By Tyler Rose
April has always been one of my favorite months of the year to live in North Carolina. The blooming dogwoods are a symbol of growth and regeneration that coincide with spawning largemouth bass. The April afternoons of my childhood were spent rushing home from school to witness this incredible phenomenon and become a part of it. From the neighborhood banks of Lake Hickory, I spent countless hours learning the skills needed for successful bed fishing, skills that have transferred too many different lakes across the state. Sight fishing for bedding bass ultimately requires practice, but these tips can help point you in the right direction.
Natural Patterns
The age-old phrase “match the hatch” still rings true when fish are locked on beds. Many people pitch white jigs during the spawn to help them see the bait on the bed, but I have personally had much more success on patterns that imitate sunfish. A bass that is locked in on a bed is prone to eat any bait, but a good sunfish pattern helps to fool more nervous and pressured fish.
Backup Plan
Jigs, creature baits, and drop shots all make for excellent sight fishing baits. No matter what your preference is, make sure you always have at least two different baits ready to pitch to a bed. After repeated casts to a bed, a bass often becomes wary and unresponsive to a certain pattern. Having a different bait at the ready can provide the contrast needed to induce a strike.
Slow And Steady
Large bass often spawn at deeper depths than their smaller counterparts, and big female bass are prone to sit out of sight while the males guard the bed. When fishing in an area with a high concentration of spawning bass, it often pays off to fish slow and thorough. By covering the entire area instead of just focusing on fish you can see, you increase your chances of presenting to a larger class of fish that receive less pressure.
Respect The Fish
Healthy spawns equate to healthy populations of bass. Bass that are caught off of beds should be handled carefully and released in the same area they have been caught in. Sight fishing can teach an angler valuable lessons on fish behavior, but understand that these fish endure a tremendous amount of pressure. In recent years I have found fulfillment in the challenge of catching bedding bass on a fly rod or teaching my friends that do not normally bass fish how to catch them. In my eyes, April should be a month that fosters the next generation of bass and anglers alike.
