eggs on the bed, I prefer not to do that because I don't wanna disturb the nest, and I don't wanna damage any of the eggs. But if they haven't laid eggs yet, then bringing it across the bed like that, sometimes it... you know, crawdads is a natural predator, and bass will strike it.

I only ask that if you do catch fish off beds that you release them right away, so they can finish the spawn and do their thing so they can have a productive spawn.

Following the spawn, post-spawn, jig again, same thing in those flats where they were at before, any available cover, any of the drops adjacent to flats, you find any kinda flooded bushes, trees, weeds, things like that, it's a great place to throw a jig.

As for colors, I typically stay to the browns and the green hues. I really don't change too much other than that. Unless I get real muddy water, and then I'll use a black and chartreuse jig. But typically, it's a brown color or a green pumpkin-type color jig, that's what I use the most.

My gear tends to change a little bit. When I'm fishing deeper, in the early part of the spring, here, I'm using a seven-foot medium heavy rod, fast action. And I'm using AbrazX, Seaguar Fluorocarbon AbrazX line, 20-pound test. I do that because most of the time, I'm pulling it over rocks. And fluorocarbon does a better job, as far as abrasion resistance, than braid. So I like to use AbrazX. It's geared for this kinda stuff. It's a perfect combination. And I use it on a reel that's, like, a 7.3:1 reel. The gear ratio doesn't really matter because I'm fishing it really slow.

Now, as the spring progresses, and I'm now fishing in shallow, and flipping and pitching, now, I'm using a heavier, stouter rod and gear. I'm using the 7'2 to 7'4-foot heavy power rod, with a fast action tip. I'm spooling it up with 50-pound Seaguar Smackdown Braid, with a 7.3:1 gear ratio. Sometimes, I'll knock it down to a 6:8 or a 6:6 gear ratio for really going into heavy cover, because I wanna wrench those fish out, so I want a lower gear ratio. But I'm doing a lotta flipping and pitching in all kinds of cover, so that's when I bring out that heavy gear and the heavy braid. And that's about it. That's a perfect setup, and those are the jigs.

Let's move on to the next bait. And that is a lipless crankbait. I love fishing lipless crankbaits in the spring. Something about them, that tight wiggle and that rattling action, the fish just key on during this time of the year, so it's an excellent time to use it. But also, the fish are on the move here. They're moving from shallow to deep, or deep to shallow water, so you gotta have a search bait handy to be able to find those fish. And a rattling lipless crankbait, that's the ticket.

Now, what I do early in the season is I'm throwing a heavier one. I'm throwing a three-quarter ounce rattling crankbait. And I like to get that down deep in the same areas when I was targeting the jig. And I wanna pull it along there, keep it towards the bottom.

So, instead of holding the rod up and cranking it, like you normally do a crankbait, here, I'm holding it to the side and I do a sweeping action. And I pause, and I reel up, and I sweep again, okay? That keeps the bait down on the bottom. But also, when you pause it, it flutters down. It's got this wiggle action as it falls, and that often elicits a strike. So it's a great way to fish those deep water structure areas early in the season.

As the season progressed, now, I like to take a half-ounce bait, move up a little bit lighter, and I'm paralleling weed lines, I'm paralleling creek channels, I'm paralleling the shoreline. That works really well, as well as covering the flats. Those fish get up on the flats, getting closer to the spawn, and I just like to cover flats with this bait, especially over weedy flats that may have an occasional stump or a rock in the middle of it, rock pile or laydown.

During the spawn, I'll bring it over the tops of beds. And sometimes, you can get a reaction strike on that, especially with smallmouth. If you bring it right over the top of a smallmouth bed, a lot of times, they'll strike it right away outta reaction.

Then in the post-spawn, again, cover those flats, lots of fan casting, just like you did during the pre-spawn, and you can have yourself a heyday with this, because this fish start to get really aggressive and wanna feed up after, you know, recovering after the spawn, so it can be a really good bait to throw.

As for colors, typically, well, if I were to pick one color for the entire season, it'd be red. A red lipless crankbait, man, it's hard to beat. I don't know what it is, but these fish love red lipless crankbaits. So if I was gonna pick one color, this is gonna be it.

