Temperatures, bass activity make April a great time for fishing

The next five weeks is the period most bass anglers look forward to all winter.

Comfortable air temperatures -- anywhere from 46 to 75 degrees -- will be accompanied by aggressive bass.

Expect sustained water temperatures from around 54 degrees at the start of April to around 64 degrees at the end of the month. Look for bass to spawn from about April 24 (full moon) through about May 8 (new moon). The spawn will vary from lake to lake and within the same lake. It starts in the upper end headwaters then moves toward the dam, then on the north bank followed by the south bank. What all this means is that you can usually target aggressive immediate pre-spawn bass over about a six to eight week period.

Driven by the need for food, these bass have the largest strike zone of the year. Combine that with their shallow pre-spawn location and you get the best big bass fishing of the year. Due to our stained to muddy water conditions this time of year, our area lakes are not conducive to bed fishing. Besides, it is much easier to catch the pre-spawners.

I suggest you use the water temperature as your guide and target those pre-spawners. Bass will spawn when the morning (sustained) water temperature is 60 to 64 degrees. You need to stay below that range to get the aggressive pre-spawners.

This month you should concentrate on flats, not vertical. The key depth is 2 to 6 feet. Put simply, your boat should be sitting in 6 to 8 feet of water and you should be fishing flatter points and banks. The 4-foot depth is key over this period. That is where the bigger females will spend the majority of their time. Remember last month's discussion of staging areas? This will be the last stop just before they go onto the spawning flat itself. When conditions are right, they will make short movements into the very shallows but they will return to this zone. If you are not catching good fish, remember to back off. One key location this time of year is the "inside" of small secondary points leading into the pocket/spawning flat. This little piece of structure can often hold really big fish.

Remember: slow slope, 4 feet of water.

The lures I use during this period are nearly the same as in March; I am just fishing shallower. However, I put my jerkbaits away and bring out two types of soft plastics: creature baits (like Lizards and Brushhogs) and stick baits (like Senkos and Sluggos).

To catch aggressive fish in more open areas or to elicit a reaction strike from neutral fish, I use Bandit 200 or 100 series crankbaits in Fire Tiger or Crawfish color, Lil' Hustler spinner baits in white, or a 1/2-ounce red Rattle Trap. I fish all these baits on 6- or 7-foot medium action Falcon Cara rods paired with high speed 6.2:1 Shimano Curado baitcasting reels. I use 10-pound P-line for the Bandits and 14 pound for the Rattle Trap and Lil' Hustler Spinnerbait.

If the bass are in the cover (stumps, logs, buck brush etc.), like they are on sunny days, I use a 3/8-ounce Eakins Flipping Jig in black/blue or Missouri Craw paired with an Eakins Craw, a Southern Pro Flipping Tube in either green pumpkin or black cherry or one of the creature baits in a natural hue like green pumpkin. For these baits I use heavy tackle. My rods range from the medium heavy Falcon Cara 6-foot-10 pitching rod to the heavy action Falcon Cara 7-10 Flipping Stick, depending on the circumstances. For all pitching and flipping I use Shimano 6.2:1 Castaic reels spooled with at least 20-pound P-line Premium.

Finally, if the bass are suspended between the bottom and the surface, I use the stick baits; near the surface, the Sluggo; near the bottom, the Senko. I use white for Sluggos and green pumpkin for the Senkos. For both baits I like a 7-foot medium heavy Falcon Cara rod paired with a Shimano Curado 6.2:1 bait casting reel spooled with 15-pound P-line Premium line.

During the pre-spawn I am likely to use all of these set-ups during a 10 hour fishing day.

To sum it all up: Fish the last slow slopping inside points just before the spawning flats, where the water is between 55 and 60 sustained degrees. As the bass start to spawn in that area, look for cooler water. As a general guideline, you should start the month up the lake in the headwaters and work down lake toward the damn as the water warms and the month progresses.

Use the right lures for the situation and depth at hand, and enjoy the best bass fishing of the year.

David Bortner is a promotional bass fisherman who has competed in BASS Federation and Wal-Mart BFL events.