Location consideration for pre-spawn bass

Duck blinds positioned near deeper water make dandy holding spots for seasonal bass movements.

Here are some nuggets of wisdom to help you locate fish along their seasonal routes.

Making hay: — FLW regional pro Phil Marks knows the standard seasonal targets, but he said it’s also important to pay attention to weather events and how they might influence subsequent seasons.

A case in point was the 2015 flood conditions on Toledo Bend, which impacted some of the habitat pre-spawn fish typically use as their staging areas.

This, he said, put an emphasis on hay grass — an already popular type of bass habitat, but one that outlasted some of the stuff impacted by the flood.

“This is a prime habitat for the pre-spawn — especially last year, because the flood killed a lot of the shallow vegetation,” Marks said.

Low go — When lean precipitation leads to lower water levels in the first quarter of the year, the prespawn staging zone will move farther off the traditional shoreline.

This means you’ll want to move out accordingly while tracing those travel lanes.

Duck, duck, bass — Louisiana Bassmaster Elite Series pro Greg Hackney pointed out that duck blinds built at the edges of a swamp make mighty fine prespawn staging spots.

Just like a big laydown or a cluster of stumps, these structures are prime targets for flipping his Strike King Hack Attack Jig with a Strike King Rage Craw or Menace trailer.

“A lot of times, these blinds have deep water, and they’re set up (near) the spawning areas,” Hackney said. “That puts them right along the fish’s (late-winter) travel lanes.”

About David A. Brown 142 Articles
A full-time freelance writer specializing in sport fishing, David A. Brown splits his time between journalism and marketing communications.

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