However, I do change it up based upon water clarity. Typically, if the water is really clear, then I like to go with natural color baits. So here, I'm using like a crawdad color or bream, you know, bluegill bream kinda pattern, or perch, something like that. But natural color baits is what I wanna use when the water is clear. If there's a little bit of stain to it, then I'll go with a gold color bait like that, okay? That works really well if you got...the water's a little bit of color to it, less than three feet visibility or so, then that works really well, up to eight feet visibility, actually, three to eight. I meant to say three to eight. And then when the water is really muddy, say for example, you've had a lotta rains come through and that water dirties up, then I throw some chartreuse in it. So baits like this work really well when you got that chocolate milk kinda color. That's what I throw.

As for the gear, I'm using the same gear throughout the entire season, really. I'm using a crankbait rod. So, it's a seven-foot, or a 7'2-foot, yeah. Seven-foot, two inch, a moderate power rod, and I have that paired up with 12-pound InvizX fluorocarbon line. Usually, when I'm fishing real shallow, I got the InvizX fluorocarbon line, and when I'm fishing really deep, I'll use Tatsu, typically because the Tatsu line is more limber, I can cast further, and it allows me to get that bait way out there and get it down deeper. But you can just use InvizX if you wanna cast really well, just 12-pound works fine. If you're fishing around a lot of heavy cover, a lot of stumps and rocks and things like that, then I might bump that up and maybe use 15 to 17-pound line. But typically, a 12-pound works really well. And the reel is a faster gear ratio, 7.9:1 gear ratio. So, those are my lipless crankbaits.

Now, the next bait that I like to use is a Senko, you know, a soft plastic stick bait. That is really good in the spring, especially when the fish are in a neutral to negative feeding mode, that's when this bait really shines. Early in the season, I'm fishing, again, those same spots, those deep points, those rock bluffs, those drop-offs, those steep banks, creek channels, humps, things like that, that are near the entrances of those bays.

And here, I'm using light gear. I wanna put it on a split shot rig. And I got two feet of line behind it, because what I want is the action of that bait falling. So I give it a lotta extra line there, two feet, sometimes longer. I don't want that weight to be pulling down on the bait here, I want it to fall naturally. So I just use a small lift and drop action. What I mean by small, I'm not lifting it up six feet, I'm lifting it up two or three feet and dropping it again, and just letting it flutter down on its own.

I'm using a medium power seven-foot spinning rod, with six-pound Tatsu line, fluorocarbon line, real light stuff. By the way, quick little tip, you can also throw this on a drop shot rig. Okay, Senko, little three-inch Senko on a drop shot rig can be really deadly, if the fish really are reluctant to bite, say a big front came through. Works really well.

Now, as the temperatures warm up and the fish start to move shallow, then I'll change it all up. Now, I'm throwing a four to five-inch Senko with a 2/0 extra wide gap Gamakatsu hook, thin wire hook, and I'm throwing it around every kind of visible cover I can, right? You wanna throw it at those bushes, and at those lay-downs, at the stumps, the rocks, and the edges and drops of flats, skip it up under docks. This can be really productive if the fish are really buried up in the weeds. You can fish it right along the edge of those and entice them out, that nice subtle, just... it's a weightless rig. I'm not putting any weights on it, so it just has this slow, enticing horizontal fall to it. And that gets a lot of reluctant bass to bite. So it can be a real killer technique.

During the spawn, again, I like to drift it up over the top of those beds and just let it slowly settle right down on the bed, and then lift it back up. A lot of times, you do that multiple repeated casts, bass are gonna go after and nail it. They're gonna get tired of that thing bugging them. And then in the post-spawn, this can be really productive. Again, when they get up underneath those docks or they get up against some of that cover or those wide open flats, you just drift it across those flats. As for colors, I tend to use green pumpkin all the time. If I get to use one color of a Senko, it would be green pumpkin. The only time really I change that color is if the water's really muddied up and dirty, then I'll go to a June bug color. Or if the water is super clear, then I might go to a smoke color with some pepper flake in it. But 80%, 85% of the time, you know, it's green pumpkin. It works so well. I know they make over 100 colors in this bait, but you don't need to go too hog-wild with colors.

And as far as gearing, now, I told you about the spinning outfit when I'm fishing deep, but when I'm fishing up in those shallow areas, now, I'm using a 6'10 medium power rod, fast action tip. Pair with that, I've got 15-pound InvizX fluorocarbon line. And I got that for a couple reasons. A little bit more limber line rod, because it's a lighter lure, it's easier to cast with the limber rod, plus, I've got that thin wire hook on it, so I don't need a lotta backbone to set the hook. Actually, I want a little bit of give, so the fish doesn't rip that hook out of his mouth. I'm using InvizX fluorocarbon line, again, because that line, it falls about the same rate as the bait. So it doesn't impede the action of the bait, and it's less visible to the fish. It's a slow presentation. You don't wanna give them a whole lotta time to examine things. But if they are examining it, I really don't want them to focus on that line, so I'm not using braid, I'm using this InvizX. And that's it. That's it for Senkos. That's a great bait to use throughout all of spring.

