Spring 2022
®
By Glenn Walker
5
BAITS
FOR SHALLOW WATER SPRING BASS
B
ass fishing in the spring can be a boom or
bust scenario, depending on the weather and
water temperature. For me, there is nothing that I love more when a string of warm days has that
SQUARE BILL
Fishing a crankbait is a great way to cover water quickly and catch spring bass. Crankbaits that run shallow to mid- depth deflect off cover and will generate a reaction strike
water temperature climbing and pushes bass up into the
out of bass. From fishing wingdams and riprap banks on
shallows.
river systems, to flats with emergent vegetation, a crankbait
When I’m talking shallow here, I’m targeting bass that
will get spring bass to bite. As bass are super shallow, a
are in water that is six-feet or less, depending on the lake or square-bill crankbait is a good choice, whereas a
river, and just how early in the spring it is. To target these
shallow running crankbait can target those bass
shallow bass, I have
in that four to six-foot range. My preferred
five key lures that I’ll
choice is a Bagley Flat Balsa B2.
have rigged up. All
Once you find the bass keying in on
these baits can be
a certain crankbait, you can keep using
retrieved differently
that bait and hit different depth
to coincide to the
zones, just by changing up the line
bass’s activity level.
you are using.
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Photo: Blue 42 Agency