Glenn: Hey, folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com, and I'm here with my good buddy, Justin Kerr, FLW pro. He's been fishing as a pro since 2002 okay, so that's a long time so maybe older than some of you've been around but, yes, long time. And today we're talking about spring fishing. Justin has fished...you've fished all over the world...all over the United States. Lots of different situations even did some guiding, lots of different conditions for that. So let's talk a little bit about spring fishing. What is your approach as the season progresses? Like how do we start off in prespawn right when those fish are starting to move out?
Justin: Yeah, you know spring is one of my favorite times of the year to fish, so I always have done really well during the spring and one of my favorite things to do is throw a jig and crawfish. Crawfish is a major player, beginning in the...early of the year, going to winter and going to spring the transition time is incredible for crayfish. They really love to fatten up on them so, you know, I'll throw a red Evergreen crankbait or a brown jig and one of my favorite things is pork. They don't make it too much pork anymore, but I love throwing pork early in the year. And I like to fish secondary points and towards the back of the cove where they're moving or up the river where we're going to move to spawn so that's...
Glenn: And when you're doing this is when the water temp is what, around 47, 50?
Justin: Yeah, about 48 to 53, when they hit about that 53 is usually about a magic number when they really start moving up and that's when I go to that jig and the crankbait.
Glenn: And then as the water warms up, you're getting closer to that sweet spawning time, so the fish will be moving a lot shallower and they'll probably be looking at, what, bays, coves, spawn flats?
Justin: Yeah, always bays or a lot of places have rivers, and they'll move up a river to spawn and, you know, bays. And obviously, as the year progresses they, you know, go to certain spots. But always early in the year, you' wanna go back to the...back of the pockets or upper river and start there. Start looking around there and go from there, throw a jig, crankbaits. Some of these spinnerbaits are really good early in the year too.
Glenn: And then as it spawns, kinda like, whatever, right?
Justin: Yeah.
Glenn: They just wanna chomp at whatever you can throw.
Justin: It just depends, you know? I mean, obviously, during in the spawn. Sometimes as the spawn comes later, sometimes they won't go back up those rivers and you can actually find them on the main lake or main lake points they'll spawn on and especially smallmouth, where I live, Lake Havasu, they'll spawn out at the main points, you know in the middle of spawning. So it's kinda a little different but you know you just gotta keep that open mind and fish with an open mind. You have to do that.
Glenn: And during this time...you know spring is notorious for having lots of fronts come through screwing up fishing. My buddy Justin here fished a tournament two days ago where it dumped down rain. You wouldn't expect that in the desert but it poured. A big huge front came through. How do you adjust to those type of fronts? When they keep coming through and messing up, they get up shallow and then they're gone. Like how do you stay on top of that?
Justin: You know, knowing that that's going to happen is a good thing and also like I said, fishing with an open mind. And if they're not biting what you're going to fish for, say you know you have some fish that are moving in the back pocket and you go back there and the storm pushed them off, well, they've gotta go somewhere so you look for the nearest structure or out to the nearest point, somewhere you saw them. They're not gonna be far because they still wanna be in that general area. They'll just back off and you might have to slow down a little bit or you make them react, one of the two.
Glenn: So you don't have to go back out fish way deep?
Justin: No, no.
Glenn: Just a little bit deeper than what you were at.
Justin: Yeah, that's how I usually approach it, or sometimes they're still there and, you know, I'll try and make them react on the crankbait or something like that, or vibration bait make them react.
Glenn: Do you think they'll bury up right up in the cover, you gotta dig them out that way or..?
Justin: Sometimes, no, no they're more outside. They'll sit down in the mud and keep their bellies warm. This time of the year they like to do that a lot.
Glenn: Now what's your favorite baits to use at post spawn?
Justin: Post spawn, topwater and flipping is usually my two go-to things, a frog fishing, topwater walking baits, and flipping. I love having a flipping stick in my hand and that's usually what I do.
Glenn: Floating worms, I find that floating worms are a killer right after the spawn. Just the...you know, couple of weeks. They don't last long but you know, two or three weeks after the spawn, you put a little swivel with a leader and a floating worm, and I don't know what it is that time of the year, but they really like floating worms.
Justin: Oh, I'll try it. I don't use floating worms too much, but I'll definitely try it.
Glenn: Awesome, awesome. Thanks for your tips. I appreciate it so much, Justin. Thanks for being with us. Try it out this spring. I bet you'll be a lot better angler trying out Justin's tips. For more tips and tricks like this, visit BassResource.com.