So, let's move to the next bait. That is a spinnerbait. I like to use spinnerbaits a lot. I've been throwing them for decades now, as one of my go-to baits, my confidence bait. I'm telling you guys, I talk to a lotta guys who don't have a lotta confidence in spinnerbaits, don't catch a lotta fish on it. And you can catch fish on spinnerbaits year around. But if there's ever a prime time to throw a spinnerbait, it's right now, in the spring. That's the best time to throw it. So if you wanna get some confidence in this bait, and you wanna learn how to use it, now is the time, break it out, tie it on, okay? Let me tell you how to use it.

In the early spring, I'm fishing deep in the same areas I was targeting with the other baits, here, I wanna get it down deep. So I'm using a three-quarter ounce bait with a Colorado blade on it, and getting it down 20-plus feet deep. And here, I'm just slowly cranking along the bottom, just slowly turning that handle. Just keep doing it that way. You just feel that big Colorado blade, just thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thumping along on your rod tip, and that's what the fish key on.

The thing is, you gotta be awake when you're fishing it this way, because a lot of times, the bite is subtle. They don't come crashing in and let you know they've got it, especially when it's that far out, that deep. Here, that thump, thump, thump might stop, or you're feeling a thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, and it changes to a thud, thud, thud. Okay, it's a subtle difference, or the cadence of that, there'll be a little hiccup. It just changed...thump, thump, thump, thump...thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, right? Just a little thing like that, that could indicate that a fish has it. So pay attention, don't fall asleep with this bite. And a lotta people miss bites that way. So pay close attention when you're fishing it this deep, and you'll catch a lot more fish.

Now, as the spring progresses, and the fish...it's warming up, the fish are coming up shallow, now, I'll fish that same three-quarter ounce bait. But now, I'm using double Indiana blades on it. That is ideal for the spring. That's my go-to bait right there. And I like to cover a lotta water with it. Now, if I wanna cover big flats, just like with the lipless crankbaits and I need to connect with fish, I'm using a search bait, then I'll fan cast it across flats, trying to connect with them. Here, I just wanna keep it over the top of those weeds, but sometimes, you can bring it back really fast and get a bulge under the surface. And sometimes, that elicits a strike, draws them out of those weeds. They don't have much time to think about it when it's moving that quick, so they just react.

But often, I like to fish it around things that I can see. So I'm throwing it right along laydowns, I'm throwing around stumps, around rocks, docks, and especially, when you get a heavy rain, and the water rises, and it floods that shoreline, man, oh man, that is prime time for spinnerbaits. Here, I'm target casting, like to get it right up against the tree, get it right up against the stump, throw it right into that shrub, get it into that cover. It's short-cast pinpoint accuracy, great way to fish a spinnerbait.

Now, during the spawn, it's very similar to those lipless crankbaits, bring it over the top of those beds, and you can get a reaction strike the first cast or two if you bring it right over it, especially with a smallmouth, will come up and nail it, or they're at least show themselves. Sometimes, you're not sure where the beds are. It's a good way to get those bass to rise up and look at it. Now you know there's a bed there and then you can go after it with a different bait. So it's a great search-type bait to use during the spawn.

During the post-spawn, again, fish those flats the same way I just mentioned earlier for the pre-spawn. You fish it the same manner during the post-spawn.

As for colors, I use white with a white trailer, twin-tail trailer, pretty much all the time. That's my primary go-to color, with the gold blades. There you go. That's my main combination. Now, if the water gets really muddy, then I might put on a chartreuse trailer and/or a white chartreuse skirt, give it a little more color to it. And if the water's really clear, then I'll switch up those Indiana blades and put on a double willow leaf, silver color, because here, I just want more flash and more attraction that way than I do need any kind of vibration to it. And that's it. I don't have any other colors or types of spinnerbaits in my box.

As for rods, it's the same rod and reel and setup I'm using throughout the entire season. That is a seven-foot, medium heavy fast action rod, paired with 15-pound InvisX fluorocarbon line, with a 7.9:1 gear ratio reel. Same thing throughout the entire season.

