How To Avoid Fishing Beds During The Spawn

A couple of incidences got me thinking about an approach I often use when heading out to my favorite bass haunts throughout the spring season…

Though springtime and bass equate to cruising the shallows in search of fish around spawning flats for many anglers a few of us take a different approach when starting our trips…

Best part of this approach… it avoids putting more pressure on bedding bass!

What’s so different about my approach?

I tend to start each day on the water by focusing on transitional fish with a buzzbait rather than focusing on those up on the flats partaking in the spawning ritual!

This approach was originally developed when fishing several reservoirs of the Rocky Mountain west and has also been used successfully on lakes in the mid-west and up into New England.

Now it’s time for an example…

Looking at the map of Johns Pond on Cape Cod (Mass) provided below, my day starts by heading to the southeast corner of the pond and positioning the boat over the 10 foot contour.

In this case the 10′ contour forms a major breakline from deep to shallow water, making it a great focal area for transitioning bass.

As I work my way up the shoreline following the 10′ contour, I focus many of my casts in a small arc paralleling the break with occasional casts up over the flats and out towards deeper water…

Typically, the bigger fish come from casts made along the breakline or out over deeper water.

This approach works best when water temps rise above fifty degrees.

I always start using search baits like lip-less crankbaits (at lower water temps) and buzzbaits (very effective once temps rise to the mid-50s and up). As a matter of fact, I typically start with the buzzbait since I love catching bass on top then switch off if not effective in the early spring.

Once I encounter an area where several fish are caught in a short period of time, I again make a switch to explore the area more thoroughly.

I also keep at least two other rods rigged, one with a jig and the other with a deep diving crankbait, allowing me to fish both shallow and deeper water and connect with more transitioning bass when this happens…

Next time you head out to your favorite springtime bass lake give this approach a try…

You’ll be glad you did!