tips for pre spawn bass catching

delta anglers joe uribe and ken mah

Spring 2020

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turn around and tell you where did it get deeper, where did the grass grow tight to the bank, where the channel came up against that bank. That’s going to happen in different sections of that bank.”

Elsewhere, Joe Uribe Jr. offers another take on Delta pre-spawn site selection. Favoring vegetation, the Arizona standout starts by targeting known spawning grounds and then looking for the prominent vegetation adjacent

to these shallow

46R Red Crawfish – Mah’s

bedding zones.

“most fav color of them all”

“I would start with some of the lakes like Mildred, Frank’s Tract or Mandeville; and what I’m looking for is weed clumps with good hard, clean bottom, which fish like to spawn on,” Uribe said. “Anything that has a shell bottom with good clumps of grass around is what I’m keying on for staging areas.”

WHAT TO THROW

For tempting pre-spawners, Mah’s hands-down favorite is a 1/2-ounce red Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap. Lots of lipless baits on the market, but Mah likes the way that

original ‘Trap helicopters downward on the

pause, as opposed the direct fall common to

some lipless models.

“I don’t like that bait to fall too quickly out

of the fish’s vision; I want that bait to stay

above the grass because when it sinks into the

grass, they lose it,” he said. “This time of year,

I also want a squarebill for bumping along the

cover.”

Also effective around the grass, a vibrating

jig offers fish a different reaction profile.

Varying his Z-Man ChatterBait size based on

depth, Uribe uses a

Reaction Innovations

Skinny Dipper or a

Yamamoto Zako

trailer, he selects a

color pattern that

mimics the bream

so prevalent in Delta

grass.

“I know a

lot of people are

accustomed to

throwing the green

pumpkin, but I really

like black and blue,”

Uribe said. “In clear

or stained water, or

clear or cloudy days;

for some reason, that black and blue works very well at the Delta. Usually I’m using a black with blue flake skirt with a black with blue flake trailer.

“The sizes really do matter on the Delta and on a lower tide, I like to throw a 3/8-ounce and on a higher tide, I like to throw a 1/2-ounce. I can control the depth better and

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