Pre-spawn bass fishing

GULF COAST - Pre-spawn bass fishing can be really good, or really challenging. Cold temperatures this year have delayed the bite until mid-March on some lakes. Conditions were tough on this recent trip, after lows below freezing to start the day.

We started out fishing small Zoom Flukes drop-shot style. The bite was slow, so I switched to a Strike King Red Eye Shad. This is the same bait that Kevin VanDam won the Bassmasters Classic with. I hooked a nice heathly 4 pounder right away. This was a loner though… Later I caught two smaller fish on a spinnerbait.

Look for fishing to really improve with the warm days we have enjoyed recently. Do be aware that the rivers will be on the rise. We saw big rains upstate Wednesday and Wednesday night…