All right. So, let's move on. Next one I like to throw is a frog, a hollow body frog. Well, now, wait a minute, what about during the early spring when the fish are deep? How the heck does a hollow body frog work, Glenn? Well, it's one of my secret little baits.

One of the things you gotta keep in mind, during the early, particularly the early spring of the season here, you sometimes get those warming days, kind of a false spring, I like to call it, where you get three or four nice days, steady warm temperatures. What happens during that time is even though it's really early in the season and you still think a lotta fish are deep, those fish will rise up, they'll come up shallow. Why? Because the bait fish do. The bait fish seek warmer temperatures, and the bass will follow. So you get a couple of nice days of warm weather, and those fish will come up shallow, and that's when they're susceptible to a frog. So keep one tied on. I've caught fish off frogs in water temps of below 50 degrees, because you pay attention to those trends and you need to capitalize on it.

Now, you don't fish it like you normally do in the summertime, so you gotta fish it slow. Subtle twitches. Just a little subtle twitch or two, and just let it sit, and let the rings dissipate, give it some slackline, let sit it on its own, then give it another little twitch. You're not making a big ruckus here. The fish, when they come up shallow, first part of the season, are skittish. And you make a lotta noise with this bait and you're just gonna spook them. So, the subtle approach is key to that, but you can get them on those hollow body frogs doing it this time of year. You'd be surprised how many you can catch.

And I still keep that bait tied on throughout the entire spring. I catch fish on frogs in the low 50s, when the water temperature's in the low 50s, all the way through post-spawn. All's I do is I change the way that I'm fishing it. Early in the season, I'm not twitching it as hard and I'm leaving longer pauses in between those twitches. By the time I get to post-spawn, I'm moving it really quick, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, barely even a pause in between, every once in a while, just to give it a little hiccup in it.

As for colors, well, basically, a natural-looking color like this one, okay? This is a FishLabs frog, by the way. But, you know, notice it's got that brown color. And it looks like a, you know, natural color frog. I like the white belly to it. So, typically with me, any color that looks like a frog that's got, you know, the green or the brown hues, with a white belly, that's good. That's what I stick with.

And as for gear, I'm using the same gear throughout the season. Here, I'm using my frogging outfit. So, I'm using a 7'4 to 7'6 heavy power rod, with a fast action tip, and I'm spooling that up with 50-pound Seaguar Smackdown Braid, on a 7.9:1 gear ratio reel. And that is golden.

Man, you can throw that frog over any kinda cover, any kinda structure, you throw it around stumpy fields, you can put it along docks, you can give it over weeds, flooded timber bushes, any like that, you get a monster bass on, and the first thing they do, they grab it and dive right back down in those weeds or wrap it around, you know, dock post or around a tree or something. You need that strong, stout gear to be able to get them out. So that's what I use throughout the entire season. Easy peasy.

Now, the next lure that I like to use is a toad. Now, a lot of people like to categorize frogs and toads the same way. And I do too, sometimes. I sometimes categorize similar. But the difference is with a solid body toad is that they sink. And they've got these big, you know, these legs on them that flap around, make a lotta vibration and noise. So use those characteristics to your advantage.

Typically what I do is I rig them up like this. I put them on a keel-weighted hook that's got a screw lock in the front. Here, this is a quarter-ounce hook here that I'm using, just rig it weedless. And what I do early in the season is I literally fish it in the same places in the same way that I do like I do a jig.

Just crawl it on the bottom, barely moving it, with some long pauses in between. The difference here is that this is a bulkier bait. And the legs have a little bit of movement to it. So every once a while, I give it a little pop, a little twitch, just to get those legs to flutter a little bit, along with dragging it along.

And just that little different look is sometimes all it takes is to get those fish to bite. When everybody else around you is throwing jigs, this is a good substitute for it, and works really well on those fish that are in those deep structure areas, staging up, getting ready for the spawn.

But as the season progresses and the fish move up shallower, now you've got two different ways you can fish it. One of them is, I like to fish it just under the surface, and swimming along over the tops of weeds, swimming along the edges of channels, swimming along banks, and steep banks, along those drop-offs, along those flats, when it drops off to deeper water, weed lines, things like that, just under the surface. And even as a search bait, you can go across those big flats and swim it under the surface, right over those weeds. And a lotta times, you get a bite with that.

But also, another way that I fish it is like I do with a jig. I literally flip and pitch this in the same kinda cover where I'm pitching and flipping jigs. In that shallow cover, when the water gets, you know, rises, and it floods those bushes and those reeds and all that, flip that toad in there, just the same way you do a jig, again, rigged the same way, with that keel-weighted hook. But this is a bulkier bait, and it has a slower fall with those legs that are flapping as it falls. And a lot of times, the bigger fish will go after it that way, especially, again, if a lot of people around you are throwing jigs, use this as a substitute, and you can catch a lot more fish that way.

During the spawn, again, bring it over the tops of their heads, just like you would with a spinnerbait, or a lipless crankbait. And then during the post-pawn, this is when it really shines.

Now, it is toad time. Because here, I'll bring it on the surface. I like to bring it around quick enough where the legs are gurgling and kicking along the surface, just giving a nice little bubbly action. You want a bubble trail behind it, just gurgling along. Just a straight cast and retrieve, you don't need to do anything special. Sometimes, I'll give it a little pop and twitch, just to give it a little bit of different erratic action. But cast it out there and just cover water, and let it gurgle, and bring it alongside those docks, bring it around those stumps, and those laydowns, those types of things, and this bait does surprisingly well in the post-spawn. So, guys, don't wait to break out toads and frogs until the summer. They work really well during the springtime. I promise you.

Okay, the next bait that I like to use, it's the last one, but certainly not the least. And that is a tube. I'm a big fan of tubes. I've been fishing them since they came out in the mid-80s, and I've been fishing them a lot since then. I always have them tied on in some shape or form. Often, I have multiple tubes tied on in different rigs while I'm out there fishing, to cover different scenarios, because I use them throughout the year.

Now, the key thing about in the spring is a couple different ways to fish it. First of all, when they're really deep, I go back to that spinning outfit I was using before. And here, I'm using a, you know, medium power, seven-foot rod with six-pound Tatsu line, and I'm using a split shot rig. Here, I don't need such a long leader on it, like I did with the Senkos. I'm using maybe an 18-inch, a 12 to 18-inch leader on it. And I'm dragging it on the bottom. I don't need to lift, and pump it here, and move it really quick. Just drag it on the bottom, with long pauses in between. This has a smaller profile and less action than any of the other baits that I mentioned. So when the fish are really reluctant to bite, this is the ideal bait to use for those conditions. You can eke out a few bites when it's a tough day of fishing, using this technique.

The tube works really well as a drop shot bait, too. Don't hesitate to use it as a drop shot. It looks like a little bait fish down in the lower part of the water column. Again, fishing it really slow. So don't give the rod a lotta shaking action, and lifting and hopping it. Sometimes just holding it there and letting the waves lap against that line is all you need to give it a little bit of action of that bait down below, to get a fish to bite. So don't overwork it when it's really cold and the fish are really deep.

Now, as the season progresses and the fish move up shallow, this is when I really like to use a tube as a flipping bait. So I'll put it on a Trokar, two bait hook, and I'll rig it with a bullet sinker and a bobber stopper. And I'm using a flipping stick, basically, or a pitching stick. So, a 7'2 to 7'4 heavy power rod, with a fast action tip. I'm using 50-pound Seaguar Smackdown Braid. And I'm using a strong reel, like a 7.3:1 gear ratio or lower.

And here, I like to flip and pitch it on anything I can see. It's a laydown, or next to a stump, or maybe there's some rock piles, and it works especially well in those. When then water rises and it floods all that shoreline, you flip it into those bushes and into those reeds, and those fish like to get up in those reeds during pre-spawn and close to spawn. You can get a tube in there better than most the other baits, because it doesn't have a lot of tentacles to get wrapped on those reeds and get stuck in them, you can get a tube in there and get the fish out without any problem. So that's a real good bait to use for that. You can skip it under docks really well. It's a very effective bait to use.

As for colors, I really stick to, you know, one main color. You know, I'm using a green pumpkin. You know, green pumpkin plastic is hard to beat. So that's the primary color that I use. Now, if the water gets really dingy, and gets muddy, then I'll go to a dark bait. This is almost black. It's a dark smoke with some gold flake in it. I'll use that when the water gets really muddy. And if the water is really clear, then I'll go to a translucent color, something like this. This is, like, you know, a clear or smoke color with some copper pepper flake in there. That works really well if the water's super clear. That's about it. I don't really get too crazy with the different tube colors. Again, I've been fishing them for decades. I've tried a lotta different colors, but those seem to be my three main go-to colors that I use throughout the spring. So, I hope those tips help. For more tips and tricks like this, visit BassResource.com.